Advantage of 3-man turret

Discussions on the vehicles used by the Axis forces. Hosted by Christian Ankerstjerne
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Juha Tompuri
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#16

Post by Juha Tompuri » 22 Feb 2004, 00:55

Harri wrote:Damn, Juha, this book is a real wonder: there is answer to every important question from submarine toilets to turrets of T-34!! :P
:lol: :lol: :lol: The WWII related pics were there, but how about a medieval castle, Queen Mary II or perhaps an oil-drilling platform? :wink:

Regards, Juha

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Harri
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#17

Post by Harri » 22 Feb 2004, 00:58

Wolfkin wrote:The tank commander directs the driver, directs the gunner, keeps track on the map, watches all around for targets and basically is kept really busy. He is the only one with all-around vision. Imagine if he had to be a gunner as well?
I think in T-34 tank commander was a loader, not gunner?


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Wolfkin
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#18

Post by Wolfkin » 22 Feb 2004, 10:12

Hello Harri!

As far as I know the four crewmembers of the T34/76 were: the Driver, the Hull Gunner/Radio Operator, the Loader and the Commander/Gunner. I believe that there was an early experiment of having the Commander load the gun but this proved to be an unsuccessful arrangement. So, it was the Commander who acted also as the Gunner.

Cheers,

Wolfkin

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Blistex
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#19

Post by Blistex » 22 Feb 2004, 22:13

I was surprised that it was possible for five men to fit in the turret of a Tiger I. Two of those were just ground pounders catching a ride behind the lines.

Not suitable for combat situations in any regard but pretty impressive how spacious the interior must have been.

Guy Sajer - Forgotten Soldier

Mark V
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#20

Post by Mark V » 24 Feb 2004, 21:03

Witch-King of Angmar wrote:but the turret itself was so cramped I wonder how could two large Russians fit in, winter clothing notwithstanding 8O I've seen once two T-34/85 II on display, one cut open, the other complete, and I've climbed in both turrets; it was barely enough space for myself.
~The Witch-King of Angmar
Yep - Soviets/Russians tend to gave only the absolute minimum space to crew positions in most of their weapon systems (not only tanks - the motorics needed in many of their automatic guns are such that it is really an limiting factor for a bit over average lenght man, like me :D ), same goes still today.

Not entirely an bad thing though - Soviets at least understood that limiting the "envelope" of internal volume has an huge effect on armour protection that could be given to vehicle - it just seem that they sometimes did go a bit over the edge....

Mark V

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