Scissor bridge laying tank

Post by **aferguson** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:40 pm

were scissor bridge laying tanks used in WWII?...i'm not sure if they had been developed then but i think they were. If so can someone tell me what chassis carried them?

Threetoughtrucks · Post by **Threetoughtrucks** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:41 pm

I can find no reference to any US "bridge laying" tracked vehicle during WW2. I will dig up stats on "bridge laying" tanks and post here but believe it will be post war.

Closest I can come is a 6 ton Brockway truck that carried bridge sections with a crane to set sections in place.

TTT

Zartan · Post by **Zartan** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:11 am

A picture of the PZ IV bridge layer that Meskary speaks of is in the link below, scroll down half way.

http://pedg.org/panzer/public/website/pz3.htm#panzer4

Threetoughtrucks · Post by **Threetoughtrucks** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:01 am

Aferg:

There were experiments with "bridge launchers" (thier term) during WW2 using tank chasis.

The most similar to the "scissors" type used later, used a M3 medium tank chasis. It was sucessful but never got past the prototype stage.

Various prototypes were built with various designs, one was used in France during 1945 but it involved the tank picking up sections of bridge and placing them in place using a A-frame boom. Those were based on the T-2 recovery vehicles which were medium M-3 and M-4 chasis. No scissors type though.

The final prototype was used in Italy during the war and was called the M-2 Ark. A M4 medium tank had a fixed bridge section on the top of the tank with two raised section, one on either end. It made a 40 foot bridge but involved the tank driving into the stream and lowering the ends. The problem they found was that after a day's use with tanks rolling over the "Ark" the tank was pushed into the streambed mud and needed alot of help to get out of the stream. It was never popular.

Other designs that were used used a M-46 chasis (1953) and a M-4 chasis (1955). Both of the latter carried 60 foot of bridge in "scissors" and were used for many years.

I have pics but they won't scan clear. If you want them send me a PM with your e-mail and I'll send you the pics. Copyright problems prohibit me posting the pics on my Webshots.

TTT

zonetoys · Post by **zonetoys** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:40 pm

ROCO Minitanks made an HO version of the M-48 Bridge Layer
Here is a nice picture of it extended!

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/5351/p2/z0219.html

Site also has some other nice pics of military vehicles made by ROCO!
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/5351/

Maybe the 1/18 scale guys need some simulated (to their size) 1/6 stuff to play with!

Post by **aferguson** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 5:42 pm

Thanks for all the help guys. The reason i asked is because i just bought one of these on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1

and i was trying to figure out what to do with it...lol. I thought it would be pretty neat to have a bridge laying tank in 1/18 scale.

After doing some research and asking on Missing Lynx the only thing that is about the same size as this is the Valentine bridge laying tank. All post war bridge layers are much larger.

The Valentines were used in good numbers in NW Europe by the British and Canadian units. Probably the Polish too. Also used somewhat in Italy. Several were loaned to US units in Europe and Italy too because, as TTT mentioned, the US didn't have any bridge laying vehicles of their own.

The chassis of this Joe tank looks nothing like a Valentine chassis but it's almost exactly the right size and the bridge is only a little bit smaller than the bridge the Valentine carried. I'll try to disguise the chassis a bit with sand bags or foilage or something. I think this is pretty cool and something a bit different. Now i really wish i had a Sherman Firefly to cross the bridge.

Threetoughtrucks · Post by **Threetoughtrucks** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 5:22 am

Aferg:

Very neat little tank. Does it open? Does the scale of the tank fit in with our 1/18?

I know it's against your WW2 principles, but as is, it would fit right in with a Korean War dio with a couple of M-4 Shermans (with the 76mm guns), M-48's or M3A1 Half-tracks. Now if we could have a T-34 to go with it.

TTT

Post by **aferguson** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 6:12 am

Yes it fully opens and detaches from the chassis, just like the real bridge. As i said the tank is about the size of a Valentine chassis (in 1/18 scale). It's about 12 inches long. The bridge opens up to about 18 inches in length. It's very neat.

What bridge layers did the US have in Korea? I thought this would be way too small to represent any post war bridge laying tank i know about. Far too small for a Patton chassis bridge layer but as i said, almost exactly the right size for a WWII British Valentine chassis bridge laying tank.

These things are common on Ebay and you can get them for about $8-$10, in loose but good condition.

Quixote511 · Post by **Quixote511** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 6:52 am

I bought one of those and just snapped the bridge off of it and used it in my dios. Pretty cool for the stream crossing look when you add some weathering.
Aaron