- Yes
- No
The T41 light tank was the direct ancestor of the M41, but “ancestor” does not mean “outmoded”! Compared to the production Bulldog, it had a two-plane stabilizer, a coincidence rangefinder, a fire control computer, and several extra machine guns. Three of these prototypes were built, and after several improvements (and simplifications, including the removal of all the aforementioned advanced features) to the design, the Walker Bulldog was born.
History and Design
The M24 Chaffee had served the US Army well throughout World War II, but as the Cold War began it was obviously an outdated design. Several investigations and councils within the US Army and the War Department eventually cumulated in a new light tank, designated the T37 on 27 September 1946. This vehicle, while not the focus of this post, served as the basis for the T41 and the M41. Its design and mockup were completed in early 1949, and the first prototype began testing at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds on 30 May 1949.
The T37 was powered by a 500 hp Continental AOS-895-1 engine (which shared many components with the AV-1790 intended for use on medium tanks) with an Alison CD-500 transmission, producing a fairly compact power pack. It was supported by a torsion bar suspension and five dual road wheels on each side. Where the assistant driver used to sit on the M24, there was now an ammo rack instead. This chassis design persisted throughout the development of the Bulldog with only small changes.
The turret was meant to be developed in three phases. Phase I was the version used on the T37. It mounted the 76 mm gun T94, a coaxial M2HB, a pintle-mounted M2HB, and two M1919A4 mounted in blisters on either side of the turret. It had a stereoscopic rangefinder mounted in blisters on either side of the turret as well. Phase II was the version used on the T41. It retained the machine guns but replaced the T94 with the higher velocity T91 gun. It also mounted a Vickers fire control system, consisting of a two-plane stabilizer, a dual colour coincidence rangefinder, and an automatic lead computer. Phase III was meant to replace the Vickers FCS with an IBM one and include an autoloader, but this version was never built.
The first T41 prototype was built in May 1949, the second sometime during the summer, and the third in December. Testing revealed numerous problems with the engine and transmission, which took several iterations to fix. This also caused the weight of the T41 to grow by a ton and a half compared to the T37 but it didn’t significantly affect mobility. The machine gun pods were found to be mostly useless, and the coaxial .50 MG appeared to be a bit of an overkill. The story with the fire control system is a bit more complicated. The rangefinder proved immensely useful for landing the first shot on target, but the Vickers fire control system overall wasn’t quite ready for field use, and concerns were raised over its high cost. Unfortunately, the rangefinder came with the Vickers FCS and couldn’t be used independently, so the rangefinder from the T37 was substituted. This modification was done on the second T41 prototype during mobility trials. However, the T37 rangefinder didn’t make it into production either, due to unknown reasons (but most likely performance-related).
With all these modifications made, the new design was redesignated the T41E1, which was standardised as the Light Tank M41 Walker Bulldog.
Specifications
Crew: 4
Armour: very similar to production M41, refer to Hunnicutt for detailed values and layout
- Hull: 10 mm - 32 mm
- Turret: 13 mm - 32 mm
Primary armament: 76 mm gun T91
- Traverse: 360˚
- Elevation: -9˚/+20˚
- Stabilization: two plane
- Rangefinder: coincidence
- Reload rate: 12 rpm
- Ammunition: 40 rounds
Secondary armaments: coaxial .50 M2HB, pintle .50 M2HB, two blister .30 M1919A4
- Blister MG elevation: -9˚/+40˚ (linked with main gun up to +20˚)
- Ammunition: 1540 rounds .50, 3500 rounds .30
Weight: 45980 lbs (20.9 t) unstowed, 51600 lbs (23.4 t) combat load (listed as 25.8 t combat load in ADA955066, due to metric and US (short) ton difference)
Engine: Continental AOS-895-1, gross 500 hp
Power-to-weight ratio: 21.4 hp/t (listed as 19.6 hp/t in Hunnicutt and ADA955066, due to metric and US (short) ton difference)
Max speed: 66 km/h
More pictures
President Truman (foreground, centre) with a T41 prototype (source)
T41 in being demonstrated to President Truman during his visit to Aberdeen, 17 February 1951
Top view of the T41, pilot number 1, showing the diagonal reinforcements on the turret roof
Internal arrangement of the T41
In-game
The T41 should be fairly similar to the M551(76) already in-game, but generally better. It has thicker armour, equal or possibly better mobility (depending on whose values you believe), an optical rangefinder, more ammunition, and more machine guns (although it does lack commander fire control override, a feature that was only added on production Bulldogs). The only possible downside is that the T91, being an earlier version of the high velocity 76 mm, may have weaker penetration or restricted access to later ammunition (e.g. APDS or HEAT), which may affect its BR placement. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find documentation of its performance. Nevertheless, it would be great to have a stabilized light tank for the US, regardless of its placement.
Sources
All images, unless otherwise stated, are from Hunnicutt
- “Sheridan: A History of the American Light Tank, Volume 2” by R. P. Hunnicutt
- “Modern American Armor: Combat Vehicles of the United States Army Today” by Steven J. Zaloga and Lieutenant Colonel James W. Loop
- “US Light Tanks 1944-84” by Steven J. Zaloga
- Vehicle Characteristics (ADA955066)
- Bulldog’s Ancestor by Yuri Pasholok
- Intermediate Revolution by Yuri Pasholok