M40 Gun Motor Carriage

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155 mm Gun Motor Carriage M40

M40 in the US Army Ordnance Museum.
Type Self-propelled artillery
Place of origin Flag of the United States United States
Specifications
Weight 36.3 tonnes
Length 9.1 m
Width 3.15 m
Height 2.7 m
Crew 8 (Commander, driver, (6x) gun crew)
Armor 12 mm
Primary
armament		 155 mm M2 gun
20 rounds
Engine Wright (Continental) R975 EC2
340 hp
Suspension HVSS (Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension)
Operational
range		 170 km
Speed 38 km/h (23 km/h off road)

The 155 mm Gun Motor Carriage M40 was a US self-propelled artillery vehicle built on a widened and lengthened Medium Tank M4A3 chassis but with Continental engine and with HVSS that was introduced at the end of the Second World War. Equipped with a 155 mm M2 gun, it was designed to replace the earlier M12 Gun Motor Carriage. Its prototype designation was the T83, but this was changed to the M40 in March 1945.

A single pilot vehicle was used in the European Theater in 1945 by 991st Field Artillery Battalion, along with a related 8 inch Howitzer Motor Carriage T89 which was sometimes also equipped with a 155 mm barrel.[1] From there it was deployed during the Korean War.

Post war; the M40 was used by the British, there it was designated 155 mm SP, M40.

Contents

[edit] Variants

The Army planned to use the same T38 chassis for a family of SP artillery:

  • Cargo Carrier T30 - a few built before cancellation in December 1944 to make more chassis available for GMCs
  • 8 inch Howitzer Motor Carriage M43 - 8 in (203 mm) HMC, standardized August 1945, 48 built
8-inch HMC M43 in Korea.
8-inch HMC M43 in Korea.
  • 250 mm Mortar Motor Carriage T94 - 10 in (250 mm) MMC, began design Feb. 1945, one prototype completed in 1946

[edit] Related Vehicles

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Hunnicutt - Sherman: A History of the American Medium Tank, p 353-355, 570.

[edit] References

  • Hunnicutt, R. P. (1994). Sherman: A History of the American Medium Tank. Presidio Press. ISBN 0-89141-080-5. 
  • Ness, Leland (2002). Janes World War II Tanks and Fighting Vehicles. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-00-711228-9. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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American armored fighting vehicles of World War II
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American armored fighting vehicle production during World War II