The air-cooled tank engines used in the M3 Lee/Grant, M3 Stuart, and M4 Sherman tanks, as well as some post-WWII tanks are amazing to me. It seems weird that someone would come up with the idea of using a radial aircraft engine in a tank to begin with, and also that these engines were successful in this role. When I first heard that they used these radial engines, I thought that maybe they adapted them to lie flat in the rear of the tank. Nope, they were mounted upright, with a giant fan mounted to the front. Radials were used in quite a few WWII armored vehicles.
The Ford GAA, a liquid-cooled, all-aluminum, 1100 cubic-inch DOHC V8 was used in quite a few of the Shermans as well, but as tanks got heavier, starting with the M26 Pershing, it was found to be inadequate. Once again, air-cooled engines were used, starting with the Continental AV-1790 series, an air-cooled V12 (!) in both gasoline and diesel versions, producing upwards of 650 horsepower, on up to 980 or so horsepower in a gasoline version for the M51 tank retriever.
I don't know, it seems not only odd that these engines were designed as enormous air-cooled tank engines, but that they actually succeeded, and succeeded well. After all, the M60 tank used the Continental AVDS-1790-2 V12, air-cooled Twin-turbo diesel engine for its whole service life, as far as I know.
The Ford GAA, a liquid-cooled, all-aluminum, 1100 cubic-inch DOHC V8 was used in quite a few of the Shermans as well, but as tanks got heavier, starting with the M26 Pershing, it was found to be inadequate. Once again, air-cooled engines were used, starting with the Continental AV-1790 series, an air-cooled V12 (!) in both gasoline and diesel versions, producing upwards of 650 horsepower, on up to 980 or so horsepower in a gasoline version for the M51 tank retriever.
I don't know, it seems not only odd that these engines were designed as enormous air-cooled tank engines, but that they actually succeeded, and succeeded well. After all, the M60 tank used the Continental AVDS-1790-2 V12, air-cooled Twin-turbo diesel engine for its whole service life, as far as I know.
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