Hello WOTers!
There are a lot of tanks in World of Tanks that have unique looks, and as the relevant information gradually reveals the relevant information, we realize that many of them are not fanciful fictions, but are based on real tank drawings! In this issue, let's take a look at three of them: the I-Series X-Tier Medium-Tank "45-ton Main Battle Tank", the I-Series Tier IX Heavy Tank "PC50/66", and the M-Series V-Tier Medium-Tank "ARMT", which has just been added to the game!
45-ton main battle tank
I series X-class special medium-tank
Different from the positioning of the I series in the game, the real-life "45-ton main battle tank" actually has nothing to do with Italy, and one of its main design prototypes is a blueprint design of a main battle tank by the British tank technology institute STT in 1983 - "Hotspur". According to the very limited public information so far, its development goal is to create a main battle tank that can adapt to the battlefield environment of the 90s, including improving the internal layout, improving protection, etc., and is planned to replace the "Challenger" main battle tank, also informally called "Challenger III" (and the recent "Lapper" Pick 3 is not the same thing). However, this design was not favored by the military, and the Tottenham tank remained only at the blueprint stage, with a wooden model remaining.
▲ Line drawing and wooden model of "Tottenham".
According to the description of the document, the "Tottenham" uses a three-person crew of commander, gunner, and driver, and the commander can surpass the gun. The shells are divided into parts, the warheads are stored in the aft compartment of the turret, and the propellant is stored in ammunition racks with water jackets in the car. Loading is done by an automatic loader in the aft compartment, with a capacity of 24 rounds and is equipped with a shell throwing device. Power is provided by a 1,736 hp gas turbine. It stands to reason that the "Tottenham" should use a 120mm L30 series rifled gun similar to the "Challenger", but the "45-ton main battle tank" in the game uses the American T53 120mm gun. In addition, the MB822 Ka 500 engine does not exist in reality, and may be a fictional model that is smaller in power and volume than the MB833 (for the Leopard 1), so the power compartment is more compact and can form an adduction structure at the rear.
PC50/66
Class I Class IX can be developed as a heavy tank
According to the historical information given in the game, PC50/66 was a domestic tank scheme mentioned by Italian General Vittorio La Rosa in his 1966 article to replace the American-made M60A1 tank that the army was equipped with at the time. This description is quite accurate, and General Rosa did mention the idea of a family of tanks with a common chassis in 1966, but strangely enough, it came from an advertisement for a radar system published in a military magazine that year. Since this ancient magazine has long been lost, the specific content of the article and the design parameters of the tank are no longer available, but the cover of the advertisement has survived to this day, providing a good reference for the white turret of the PC 50/66 in the game.
▲ A universal tank design proposed by General Rosa
However, the shape of the body of the PC50/66 is somewhat different from the style in the picture above, from the former's flat polygonal shape to an arrow-like cluster shape close to the X-class "Rhino", which may be an original change in reference to the shape of the bow of the "Patton" series of tanks in service in the Italian army. The PC50/66's full-body turret, on the other hand, has a certain French origin, and its shape is most likely a reference to another traditional turret design in Leclerc's early EPC research project, the TC 3 scheme. Despite the lowest technical risk, the frontal projection area of the turret was 2.14 square meters, the largest of the six proposals of the same period, and the weight of the whole vehicle was also the heaviest at 58 tons, which was screened in the first stage of the review in 1978.
▲ Line diagram of TC 3 scheme in EPC project
ARMT
M is a V-rank gold coin
The historical prototype of the ARMT is neither a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun nor a tank destroyer, but the "Automatic Burst Rocket Launcher (ARRL)" scheme proposed by Harvey Machinery in the United States in the 50s, and the name of the ARMT in the game is likely to be a patchwork of the acronyms Automatic Repeating for "Automatic Repeating" and Medium Tank for "Medium Tank". More precisely, this design will only include the rocket launcher itself, which will be able to be mounted on the chassis of tanks in service at the time (such as the M46), and is designed to achieve a high rate of fire and fire continuity with a single launch tube, and can effectively reduce the silhouette and center of gravity (compared to traditional MLRS), according to the original words of the patent documents, "both the fire density of MLRS and the survivability of single-barrel tanks".
▲ Side view of ARRL
The ARRL's main armament is a 4.5-inch (114.3) mm rocket launch tube with a maximum pitch angle of -15/+60 degrees, equipped with a conveyor-type automatic loader with a capacity of 28 rounds, arranged together in a cylindrical upper tower, which is roughly similar to the French swinging turret. The rest of the ammunition is placed in the ammunition rack in the middle of the fighting compartment and can be fed into the loader with the help of a belt-type auxiliary reloader. The lower tower is a rectangular structure with a spacious interior in which the crew can stand, which is convenient for command and loading. The ARMT in the game not only replaced the main weapon with the 76mm gun of the "Sherman", but also replaced the chassis with a fictitious model modeled after the outline of the tank in the patent, and the combat performance was also "epic" weakened compared to the historical prototype!
▲ ARRL's ammo rack mounting location
The above is to take stock of the 3 tanks in the game with real historical prototypes in this issue, I hope it can help you! What other tanks do you want to know about the backstory? You might as well leave a message in the comment area to let me know!