M3A3?5? Grant tank on the side of the road at the entrance to the now defunct Melbourne Tank Museum on the outskirts of Melbourne, Victoria.  |
| Side doors indicate an early model as it was deleted as a weak point in later tanks. The 75mm barrel seems way too long but may be the M3 75mm gun as indicated on page 21 of the surviving Grant tanks PDF. |
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| Two tone Australian camouflage. |
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| Hull front |
The Museum closed in 2005/6 and the two Grants in the collection were sold to a private collector which means I took these photos a long time ago.
The Australian War Memorial states Australia received 754 of these from the United States during 1942 and according to the research done by Paul D. Handel on Anzac Steel they served until 1955 in some reserve units. Because they were part of British/ Commonwealth orders they were fitted with the lower height British spec. turret.
I've spoken to an older local here in Warrnambool who can remember the local Army reserve unit (CMF?) having at least one which they used to drive from the old barracks which was at the site of the current South West TAFE campus up onto the sand dunes to fire at the reef out to sea on the weekends.
Nice one. It's good to see the camo design. They have a running Grant at the Fremantle Army Museum but it's in all green drab. I also saw one of these being used as a tractor in the Wheatbelt. The farmer had taken off the top turret. I remember thinking what a shame.
ReplyDeleteYou might like this link http://the.shadock.free.fr/british.html , lots of old tanks in paddocks here , pity the old Tank Museum sold of of the AC-1 Setinels to a private collector in the US , where it happily sits rusting in a paddock out back
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