Need a Sherman Expert! Kelley's Heroes Tank

[Jnewboy]

My osprey book says these were made.





It says "a handful of M4A3 (75mm) were rearmed with the 76mm in Febuary 1945"

My question is how many? any good pics of the real deal out there? the book I have only shows this model.

[normandy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M4_Sherman






these are the only pics I've seen so far with the suspension the same as your pic.

http://www.timawa.net/forum/index.php?topic=32830.15

[Jnewboy]

Thanks Normandy, yea I have seen alot of those Shermans to, the entire gun mantel was changed out. I was curious about this version because it has the same older mantel as the 75mm that showed up at Normandy in 1944 except a longer larger barrel for the 76mm. All the 76mm I have seen have what you showed with the whole mantel changed out.

[Jnewboy]

I have made some progress, photos of the retrofit 76mm on to the 75mm mantel



However all photos I have found so far are of retrofits that were done after the war. However it is writen on the website below that "In addition to repairs, some of the older M4A3(75)Ws were re-armed with the 76mm gun. Fitted into the smaller turret, it had the appearance of the expedient mount first tried in 1942. Although crowded, it again showed that firepower was the crucial factor. Despite its deficiencies, fitting the 76mm gun in the 75mm gun turret was a cheap way to up-gun older Shermans. "

http://web.inter.nl.net/users/spoelstra ... etro76.htm

Is this correct? were these retrofits used in WWII? The only photos I can find are Shermans from other latter wars and Kelley's Heroes