american modern tanks m41 walker bulldog

Army was in Vietnam, mainly by replacing the M24 Chaffees in service with the South Vietnamese army (ARVN) at the time. Their first major conflict once adopted by the U.S. It is unknown what other purposes they served there except for the tests. The tanks, still labelled their experimental designation T41, were sent for field testing on design deficiencies. The M41 Walker Bulldog first saw use in Korea in a limited combat run. Several upgrades were made on the M41 with better technology, the M41A1 had a hydraulic turret traverse with more ammo storage, the M41A2 had a new fuel system, and the M41A3 are old M41A1 tanks with the new fuel system from the M41A2. Despite that, it delivered speed, firepower, and reliability in a light tank format. Unfortunately, the tank was criticized for being noisy, a fuel-guzzler, rather heavy, and the American crewman found the Bulldog's interior to be quite cramped. However, the tank was very agile with its torsion bar suspension and Continental AOS 895-3 series 6-cylinder gasoline engine of 500 hp which could deliver a road speed of 45 mph with a 100 miles operating range. The tank was lightweight at 23.5 tons and thus had rather thin armour, with the front armour only 25.4 mm thick (sloped at 60 degrees for about 50 mm effective). The tank had a profile of under 9 feet and 19 feet long. The M41 had a crew of four, commander, gunner, loader, and driver. The M41 light tank would go on to replace the M24 Chaffees by 1953. Production went from 1953 to somewhere in the late 1960s with about 3,728 units produced. The name Little Bulldog stayed until General Walton Walker, the first commander of the 8th US Army in Korea, died in a car accident, so the tank was renamed into the M41 Walker Bulldog in remembrance.

After testings and evaluations, the T41 model was accepted into service as the M41 Little Bulldog, with production starting at Cadillac Cleveland Tank Plant in 1951. The adoption of a simplified rangefinder had the project designation changed to the'T41. The project began as the T37 program in 1947 with the focus of being air-transportable with an anti-tank capability in the form of a 76 mm gun and a rangefinder. Though its role as a scout was seen as needing the 75 mm gun, the army wanted a tank with a better gun to have a more equal chance against tanks. Army light tank in the later part of World War II, the M24 Chaffee, was a promising design but was deemed not effective for the future of armour encounters.

Main article: M42 Duster (Family) Rank IV

American modern tanks m41 walker bulldog