T-18E2 BOARHOUND

In 1941, the British Army wanted to have a kind of “Sherman on wheels” for the War in the Desert. The British Purchasing Commission asked the US Army Ordnance Corps to develop a vehicle that would cover such expectations. In 1942, the T-18E2 Boarhound was presented. It was an 8×8 vehicle armed with a 57mm gun and with enough protection to face the German vehicles. The gun was gyro stabilized and had a coaxial machine gun and another mounted on the front of the hull. Boarhound could ford water courses up to 1.20 meters without preparation. The suspension was composed by articulated springs and torque tubes and the vehicle could reach a maximum speed of 80 km/h on road. Its armour was very thick and Boarhound reached 28 tons in weight, almost the same as the medium tanks of the time. This heavy weight ended up negatively affecting their off-road mobility, and was one of the reasons so few units were manufactured. Unfortunately the T-18E2 appeared when the serious stage of the Desert War had already passed and only 30 units were delivered to the British fighting forces in North Africa.

T-18E2 BOARHOUND gallery and more info