Quote:
Originally Posted by ChalkLine
Quite often the conversation comes around to "what's the best vehicle for the Twilight War in the Polish theatre" and the answer I always give is "the AAVP-7A1, it's a truck that swims and has good guns." You don't actually fight in it but for just carrying junk and being resistant to machine guns it's awesome.
However.
When it really comes down to it might true love is the M551A1 Sheridan reconnaissance vehicle. It's just the coolest, best-looking track out there in my own personal, probably warped opinion.
I'm not sure if I submitted it to Paul but I did a "best vehicle that never was" where the poor old track got the upgrade kit it seriously needed* to an A2 model involving ERA blocks, an upgraded missile sight system, an upgrade to the main gun making it an M81E1A2 with a semi-combustible cartridge case and an improved casing, beam riding retrofit for the missile, the removal of the flotation capacity and some bar armour around the rear.
I've run maybe two of them in games but they've never really gone anywhere. Pity because I got the FM for the little bus and read it so I'd know what it was and wasn't capable of it.
(*Really, the M551 was never seriously upgraded during its whole twenty eight year long service. It got some vision upgrades in 1990 that were done so grudgingly it's really indicative of how much the tank commanders loathed any idea of light tanks and gives you an idea of why the M8 Buford, the Stingray and all the others withered on the vine)
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I've always found it interesting that some other countries saw the potential in the M551 when it seemed that the US did not. I believe it's been mentioned before somewhere on this forum, that the Australian Army was testing the M551 as well as the M114 as potential vehicles for the reconnaissance role. Unfortunately the M551 was found to be a bit too delicate for Australian conditions (and the M114 wasn't found to be entirely suitable either).
It really does appear that the higher-ups in the US Army had no interest in light tanks despite their demonstrated usefulness in WWII in the recce role.