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Sherman Firefly
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Sherman Firefly
The Sherman Firefly was a medium tank used by the United Kingdom and some armoured formations of other Allies in the Second World War. It was based on the US M4 Sherman but was fitted with the more powerful British 76.2 mm (3.00 in) calibre 17-pounder anti-tank gun as its primary weapon. Conceived as a stopgap until future British tank designs came into service, the Sherman Firefly became the most common vehicle mounting the 17-pounder in the war.
The British Army made extensive use of Sherman tanks, but they expected to have their own tank models developed soon, so the idea of mounting the 17-pounder in the Sherman was initially rejected. However, through the efforts of two persistent British officers, government reluctance was eventually overcome, and the Firefly went into production. This proved fortunate, as the Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger and Cruiser Mk VIII Cromwell tank designs experienced difficulties and delays.
After the problem of getting such a large gun to fit in the Sherman's turret was solved, the Firefly was put into production in early 1944, in time to equip the 21st Army Group, commanded by General Bernard Montgomery, for the Normandy landings. It soon became highly valued, as its gun could almost always penetrate the armour of the Panther and Tiger tanks it faced in Normandy, something no other British or American tank could reliably do. Because the Firefly's barrel was visibly longer than that of a normal 75 mm Sherman, crews tried to countershade camouflage it so the tank would look like a regular Sherman from a distance. Between 2,100 and 2,200 were manufactured before production ended in 1945; it is unknown if this includes 100 tanks built for the United States.
The idea of fitting a 17-pounder gun into a Sherman tank was rejected by the Ministry of Supply's Tank Decision Board. Although the British Army had made extensive use of the American-built Sherman, it was intended that a new generation of British tanks would replace it. First, there was the Cromwell, which was expected to use the Vickers high-velocity 75 mm gun; this gun would have had superior anti-tank performance to the US 75 mm and 76 mm guns that were mounted in the Sherman. The second was the A30 Challenger, which was based on the Cromwell but with the even more powerful 17-pounder gun. These two tanks and their successors—the Comet and the Centurion, which were already on the drawing board—were to replace the Sherman in British service and the prospect of diverting resources to mount the 17-pounder on the Sherman seemed undesirable.[page needed]
Major George Brighty of the Royal Tank Regiment was at the Lulworth Armoured Fighting School in early 1943. Despite the A30 Challenger undergoing initial trials at Lulworth, Brighty was convinced that the Sherman was a better mount for the 17-pounder. The turret of the Sherman was too small to allow for the very long recoil of the gun. In a radical adjustment, Brighty removed the recoil system and locked the gun in place, thus making the entire tank absorb the recoil, but this was far from an ideal situation, and there was no telling how long the tank would have been able to handle such a setup.
Around June 1943, a colleague of Brighty, Lieutenant Colonel George Witheridge of the Royal Tank Regiment, arrived at Lulworth. A veteran of the North Africa campaign, Witheridge had experienced first-hand the one-sided battles between British tanks armed with the 40 mm 2-pounder gun and Rommel's formidable tanks and anti-tank guns. During the Battle of Gazala in mid-1942, Witheridge had been blown out of his M3 Grant medium tank, and though he recovered from his wounds, he was declared unfit to return to combat duty. In January 1943, he was posted to Fort Knox in the United States for six months to advise on gunnery, where he was "sold" on the Sherman. While at Lulworth, Witheridge inspected the A30 Challenger and "joined in the chorus of complaints" about the tank. Upon looking up Brighty and learning of his attempts to improve the Sherman, Witheridge lent his assistance. He advised Brighty on methods to solve the recoil problem.
Not long after, Witheridge and Brighty received a notice from the Department of Tank Design (DTD) to cease their efforts. Unwilling to abandon the project, Witheridge, using his connections with such influential people as Major General Raymond Briggs, former General Officer Commanding the 1st Armoured Division in North Africa and then director of the Royal Armoured Corps, successfully lobbied Claude Gibb, Director-General of Weapons and Instruments Production at the Ministry of Supply, to make it an official ministry project. Gibb was able to explain to the detractors that not only was it possible, but it should be doable in England. He had liaised with Colonel William Watson, who in late 1942 had returned from secondment to Australia to work on the production of the Australian AC1 Sentinel tank, onto which the 17-pounder had been mounted. With this development, the endeavor was taken out of the hands of the highly enthusiastic and devoted amateurs at Lulworth who had initiated it and given to professional tank developers.
W. G. K. Kilbourn, a Vickers engineer working for the DTD, transformed their idea into the reality of the prototype of the tank that would serve the British forces from the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. The first thing he had to fix was the lack of a workable recoil system for the 17-pounder. The 17-pounder traveled 40 in (1.0 m) back as it absorbed the recoil of the blast. This was too long for the Sherman's turret. Kilbourn solved this problem by redesigning the recoil system completely rather than modifying it. The recoil cylinders were shortened and placed on both sides of the gun to take advantage of the width of the turret.
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Sherman Firefly AI simulator
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Sherman Firefly
The Sherman Firefly was a medium tank used by the United Kingdom and some armoured formations of other Allies in the Second World War. It was based on the US M4 Sherman but was fitted with the more powerful British 76.2 mm (3.00 in) calibre 17-pounder anti-tank gun as its primary weapon. Conceived as a stopgap until future British tank designs came into service, the Sherman Firefly became the most common vehicle mounting the 17-pounder in the war.
The British Army made extensive use of Sherman tanks, but they expected to have their own tank models developed soon, so the idea of mounting the 17-pounder in the Sherman was initially rejected. However, through the efforts of two persistent British officers, government reluctance was eventually overcome, and the Firefly went into production. This proved fortunate, as the Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger and Cruiser Mk VIII Cromwell tank designs experienced difficulties and delays.
After the problem of getting such a large gun to fit in the Sherman's turret was solved, the Firefly was put into production in early 1944, in time to equip the 21st Army Group, commanded by General Bernard Montgomery, for the Normandy landings. It soon became highly valued, as its gun could almost always penetrate the armour of the Panther and Tiger tanks it faced in Normandy, something no other British or American tank could reliably do. Because the Firefly's barrel was visibly longer than that of a normal 75 mm Sherman, crews tried to countershade camouflage it so the tank would look like a regular Sherman from a distance. Between 2,100 and 2,200 were manufactured before production ended in 1945; it is unknown if this includes 100 tanks built for the United States.
The idea of fitting a 17-pounder gun into a Sherman tank was rejected by the Ministry of Supply's Tank Decision Board. Although the British Army had made extensive use of the American-built Sherman, it was intended that a new generation of British tanks would replace it. First, there was the Cromwell, which was expected to use the Vickers high-velocity 75 mm gun; this gun would have had superior anti-tank performance to the US 75 mm and 76 mm guns that were mounted in the Sherman. The second was the A30 Challenger, which was based on the Cromwell but with the even more powerful 17-pounder gun. These two tanks and their successors—the Comet and the Centurion, which were already on the drawing board—were to replace the Sherman in British service and the prospect of diverting resources to mount the 17-pounder on the Sherman seemed undesirable.[page needed]
Major George Brighty of the Royal Tank Regiment was at the Lulworth Armoured Fighting School in early 1943. Despite the A30 Challenger undergoing initial trials at Lulworth, Brighty was convinced that the Sherman was a better mount for the 17-pounder. The turret of the Sherman was too small to allow for the very long recoil of the gun. In a radical adjustment, Brighty removed the recoil system and locked the gun in place, thus making the entire tank absorb the recoil, but this was far from an ideal situation, and there was no telling how long the tank would have been able to handle such a setup.
Around June 1943, a colleague of Brighty, Lieutenant Colonel George Witheridge of the Royal Tank Regiment, arrived at Lulworth. A veteran of the North Africa campaign, Witheridge had experienced first-hand the one-sided battles between British tanks armed with the 40 mm 2-pounder gun and Rommel's formidable tanks and anti-tank guns. During the Battle of Gazala in mid-1942, Witheridge had been blown out of his M3 Grant medium tank, and though he recovered from his wounds, he was declared unfit to return to combat duty. In January 1943, he was posted to Fort Knox in the United States for six months to advise on gunnery, where he was "sold" on the Sherman. While at Lulworth, Witheridge inspected the A30 Challenger and "joined in the chorus of complaints" about the tank. Upon looking up Brighty and learning of his attempts to improve the Sherman, Witheridge lent his assistance. He advised Brighty on methods to solve the recoil problem.
Not long after, Witheridge and Brighty received a notice from the Department of Tank Design (DTD) to cease their efforts. Unwilling to abandon the project, Witheridge, using his connections with such influential people as Major General Raymond Briggs, former General Officer Commanding the 1st Armoured Division in North Africa and then director of the Royal Armoured Corps, successfully lobbied Claude Gibb, Director-General of Weapons and Instruments Production at the Ministry of Supply, to make it an official ministry project. Gibb was able to explain to the detractors that not only was it possible, but it should be doable in England. He had liaised with Colonel William Watson, who in late 1942 had returned from secondment to Australia to work on the production of the Australian AC1 Sentinel tank, onto which the 17-pounder had been mounted. With this development, the endeavor was taken out of the hands of the highly enthusiastic and devoted amateurs at Lulworth who had initiated it and given to professional tank developers.
W. G. K. Kilbourn, a Vickers engineer working for the DTD, transformed their idea into the reality of the prototype of the tank that would serve the British forces from the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. The first thing he had to fix was the lack of a workable recoil system for the 17-pounder. The 17-pounder traveled 40 in (1.0 m) back as it absorbed the recoil of the blast. This was too long for the Sherman's turret. Kilbourn solved this problem by redesigning the recoil system completely rather than modifying it. The recoil cylinders were shortened and placed on both sides of the gun to take advantage of the width of the turret.
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