T17 Deerhound
| T17 Armoured Car | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Place of origin | United States of America |
| Service history | |
| Used by | US Army |
| Wars | World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Ford Motor Company |
| Designed | 1941–42 |
| Manufacturer | Ford Motor Company |
| Produced | 1942–43 |
| No. built | 250 |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 17 short tons (15 t) |
| Length | 18.21 ft (5.55 m) |
| Width | 8.86 ft (2.70 m) |
| Height | 7.71 ft (2.35 m) |
| Crew | 5 |
Main armament | 37 mm Gun M6 |
Secondary armament | 2 x .30 in M1919 machine guns |
| Engine | 2 x Hercules JXD 6-cylinder petrol engines 90 hp (67 kW) each |
| Drive | 6x6 |
Operational range | 450 mi (720 km) |
| Maximum speed | 56 mph (90 km/h) |
| References | Christopher Foss[1] & Military Factory[2] |
The T17 Armoured Car, sometimes referred to the M5 medium armoured car and labelled by the British as the Deerhound, was an American armored car produced during the Second World War.
Design
The T17 Armoured Car was a turreted 6x6 vehicle with a crew of five, being a driver, co-driver, gunner, loader and commander. The T17 was armed with the turret from the M3 Lee tank, armed with a 37 mm M6 tank gun as well a coaxial .30 in M1919 machine gun, whilst a second machine gun was mounted in the bow of the hull.[1][2]
History
The T17 Armoured Car was developed by the Ford Motor Company, it was one of two designs submitted to meet a 1941 Ordnance Department requirement for a medium armoured car, the other being the 4x4 Chevrolet T17E1 Armoured Car. In the early 1940s the US Army pursued a number of heavy, medium and light armoured car designs, in an effort to reduce the number of competing programs, in October 1942 Headquarters Army Ground Forces commissioned the Special Armoured Vehicle Board, better known as the Palmer Board after its head Brig. Gen. W. B. Palmer, to impose some standardisation. The Palmer Board recommended the termination of all programs except the Ford T22, which went on to become the M8 Greyhound.[1][3]
The British Purchasing Commission continued to show interest in the two medium designs and asked the US Army Desert Warfare Board to conduct trials of the two designs, which were completed in February 1943, the Chevrolet T17E1 design emerging as the clear winner. Despite this, the US Army authorised Ford to complete 250 vehicles as a stopgap until production of the M8 commenced. 32 T17s had been produced in 1942, the remaining 218 were completed in 1943.[1][3][4]
In US Army service the T17 was sometimes referred to as the M5 Medium Armoured Car, despite never being standardised. All vehicles had their 37 mm main guns removed and were assigned to the United States Army Military Police Corps for patrol duties on the continental United States.[3]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Christopher Foss, The encyclopedia of tanks & armoured fighting vehicles, London: Amber Books, 2002, ISBN 9781905704446.
- ^ a b Military Factory, "T17 (Deerhound) 6x6 Armoured Car", militaryfactory.com, retrieved 19 February 2019.
- ^ a b c Steven J. Zaloga, Staghound Armored Car 1942–62, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011, ISBN 9781780962108.
- ^ George Forty & Jack Livesey, The world encyclopedia of tanks and armoured fighting vehicles, London: Anness Publishing Ltd, 2006.
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