A couple days ago i was checking out Wikipedia on information on the Italian P-40 tank. It stated that the British and Americans used old plane engines in their tanks. Is this true?
I believe a lot of tanks were powered by plane engines or modified plane engines. Presumably because they gave a lot of power for their weight. FNG
engines The Queens Bays shermans originally had ''Wright Whirlwind' high octane aero engines, BUT, these were NEW engines NOT OLD ones from planes. Later shermans had diesels with twin GM's.
Not presumably, they were high power for low weight, but they were modified engines, not engines used interchangeably with aircraft. It also helped with mass production, in that the same basic engine components could be built for tanks or planes. One of the stated problems with the use of (at least) the Wright/Continental engine was that running the engiens at low rpm resulted in frequent fouling of the spark plugs and valves. http://www.enginehistory.org/featured_engines.htm http://www.wwiivehicles.com/default.asp
The Meteor (Cromwell, Comet and some post war vehicles) was a modified Merlin, at one stage there was thought of going back to the previous engine type (Liberty - also an aero-aengine IIRC) due to the aviation requirements taking precedence of outputs from Rolls-Royce...
The Wikipedia article makes a good point. Why didn't they use aero-engines for the P-26/40 considering that the tank was rendered practically useless by its poor quality engine?
Maybe, as the Wiki article says they just didn't think of it. Maybe the priority was for aircraft to get the available engines. If the tank had been available in 1940, it would have been good, by 1942, it was on the poor side of mediocre.
I find it hard to believe that no one ever thought about it, but if my memory serves me right then the Italians were short of aero-engines in any case.
You have a point! At a Hp/Wt ratio of 15, even the 400 hp engine would only have been average or less.
Some tank engines - the early Sherman engine, the Liberty and the Meteor - were modified aircraft engines. The basic modification being that they did not have a supercharger installed. The original Sherman used a radial engine, which is why the hull was so tall. Later Shermans used ifferent engines, but kept the hull shape. The Liberty was an adaption of the Nuffield Liberty V-12 engine, first built in 1917! The Meteor was an adaption of the Rolls Royce Merlin These were new engines built specifically for tanks, not old engines taken from planes.
List of aircraft engines in Tanks Hello, My favorite radial in a tank is the Guiberson T-1020. It was a 9-cylinder radial diesel that was flight tested in a Stinson Reliant in 1940. In tank service it produced 245 hp @ 2,200 rpm and powered the M1A1E1 (7), M2 (34) and M3 Diesel (1,285). The engine had a diameter of 47" and weighed 620 lbs! The M4A6 was powered by a Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 in 2 versions. The G-200 was a 9-cylinder gas-burning radial that developed 900 hp @ 2,300 rpm and powered the M6 Heavy Tank. The Wright RD-1820 was converted to a diesel by Caterpillar Inc. as the D-200 and produced 450 hp @ 2,000 rpm in the M4A6 Sherman. (Brit. Sherman VII) The honey used a radial as well. An air-cooled Continental-Wright radial petrol 250 hp (186 kW). Russian BT series used gas aviation based engines. (Until the BT-8) The Meteor (Merlin - Spitfire-hurricane-Lancaster-P51D (built by Packard)) was in the later model British tanks like the comet, cromwell and centurion. Just a note today the M1 is run on a turbine based on a helicopter engine.
lol - you can imagine them playing up to it, putting on posh voices 'oh, I drive a Rolls don't'cha know"
The Scorpion/ Scimitar family of CVR(T) had a Jaguar-manufactured engine - the whole series of vehicles were known as "E-Type sewing machines"...
I think I should clarify, the P51D used a americanized Merlin Engine, produced by Packard. The Meteor was a Merlin that had its supercharger removed and was de-rated to approx 600 bhp (447 kW). In addition, because weight-saving was not so important for a tank engine some of the Merlin's more expensive light-alloy components were replaced with cheaper components manufactured from steel. The Cromwell was the fastest British AFV in the war (could get to over 40mph with the governor removed) and used the meteor. They put a governor on it because the suspension wasn't up to the task. (Max speed 32mph)
