Quote:
Originally Posted by copeab
The US Army lost this in the woods for 30 years, so anything is possible  |
Actually, the story is even more funny...
What you are looking at is the Number 3 pilot model of the T-95 Gun Motor Carriage...as the Allies were closing in on Germany back in WWII, the was a great deal of concern about the German West Wall fortifications so the Ordnance Department designed an "American Uber Tank". Design work kicked off in April 1944 and the first model was completed in September 1945. With the surrender of Japan, the production order was cut back to two pilot models (wait for it). Testing of the pilot models ran through October 1947 with the Number 2 pilot model being destroyed in a fire during a trial run.
The T-95 GMC was the largest American AFV design of the war, with a combat weight of 190,000lbs! It was to carry a eight man crew (TC, driver, co-driver and five man gun crew. Length overall was 36ft 6in, with a height of 9ft 4in and a width of 14ft 5in. Each of the track units is 19.5in wide.
Armament is the T5E1 105mm gun with a secondary M-2HB machinegun. Armor Thickness ranged from 300mm to 25mm, with the mantlet of the gun, a whopping 12 inches thick!.
The engine is a Ford V-8 gasoline engine developing 410hp, giving the T-95 the blazing top speed of 8mph and a road range of 100 miles.
One of the unusual features of the T-95 is that each track assembly was atwin unit of HVSS supension, the outer set could be detached and removed to reduce the vehicle's weight and width for transportation. The two detached units could then be linked together and towed behind the vehicle.
Now for the rest of the story...
The official records list two pilot models, one destroyed by a fire at Aberdeen Proving Grounds and the second being scrapped. Back in 1973 an old set of warehouses was being torn down at Fort Knox, when a bulldozer knocked down one wall, the driver was amazed to come face to face with the muzzle of the tank cannon. It turns out that a third pilot model had been built and had been shipped to Fort Knox for troop training. It had been parked in the warehouse and in the mass confusion of de-mobilization after the end of the war...had been quietly forgotten....