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Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Greyhound





Here are some images of Tamiya's 1/35 scale M8 Greyhound. From Wikipedia "

The M8 Light Armored Car was a 6x6 armored car produced by the Ford Motor Company during the Second World War. It was used by the U.S. and British troops in Europe and the Far East until the end of the war. The vehicle was widely exported and as of 2006 still remains in service in some third world countries.

In British service the M8 was known as the Greyhound. The British Army found it too lightly armored, particularly the hull floor where anti-tank mines could easily penetrate (crews solution was lining the floor of the crew compartment with sandbags). It was produced in such a large volume and, coupled with its off-roading capabilities, that this shortcoming was largely overlooked. The M8 Greyhound could virtually go anywhere, which made it a great supportive element to the advancing American and British armored columns.

In July 1941, the Ordnance Department initiated a development of a new fast tank destroyer to replace the M6 37 mm Gun Motor Carriage, which was essentially a 3/4 ton truck with a 37 mmm gun installed in the rear bed. The requirement was for a 6x4 wheeled vehicle armed with a 37 mm gun, a coaxial machine gun mounted in a turret, and a machine gun in the front hull. Its glacis armor was supposed to withstand fire from a .50-caliber machine gun and side armor from a .30-caliber machine gun. Prototypes were submitted by Studebaker (designated T21), Ford (T22) and Chrysler (T23), all of them similar in design and appearance.

In April 1942 the T22 was selected despite complaints about deficiencies, due to the need for vehicles. By then it was clear that the 37 mm gun would not be effective against the front armor of German tanks; so the new armored car, designated M8 Light Armored Car, took on the reconnaissance role instead. Contract issues and minor design improvements delayed serial production until March 1943. Production ended in June 1945. A total of 8,523 units were built, not including the M20 Armored Utility Car (see Variants).

In 1942 the British turned down the opportunity to use the M8 through Lend-Lease. It was named Greyhound in keeping with other US armored cars already ordered by the British such as the (cancelled) T18 Boarhound, the Deerhound and the Staghound

2 comments:

Pat Tillett said...

This thing looks so small as to be scary! great model though!

-Warren Zoell said...

Thanks Pat- It's about twice the size of a Willys Jeep.