AFV Database Entry:- Light Tank, (Airborne) M22, Locust

Main Vehicle Designation/Name: Light Tank, (Airborne) M22, Locust

Place/s of manufacture: Primary:US
Other: NA

Images/Files:


Manufacturer/s: Primary:Marmon Herrington
Others:

Description, Production History, Notes etc.: Little tank, attached to gliders and often deployed upside down, used in Rhine crossing.
Marmon Herrington,eh? What can you do...

More seriously, Comments built from replies to this entry:
Two design studies were requested from Christie & MH - MH one accepted - wonder what the Christie one looked like.

Very nice Locust page:
6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment M-22 Locust Airborne Light Tank
With some manual pages:
Extracts from Manual TM 9-724, Light Tank T9E1

Egyptian Postwar Use:
Egypt used them against the Israelis in '48. According to Wikipedia (HA!) they were supposedly ex-British stock. As you might expect they did NOT fare well in action against the IDF, a number being knocked out and/or captured. One survives today in damaged condition in Negba, Israel. You were right too, in a way. At least one captured Locust was taken on IDF strength as a runner (see below).

Several online places tell me that some Locusts were used as command/OP vehicles postwar for Belgian units equipped with Shermans. The Belgian Army has one still as an exhibit. At least two more survive in the States, one as a runner that shows up at reenactments. That's a pretty high survival rate for a tank with such a small production run.

Click here to view the record

 

Forgive flippant entries in some fields - first test of this. Any edits to main database entries (hopefully suggested in thread) will appear on first post.

 

I'm experimenting here, Tom.
Thinking if I gradually build a database of AFVS, and have it set to auto-post each entry as a thread, we might built up a reasonably polished resource, with some commentary on each vehicle helping to fill up the details.
Still not sure about which fields might make the most sense or be most useful on each entry, so thought 'sod it' and went live to see how it goes.

Two design studies were requested from Christie & MH - MH one accepted - wonder what the Christie one looked like.

 

Very nice Locust page:
6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment M-22 Locust Airborne Light Tank
With some manual pages:
Extracts from Manual TM 9-724, Light Tank T9E1


Links out to other fine sites well worth adding to the DB entry under notes.

(is a member here behind that cracking 6AB site? Seems familiar...)

 

You may well be right on the Arab-Israeli thing - I'm rather rusty on tankish things (Part of the motivation for building a database is to get my eye back in on AFVs) and had a vague memory of one in preservation/restoration in Israeli markings.

Like I said though - my comments/notes are a bit flippant at the mo, will tidy at a later date.

I do indeed like the look of them, even though hardly a massive success.
I also suspect one would fit in my garage...

 

Nice shot of Hamilcar stowed locust here:
http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/48007-m22-locust-tank/

Two cracking size contrast shots here, with a T28:
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/the-t-28-superheavy-tank-weighing-100-tons-high-res-stock-photography/tlp702064
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/the-t-28-superheavy-tank-weighing-100-tons-and-outfitted-news-photo/50518748

Updated the Locust Entry using comments above (cheers, chaps!), and am just testing that posting in a record's comments updates the thread too.

This Database might just work...
Still not sure how to handle the multi-variant machines, so will potter on with limited variant or oddities for the first few.