PantheraTigris2
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Guns on night-fighters. Angled upwards, to attack bombers from below.
2nd WW2 Cumulative History Quiz
- Thread starter Knight-Dragon
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Hotpoint
Rome Treaty Legions
PantheraTigris2 said:
Triggered by a photo-electric cell so that they fired automatically when in the right position I think.
Adler17
Prussian Feldmarschall
PT 2 is right. It were guns on night fighters, angled upwards. These guns shot down thousands of allied planes- and the allies thought it was FlaK. Until the end of the war this invention was secret to them. Also Hotpoint is right. At least at the end of the war the night fighters could fly below a bomber pulk and shoot them down like turkeys without being detected.
For some reasons PT 2 gave the question to Hotpoint. Hotpoint, it is your turn.
Adler
For some reasons PT 2 gave the question to Hotpoint. Hotpoint, it is your turn.
Adler
Hotpoint
Rome Treaty Legions
My question then. Hope this has never come up before.
In what way did the construction of the M3 Grant Tank make it especially hard on the crew?
In what way did the construction of the M3 Grant Tank make it especially hard on the crew?
Hotpoint
Rome Treaty Legions
dgfred said:
Whilst true it was a poor tank from a design point of view there's another reason why it was infamous for being hard on the crew.
Hotpoint
Rome Treaty Legions
BananaLee said:It was an ugly sight to behold
And the Grant was the Brit version with several mods...
Actually both nicknames Grant and Lee were British, the Americans just called it the M3, but I had to differentiate it from the M3 Stuart which was a totally different tank.
Early Grant's in British use weren't heavily modified. They just had minor changes such as the removal of the tiny machine gun turret on top because the thing was already too damn tall
As well as adding that cute radio antenna thingie on the back.
Most of my sources praised the M3 as an excellent tank considering the rushed circumstances. For one, it was the only tank whose gun could pierce German tanks.
It wasn't like the M4 Sherman where it'd blow up gladly, was it?
Most of my sources praised the M3 as an excellent tank considering the rushed circumstances. For one, it was the only tank whose gun could pierce German tanks.
It wasn't like the M4 Sherman where it'd blow up gladly, was it?
.
Hotpoint
Rome Treaty Legions
I'll give the answer tonight if no one has still got it by then, I'm sorry as it it seems this trivia question may be obscure. I thought the quirk of the M3 I have in mind was better known as I've heard this from several sources including my uncle who was a British Tank Commander at the time.
nonconformist
Miserable
The commander was responsible for reloading the 37mm.Hotpoint said:
Hotpoint
Rome Treaty Legions
Apologies for not giving the answer last night, I had problems getting onto the CFC Forums for a while.
In any case here is the answer... Rivets.
"Rivets?" you ask yourself.
Take a look at a picture of an earlier model M3 Grant and one thing that stands out is the way it is held together by masses of rivets all over the hull
Although both the M3 Grant and the British Matilda II had similar armour thicknesses (maximum of 76mm against 78mm) the Grant was much easier to take out and this was because you didn't actually need an anti-tank gun powerful enough to penetrate the armour to do it.
The reason why the construction of the Grant made it hard on the crews was the nasty effect that if you hit the thing with a shell it would frequently pop the rivets which would then bounce around the inside of the tank at bullet velocity until they embedded themselves in something... like for instance the crew.
And you now know why I said "construction" not "design" in the original question.
Later models were often welded instead, I do wonder why this wasn't done in the first place it would have saved a lot of Allied Tank Crewman who met their end thanks to a red-hot high-velocity rivet from their own tank
I'll come up with another question later today.
In any case here is the answer... Rivets.
"Rivets?" you ask yourself.
Take a look at a picture of an earlier model M3 Grant and one thing that stands out is the way it is held together by masses of rivets all over the hull
Although both the M3 Grant and the British Matilda II had similar armour thicknesses (maximum of 76mm against 78mm) the Grant was much easier to take out and this was because you didn't actually need an anti-tank gun powerful enough to penetrate the armour to do it.
The reason why the construction of the Grant made it hard on the crews was the nasty effect that if you hit the thing with a shell it would frequently pop the rivets which would then bounce around the inside of the tank at bullet velocity until they embedded themselves in something... like for instance the crew.
And you now know why I said "construction" not "design" in the original question.
Later models were often welded instead, I do wonder why this wasn't done in the first place it would have saved a lot of Allied Tank Crewman who met their end thanks to a red-hot high-velocity rivet from their own tank
I'll come up with another question later today.
and response! Looking for next one. 
Hotpoint
Rome Treaty Legions
Thanks dgfred glad you liked the question even though it seems nobody knew the answer.
Okay another question for you all hopefully less obscure
Engineer Barnes Wallis produced two well-known special bomb types. One was the Bouncing Bomb used against the Ruhr Dams but what was the other?
Okay another question for you all hopefully less obscure
Engineer Barnes Wallis produced two well-known special bomb types. One was the Bouncing Bomb used against the Ruhr Dams but what was the other?
CruddyLeper
Unworshipped Deity
The 12,000 lb Grand Slam, used on the Tirpitz and several railway tunnels.
nonconformist
Miserable
CruddyLeper said:
Or the Tallboy bomb.
CruddyLeper
Unworshipped Deity
Tallboy was the mini version of Grand Slam - same design (aerodynamic properties that let it rise to supersonic velocity) but a lesser weight.
nonconformist
Miserable
You learn something new every day 
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