M22 Locust.

Discussion in 'Weapons, Technology & Equipment' started by von Poop, Jun 29, 2007.

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  1. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Thorough site on the diminutive Locust in general and the running Restoration of the Belgian Army Museum's example in particular.
    (though sadly no mention of the Israeli use of them postwar :( )

    Locust.

    Cheers,
    Adam.
     
  2. Capt.Sensible

    Capt.Sensible Well-Known Member

    Very nice website, well laid out and with lots of background info. Nice one. The teeny-tiny scale of the Locust really shows up on the 'Our M22' page under the paragraph 'Glorious Museum Years' - at first glance I thought I was looking at a one-third scale model of the real thing.

    H
     
  3. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    Tanks in general are quite small affairs, much smaller than photos make them look. I with my 1.63m frame could easily step over the rear of a T-26 from the ground, and getting inside and standing over the hull floor my head protruded for quite a bit from the commander's cupola.

    I found the Pz IV a damn tight squeeze and you can see I'm not a Teutonic Aryan Demigod ^_^
     
  4. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    Tanks in general are quite small affairs, much smaller than photos make them look. I with my 1.63m frame could easily step over the rear of a T-26 from the ground, and getting inside and standing over the hull floor my head protruded for quite a bit from the commander's cupola.

    I found the Pz IV a damn tight squeeze and you can see I'm not a Teutonic Aryan Demigod ^_^

    Maybe a tad off topic...
    I was able to crawl around in a T-72 in 1992. There was no way I could even consider closing the driver's hatch cover and still sit in the seat. My head protruded a good 8 inches out even when I had slid down into the seat as much as possible.
    The commanders seat was a bit better, I could close the hatch if I scrunched down as much as I could, but it would have been difficult to do anything other than grunt and breathe. The interior of the turret was joke for me. I couldn't get down in it. I think the biggest problem was my claustrophobia which may have made it seem tighter than it was. I doubt seriously that I could have been a tanker or submariner. I know that Soviet tank crews were required to be small and I can see why. I am 5'11".
     
  5. kfz

    kfz Very Senior Member

    6 cylinder lycomming aero engine, didnt knowthat. Parts should be a POP, especially as you can use use (barley) secondhand bits from the zillion Cessna's that are out there.
     
  6. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    The links page is rather good too, there's a reassuring volume of high quality restoring going on. I'm even tempted by an hour long DVD in Dutch covering a fine looking halftrack restoration.

    The Locust would fit in my Garage dead easy, not much tracked armour would do that...must have a word with the woman about a delayed birthday present...
     
  7. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  8. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Lovely shot of some Locusts settling near some Fireflies:
    [​IMG]
    From those machined metal makers of beautiful 16th scale RC vehicles:
    Armortek 1/6th Scale All Metal Kits
    (They have to be seen to be believed, quite stunning and put all other such devices slightly in the shade.)

    I see they have a Christmas offer on... Buy the Sdkfz7 for £2499 & get the 88 for 'only' £874... maybe one day...:rolleyes:
     
  9. Bodston

    Bodston Little Willy

    Lovely shot of some Locusts settling near some Fireflies:
    [​IMG]

    Very interesting shot. The M22 was not used by the US outside of the states, and yet here are a couple in US markings apparently in rural England. Those highly sloped stone tiled roofs on the building in the distance look like the Cotswolds to me. Maybe they are awaiting a repaint in the markings of 6th Armoured Airborne Reconnaissance Regt. ready for Op. Varsity. The eight Locusts used in the operation were loaded at Tarrant Rushton and flown to Woodbrige in Suffolk from where all 48 Hamilcar flights for the Rhine crossing operation left from.
     
  10. PrancingPanzer

    PrancingPanzer Junior Member

    I heard they canceled the locusts because they had... inadaquate firepower and armor right? Do you think they would have made a difference during operation market garden or D-day? I'm not sure, because while I think that if they put the resources into 37mm recoilless rifles they put into locusts it would have done just as good, but would it have made a difference when it came to engaging infantry?
     
  11. Bodston

    Bodston Little Willy

    I heard they canceled the locusts because they had... inadaquate firepower and armor right? Do you think they would have made a difference during operation market garden or D-day? I'm not sure, because while I think that if they put the resources into 37mm recoilless rifles they put into locusts it would have done just as good, but would it have made a difference when it came to engaging infantry?
    The only reason they ever got sent at all was that they miraculously fitted into a glider. The tank that they replaced in 6th airborne div, the Tetrarch, was used during the D-day landings with limited success. The 37mm gun of the M22 was better than the 2pdr at engaging infantry as it had a canister shot, I believe, which turned it into a giant shotgun. Another difference between D-day and the Rhine was the ratio of airborne tanks to towed 17pdr anti-tank guns taken. D-day had twenty Tetrarchs to four 17pdrs whereas Varsity had only eight Locusts to sixteen towed 17pdrs.
    Interestingly the 1st airborne division who dropped at Arnhem did not have an armoured regt. in their make-up and consequentally had to rely on armed jeeps for reconnaissance duties.
     
  12. GPRegt

    GPRegt Senior Member

    Of the eight Locusts, six arrived on the ground in fighting condition. Of the other two, one had been lost when its glider was hit in flight whilst the other ended upside down after its glider was hit on landing. The six tanks went into action, one being knocked out very early, when it took on a Panther and came off worst.

    Steve W.
     
  13. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

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  14. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    [​IMG]

    Due from Pen and Sword in May 2021
    https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1526785021...colid=XIVH9ILEJ4RE&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

    From Amazon:
     
  15. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Orwell1984 likes this.
  16. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    General Aircraft Hamilcar
     
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  17. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    When I was a boy in the late 40s and early 50s we would drive from Fulwood in Preston to Lytham St Annes for a day at the sea side. I remember that we used to pass a house that had a Hamilcar fuselage for a garage (and also went over a Bailey bridge!)
     

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