Color T92 HMC
- Yes
- No
240mm M1 Howitzer in Service with Taiwan
Sgt Kirby with 240mm Shells
T93 GMC with 8-Inch M1
The history of the T92 starts with the entry of the United States in World War 1. When the United States entered the Great War, the U.S Army did not have any modern artillery that capable of being transported by roads. The Army saw this problem and decided to turn to their European allies for help. The French would answer with their use of the 280mm Howitzer. While the 280mm fulfilled the U.S Army’s needs for a large howitzer, the army saw that the 280mm design predated World War 1, the 280mm design was from 1911. The U.S army not wanting an old design, decided to downscale the 280mm to 240mm. The French firm Schneider sent drawings and technicians to the U.S to begin designing and manufacturing a 240mm Howitzer. This new design would become the M1918 240mm Howitzer.
Proof testing and firing test would not begin until 1918 which by then the war was already over. Production would start sometime between 1920-1922. When 1925 came around, the design of M1918 would be considered flawed and a new initiative would begin to design and build a better 240mm Howitzer.
It wasn’t until 1934 that design would officially begin for a new howitzer. What resulted from the new design would be a retrofit to the old M1918 to become the newer M1918M1. This project was halted due to funding issues until when it became increasingly clear the USA would inevitable be dragged into WW2. Therefor in 1940 a new program was started to design a 240mm Howitzer instead of using the older M1918M1s. This new program would produce the 240mm T1 Howitzer. Production of the T1 would begin two years later in 1942, this new Howitzer platform would be re-classified in May of 1943 as the “240mm Howitzer M1”. The older M1918M1 Howitzers would see service until 1943 where it was phased out by the 240mm Howitzer M1.
During the 240mm M1 services it would gain the nick name “Black Dragon”.
A sister howitzer was designed along side the 240mm M1, a 203mm Howitzer, which was named the 8-Inch Gun M1. While similar in name to the 240mm M1, the 203mm wasn’t well received due to excessive bore wear and poor accuracy. While the 240mm was transported in 2 pieces, each piece required its own transport vehicle, a third vehicle with a crane was required to assemble and disassemble the large howitzer.
The U.S Army seeing the cumbersome problems which stemmed from transporting such large cannons around, decided to look into attaching the 240mm M1 onto a self-propelled platform. Eventually ending up using a stretched T26E3 chassis that was extended by a extra bogie wheel on each side. The Drive sprocket and transmission were moved to the front.
Black & White T92 HMC
This new SPG platform would be named T92 HMC. Around 110 Vehicles were planned, unfortunately only 5 were built, World War 2 would end before they would see much action.
Mobility Specifications
Mass: 58 - 63.75 tons (Based on Power/Weight ratio mass would be around 61.7 tons)
Dimension (L/W/H): 9.8m / 3.4m / 3.2m
Engine: Ford GAF 18L 8-cylinder
Engine Horsepower: 500hp @ 2,600 rpm (Same engine in M26 and T28/T95)
Engine Torque: 1050 ft/lbs @ 2,200 rpm
Power/Weight: 8.1 hp/ton
Suspension Type: Torsion Bar
Transmission Gears: 3 Forward, 1 Reverse
Max Speed: 32 km/h Road / 24 km/h Offroad
Main Armament Specifications
Main Armament: 240mm Howitzer M1
Main Armament Traverse: 12° Left - 12° Right
Elevation Angles: 0° to +65°
Shell: M114 HE (Timed Fuze / Proxy Fuse Need more research)
Shell Mass: 163 kg
Explosive Weight: 22.23 kg
Shell Velocity: 701 m/s
Rounds Per Minute: 1
Rounds Carried: 6 rounds (More than likely, ammo is only stored on ammunition carrier)
Other Specifications
Crew: 8 (1 Commander, Driver, Co-Driver, 5x Gun Crew)
Armour Thickness (mm): 13 and 25mm
Front Armour: 1"
Side: 0.5"-1"
Superstructure: 0.5"
History of War T92 240mm HMC
WW2 Vehicles Archive T92 HMC
TM-9-1904
Ford GAF Aircraft Engines in Armoured Vehicles
Global Security M1 240mm
Taiwan M1 240mm
The Field Artillery Journal Sep 1946
To the Editor SEP 1946 Page 55
RA 1939-1945
ODIN M1
Quartermastersection 240mm M1
Popular Science 1945 “Biggest Gun On Wheels”
TANK DATA: ABERDEEN PROVING GROUNDS SERIES. c.1968 with DJ.
Chamberlain & Ellis, British and American Tanks of World War II Arco Publishing 1969 p161
American tanks 1939-45, Janusz Ledwoch, Jacek Solarz, Wydavnictwo Militaria, Warsaw 1996, ISBN 83-86209-59-3