M40 GMC

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155 mm Gun Motor Carriage M40
General characteristics
Crew 8 (Commander, driver, (6x) gun crew)
Length 9.1
Width 3.15
Height 2.7
Weight 36.3 tonnes
Armour and armament
Armour 12 mm
Main armament 155 mm M2 gun

20 rounds

Secondary armament
Mobility
Power plant Wright (Continental) R975 EC2
340 hp
Suspension HVSS (Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension)
Road speed 38
Power/weight
Range 170

The 155 mm Gun Motor Carriage M40 was a US self propelled artillery vehicle built on a widened and lengthened Medium Tank M4A3 chassis but with Continental engine and with HVSS that was introduced at the end of the Second World War. Equipped with a 155 mm M2 gun, it was designed to replace the earlier M12 Gun Motor Carriage. Its prototype designation was the T38, but this was changed to the M40 in March 1945.

A few vehicles saw combat at the end of the war in Europe, the first time being in the push towards Cologne. From there it was deployed during the Korean War.

Post war; the M40 was used by the British, there it was designated 155 mm SP, M40.

Contents

[edit] Variants

The Army planned to use the same T38 chassis for a family of SP artillery:

  • Cargo Carrier T30 - a few built before cancellation in December 1944 to make more chassis available for GMCs
  • 8 inch Howitzer Motor Carriage M43 - 8 in (203 mm) HMC, standardized August 1945, 48 built
8-inch HMC M43 in Korea.
Enlarge
8-inch HMC M43 in Korea.
  • 250 mm Mortar Motor Carriage T94 - 10 in (250 mm) MMC, began design Feb. 1945, one prototype completed in 1946

[edit] Related Vehicles

[edit] Reference

  • Leland Ness(2002)Janes World War II Tanks and Fighting Vehicles, Harper Collins, ISBN 0-00-711228-9

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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American armored fighting vehicles of World War II
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Medium and heavy tanks
M2 Medium Tank | M3 Lee | M4 Sherman | M26 Pershing
Self-propelled artillery
M7 Priest | M8 Scott | M12 Gun Motor Carriage | M40 GMC
M3 Gun Motor Carriage | M16 Multiple Gun Motor Carriage | M5 Gun Motor Carriage | T34 Calliope
Tank destroyers
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M2 Half Track Car | M3/M5 Half Track Personnel Carrier
M4 Mortar Carrier | T30 Half Track
Amphibious vehicles
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Armored cars
M8 Greyhound | M3 Scout Car 'White' | M20 Armored Utility Car
T17 Deerhound / Staghound | T18 Boarhound
Experimental vehicles
M38 Wolfhound | T1/M6 Heavy Tank | T-28 Tank/T-95 GMC
Assault Tank T14 | Heavy Tank T29 | Heavy Tank T30 | Medium Tank T20 | T7 Combat Car

T-16 | T-3 Half Track | T54 Gun Motor Carriage | T40/M9 Tank Destroyer
T-19 | 8in Howitzer Motor Carriage T84 | T92 Howitzer Motor Carriage
Light Tank T7/Medium Tank M7 | T88 Gun Motor Carriage

American armored fighting vehicle production during World War II
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