British M24 Chaffee

Discussion in 'Weapons, Technology & Equipment' started by Jarnob, Mar 17, 2006.

  1. Jarnob

    Jarnob Junior Member

    Hello!

    Does anyone has a photo of a british Chaffee tank?
    I got a photo of a Chaffee in a photo lot i recently acquired - but i'm not sure
    that this is a British one.......

    It seems to have some sort of license plate -
    most likely something like: VI-67K FII
    The photograph should be taken during WW2 - and for all i know only
    the US and the UK had M24 Chaffee's in their service.....

    I'll place my photo when i got it scanned!

    Regards, Jarno Boer
     
  2. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    I'd certainly be intrigued by the picture as i'm 80% sure that the British never ran Chaffees, trusting more to wheeled vehicles in the post-war period to fulfill the light tank role until the cvr came along. Greece and a variety of other countrys had quite substantial forces of m24's so if the pics not American it could easily be one of them. Fantastic machine serving in the very front lines from '44 through to Vietnam, There are 2 British run Chaffees that I know of but they're called 'Skunky' and 'spliffy' and roar round the Beltring Arena most years, fastest thing on tracks on the whole site it seems.
     
  3. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Self correction time, I see the British were supplied with a few Chaffees (why else would they be called Chaffees rather than m24!) but it must only have been a handful, The Americans were so pleased with them. Back to the books!

    Just Spotted this too
    http://www.tankmuseum.co.uk/newspress_0103.html
    mind like a sieve....
     
  4. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    See Patrick Delaforce book.
    Churchill's Desert Rats.
    Chaffees on front cover (1994 edition) and page 181
    Caption to photo on page 181 says Chaffee tanks and Honeys of Recce Troop, 8th Hussars, south of Hamburg, April 1945.(see attached photo)
     
  5. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Chaffees in background. This was the same photo as on the bookcover I mentioned in the above post. Churchill in a Guards Armoured Division half track inspecting 7th Armd Div.
     

    Attached Files:

  6. Jarnob

    Jarnob Junior Member

    <TABLE class=post cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=row vAlign=top align=left width="100%">Ok as promissed the photo's.

    I'm beginning to doubt if these Chaffee's are British when i look at the 'license plate',
    these Chaffee's don't even wear unit markings...

    </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=bottom align=left><STYLE type=text/css><!--td.attachrow { font: normal 11px Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color : #; border-color : #; }td.attachheader { font: normal 11px Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color : #; border-color : #; background-color: #; }table.attachtable { font: normal 12px Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color : #; border-color : #; border-collapse : collapse; }--></STYLE>


    </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
     

    Attached Files:

  7. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    ayup, lovely shot!
    (responds quite well to photoshop sharpening)
    I'd say they were Americans too. in the group of 3 blokes the chap on the left has an American lid on and the Trousers look distinctly Yank too, I thought the bloke behind might have a British beret on but it could be hair. Looks like the pack hanging on the turret is American too.
    None of this is at all conclusive but it does point towards the Americans.
    White star on the Glacis? I think that was used in Korea too but the whole 'feel' of the shot is definitely ww2.
    I'm now highly intrigued by British chaffees, earliest solid written info I can find for British issue was 1947 in limited numbers along with some references to their use in the Rhine crossing but i haven't yet found any harder evidence for this (other than 'owen d's references), seems the Australians may also have operated quite a few in the closing stages of the war as well..
    Sorry for rambling on, Beautiful machines..
    cheers!
    Adam
    ...
    Ahaaaa!
    Hussars very late wartime chaffee pic here:
    http://www.desertrats.org.btinternet.co.uk/artefacts2.htm#8Hussars
     
  8. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Whilst this is not British related, I came across a Gallery of M24 tanks and some fascinating variations on the chassis. Light tank M24 "Chaffee"

    The Anti-aircraft version is quite unusual! I'm not sure if these are Swedish tanks or not but well worth a look.
     
  9. Bodston

    Bodston Little Willy

    There is a rare pic of a British Chaffee on that site.

    [​IMG]

    According to the WD Numbers log, a block of 400 numbers were allocated to M24 Chaffees. T330410 - T330809
     
  10. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Cut away drawing from wdif.net
    [​IMG]
    Light Tank M24 Chaff ee cutaway drawing key6 0.50 HB Browning MGM2(anti-aircraft)7 Commander's cupola8 Direct vision blocks9 Commander's periscope10 Stowage box11 Pistol port12 Radio set, SCR 50813 M3 grenade launcher14 Assistant driver's door15 Hull ventilator16 Front cover plate17 Portable fire extinguisher18 Controlled differential19 Differential output yoke20 Driver's hand levers(steering brake)21 Range selector/transmission lever22 Hand levertransferunitshift control23 Driver's seat24 Fire escape hatch door25 Turret control box26 Turret driving mechanism27 Stabilizerandturret motor28 Firing solenoid29 Ammunition storage boxes30 Leftgeneratorregulator31 Left starter relay32 Ventilating door33 Master battery switch34 Four 6-volt batteries35 Fixed fire extinguisher36 Radiator37 Radiatorairinletgrille38 Two Cadillac 90 V-type 8-cylinderModel44T24engines39 Fuel tank covers40 Fuel compartment vents41 Final drive sprocket42 Shock absorber43 Support arm44 Track guide45 Track wheel46 Torsion bar47 Bumperspring arm bracket48 Track support roller49 Compensating wheel andtrack wheel supportlinkage50 Track compensating wheel51 Compensating wheel link52 Track wheel link53 Loader's hatch331 M6 75-mm gun2 M64 combination gunmount3 0.30MGM1919A4co-axialwith main armament4 Telescope M71K5 0.30MGM1919A4bow
    gun
     
  11. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Wiki reports that the 75mm gun was a modification of the type fitted to B-25 Bombers as used by the US airforce!!! Now that would be a plane with a punch!
     
  12. 51highland

    51highland Very Senior Member

    By coincidence I have just started reading 'Troop Leader' A tank commanders story, by Bill Bellamy (ISBN 978-0-7509-4534-9
    A couple of pics of Chaffees here, the one in the mud looks to be numbered 330411.
    The Author says his troop (of 8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars) got their first Chaffees March 1945.
     

    Attached Files:

  13. Capt.Sensible

    Capt.Sensible Well-Known Member

    I know it's a bit off-thread but I can't resist these photos of French operated M24 in Indo-China, possibly the most famous being the self-assembly job underway somewhere in the perimeter at Dien Bien Phu. From this site:
    LA BATAILLE DE DIÊN BIÊN PHU :: Les chars

    CS:D
     

    Attached Files:

  14. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    I know it's a bit off-thread but I can't resist these photos of French operated M24 in Indo-China, possibly the most famous being the self-assembly job underway somewhere in the perimeter at Dien Bien Phu. From this site:
    LA BATAILLE DE DIÊN BIÊN PHU :: Les chars

    CS:D
    Great Pics Capt and the first one intrigues me, Now go easy on me boys, I'm no tank expert, but just how heavy is that turret? Can it be lifted by a small number of men? I always imagined them to be very heavy.
     
  15. Capt.Sensible

    Capt.Sensible Well-Known Member

    Great Pics Capt and the first one intrigues me, Now go easy on me boys, I'm no tank expert, but just how heavy is that turret? Can it be lifted by a small number of men? I always imagined them to be very heavy.
    I don't honestly know how heavy they are, GH, but some of the Dien Bien Phu photos show the turrets resting on 3 or four oil-drums so I guess they cannot be that heavy. Also I do not think any heavy plant was airlifted into DBP (apart from one or two bulldozers, I think) so access to cranes would be rather limited.

    CS
     
  16. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    I don't honestly know how heavy they are, GH, but some of the Dien Bien Phu photos show the turrets resting on 3 or four oil-drums so I guess they cannot be that heavy. Also I do not think any heavy plant was airlifted into DBP (apart from one or two bulldozers, I think) so access to cranes would be rather limited.

    CS
    Yeah I thought of that too. The only way in and out of DBP as I understood was by an airstrip, so they were limited in what could be transported in, as regards equipment. Still its a very interesting photograph.
     
  17. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Wiki reports that the 75mm gun was a modification of the type fitted to B-25 Bombers as used by the US airforce!!! Now that would be a plane with a punch!

    Slightly off topic. Here's the modern day version GH
    Lockheed AC-130 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Artillery in the sky !

    Cheers
    Andy
     
  18. razin

    razin Member

    The British received 289 M24s under lend lease Post War they were transfered to Holland and the surplus went into the MADP pool.

    M24 STT.jpg
    Most notable is the small ring about a third distance from the muzzle more later:)

    M24.jpg
    M24s lead Cromwells in VE day parade.

    View attachment 17107
    At Dien Bien Phu the components of the M24s were re-assembled with a gantry look at the distance in the photo.

    The composite squadron of the 1st Regiment de Chasseurs a Cheval, comprised 10 tanks transported in using 6 C47 and 2 Bristol Freighters.

    The gun of the M24 was the M6 which was more or less the same as the M3 in performance, but was lighter 400lbs as opposed to 895lb and therefore not as capable of prolonged fire support. Originally the T13E1 later M5 was mounted in the AN-M9 long recoil autoloader system for fitting to the B25. The original M5 when fitted to the M24 were redesignated M6 but still retained the locking groove as in att. 1. later M6 guns did not have this.

    Steve
     
    Bodston likes this.
  19. Bodston

    Bodston Little Willy

    After an extensive search of my bookshelves :lol: I found one more picture of a Chaffee in British service.

    [​IMG]

    appears to be parked in a German square.
     
  20. Capt.Sensible

    Capt.Sensible Well-Known Member

    The British received 289 M24s under lend lease Post War they were transfered to Holland and the surplus went into the MADP pool.

    View attachment 13874
    Most notable is the small ring about a third distance from the muzzle more later:)

    View attachment 13875
    M24s lead Cromwells in VE day parade.

    View attachment 13876
    At Dien Bien Phu the components of the M24s were re-assembled with a gantry look at the distance in the photo.

    The composite squadron of the 1st Regiment de Chasseurs a Cheval, comprised 10 tanks transported in using 6 C47 and 2 Bristol Freighters.

    The gun of the M24 was the M6 which was more or less the same as the M3 in performance, but was lighter 400lbs as opposed to 895lb and therefore not as capable of prolonged fire support. Originally the T13E1 later M5 was mounted in the AN-M9 long recoil autoloader system for fitting to the B25. The original M5 when fitted to the M24 were redesignated M6 but still retained the locking groove as in att. 1. later M6 guns did not have this.

    Steve

    Thanks, Razin, I did not see the gantry. It has a slightly home-made look to it, perhaps borrowed from the railway....

    CS:)
     

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