Difference between revisions of "M41A1 Walker Bulldog"

The M41 Walker Bulldog was rushed into production in 1951 to fight in the Korean War, some had even arrived in Korea before official testing had finished and the design standardised. Because of this the design suffered from several flaws, the M41A1 was put into production in 1954 in hopes to fix these issues. The original electrical turret traverse system was deemed to slow and so it was replaced in the M41A1 with a new hydraulic system which not only increased the turret's rate of turn but was also more compact and allowed more rounds to be stored in the turret. Another problem was that debris could get stuck between the tracks and fenders, this would cause the tracks to be thrown off the wheels and damage the tank. To fix this the side skirts were removed, track defectors were added under the fenders and the fenders were also rounded off on the ends. Over 2,300 M41A1 Walker Bulldog's were built and used until 1969 when it was replaced by the M551 Sheridan. Many were then sold to other countries where they were further upgraded with bigger guns and more powerful engines, some of these tanks are still in service today.

References

• Wikipedia