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NZ 30549 - Early Construction M41's
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02-02-2017, 06:33 PM
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NZ 30549 - Early Construction M41's
One of the New Zealand M41A1’s has been under restorationfor a while, the last part being to get it running again. That has nowhappened, due to a set of spark plugs imported from the States.
In NZ Army service, 10 M41A1’s were purchased in 1960,arriving here in November 1960. They served in a training capacity, through to1985, when they were replaced by Scorpion CVR()Ts.
Colour wise, they were Olive Drab, or sometimes British ArmyBronze Green (a lot of our military vehicles were purchased from Britain –Ferrets, Centurions, Land Rovers, Bedford RL’s etc.).
In 1977 – 78, the NZ Army started to use the US MERDCscheme, mainly the Red Desert variant – Sand Yellow/Red Brown/Black/White – asthat suited the Waiouru Training Area where the M41’s were based, although someM41’s remained Green throughout their service.
There was some MERDC experimentation – Scorpions (MERDCVerdant Green) -
- , Bedford RL –
-, L5 105mm Pack Howitzer –
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The NZ M41’s are special, unlike most M41’s produced(3,729), the NZ ones are all early construction. What that means is that theyall have the early turret, with the prominent weld, in line with the bottom ofthe turret bustle, which you’ll be familiar with, from most of the referencebooks out there.
Unfortunately, what most of the reference books neglect tomention (RP Hunnicutt does mention it, though the drawing in his book‘Sheridan’ isn’t quite right) is that the hull of the early construction M41’sis different from the later ones. There are 3 main areas of difference – theglacis, the upper hull area (from in front of the drivers hatch, to behind thefuel filler caps behind the turret ring) and the engine grille covers.
Most of the M41 reference books, comment that there wereseveral marks of Walker Bulldog – M41, M41A1, M41A2 & M41A3 (the latter 2are the same as the first 2, but with fuel injection) and that the differencesbetween them were all internal – to do with the Fire Control System.
However, this ignores early construction M41 & M41A1’s,which are externally identifiable – if you know what to look for.
TURRET
The first, most obvious difference is the early turret with theprominent weld. These turret’s (X7404114 – cast part number)
utilised more cast armour in their construction, and wereof a ‘fuller’ shape compared to the later turrets. –
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Casting marks appear on the LHS of the turret wall,just behind the mantlet, around the lifting eye. -
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The turret hand holds – very early production turrets had no handholds at all – there is a video of the roll out of the then new M41 in theearly 1950s which shows this. ( The Hunnicutt drawing reflects the lack ofhandholds) –
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Presumably, to improve access & safety, hand holds were added,the early turrets rec’d a basic style, directly welded to the turret wall. -
The later style, featured a ‘Tail’, which increased the contact/weldarea. -
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One aspect of the early turret, the turret wall below the TC isslightly concave – dished in – perhaps a shot trap? -
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You might ask how many of these were built? – Good question, but Idon’t have a good answer. Going by the casting marks, over 200, the highestcasting mark serial number I’ve seen -
The latter also shows the different textures between cast & rolledplate.
One thing to be aware of, sometimes a vehicle may have been returreted, where the turret has been changed from one vehicle to another – as inthe case of mine damage to a hull, when this happens, you’ve got a ‘bitsa’which can make identifying the vehicle difficult. In theory, checking thevehicle name plate for the serial number – found in the drivers compartment,left hand wall, or sometimes repeated on the modification plate , exterior rearplate, beside the infantry/tank telephone – should remove all doubt. However onthe NZ vehicles I’ve checked the name plate was missing & the modificationplate blank. –
– Non blank modification plate -
Some of the Australian Centurion restorations fell afoul of this,they had a number of mine damaged hulls during the Viet Nam war, where theturret was swapped out to a good hull (some purchased from NZ).
Pt 2 to follow
Mal
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