Chrysler M4 A4 'Sherman Crab'
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Comments about this vehicle
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◊ 2008-07-18 20:46 |
conversion to flail tank carried out by Curran Brothers of Cardiff, Milners Safe Company, TC Jones and Company, J Hibberts Ltd. 300 sherman based flails were built in total from oct 1943 to march 1944......1 million feet of 16mm chain of admiralty ship quality was used in the total construction.the concept was designed by the british truck manufacturer AEC. In the above pictured style, the Sherman based Crab was the most successful of all the flail tanks. The chain flails were attatched to an 18in diamiter drum which was carried 6ft ahead of the tank;there were 43 flails,each 72 in long,attatched spirally to the drum in 7 rows. The drum,which had hydraulics to raise and lower it,was driven by a combination of roller chain and shaft from the tanks prop shaft and rotated clockwise when viwed from inside the vehicle. Flailing was carried out with the tank in first gear running at 2000rpm,which gave a maximum rotor speed of 184rpm and a mine detonating efficiency of 91%..an auxilliary gearbox was later added to allow the engine power to be better matched to the flailing speed. Each time a mine was detonated the flail lost approx 25 chain links, however, the hydraulics to the arm allow the flail to rise by approx 24in at each detonation. In combat use, it was usual for the chains to be replaced after detonating 7 or 8 mines..after detonating 27 german Tellermines the tanks use as a flail was obsolete as the drum would be badly damaged, reverting the vehicle back to a gun tank. |
