According to Tank Encyclopedia, there are five variants of the M51:
However, I cannot find any other supporting articles for these claims. Does anyone else have further information on these, if they existed at all? I’m hoping that some obscure name to differentiate the cast M4A1 and the welded M4A3 versions exist.
It is easy to differentiate the M-51 based on the M4A1 and the M4A3, it is noticeable by the enormous differences in the case, since the A3 is more “square”. But those conversions on said helmet were very rare.
And the versions that you mention did exist, but they affected the engine. The characteristics are the following:
-M-51 Degem Aleph: Was in service from 1962 to 1970. It had a new engine cover, with the upper part with protection for the air filters and the lower part with a normal armor plate and used only one exhaust pipe.
-M-51 Degem Bet: In service from 1970 to 1975, modified cooling system on the engine cover with two air intakes on the normal armored plate. The exhaust system was left unchanged.
-M-51 Degem Gimel: It was developed after the Yom Kippur War and modified in 1975 to enter service in 1978 and decommissioned in 1981. Again, it was the exhaust system that was moved to the roof of the platform underside of the engine while removing the M4A3 style exhaust pipe.
-M-51 Degem Daleth: The upper part of the engine deck was modified to improve cooling, while the exhaust system remained unchanged on the lower engine deck. There is no date.
Regarding the turret as such, it is mentioned that a 60mm mortar was added with an external box for its ammunition, as well as infrared periscopes for the commander and the driver.
That’s what I found, and there is no reference to changing the barrel for something different from those made in France.
Where did you find that information? I haven’t been able to trace any explanation of the models aside from Tank Encyclopedia.
Right there, nothing more than I dedicated myself to analyzing the article well, with photographs and everything that could help me.
That doesn’t really add to the discussion, then. Tank Encyclopedia, while reliable, does get things wrong. I take obscure things like this with a grain of salt and haven’t found anything, aside from unsourced hobbyists which are likely parroting from the same source, to collaborate with what Tank Encyclopedia is claiming. One other even says that the Gimel refers to the M4A3-based M51s rather than an engine design, which only adds to my confusion. Though, given the wrote Gimel as “Gimmel,” I doubt they actually knew what they were talking about.
Let me ask a few acquaintances and find other articles on the M-51, and I hope to find more information about it.
Reviewing other pages regarding the M50 Sherman, I could not find the characteristics of the versions that we already mentioned. I even tried to access the sources of information that Tank Encyclopedia has, but they are books that I cannot find for free.
In addition to the fact that during my search a mention appeared that I could not corroborate either and that leaves me with more doubts: the installation of 75 mm Krupp cannons in 5 Shermans.
I leave you the publications or pages where I found some information:
Bit of a necro post but they did a four man crew variant with the dorsal MG removed.Maybe Warthunder could do a 5.7 BR variant with that in place.
I know this is a bit of an old post, but the tech tree variant of the M-51 is the Degem Dalet model. You can tell by the engine deck and the mortar in the turret, among some other stuff.