M22 Locust

Infobox Weapon
name=Light Tank (Airborne) M22


caption=Light Tank (Airborne) M22 at the Bovington Tank Museum in the UK.
origin=United States
type=Airborne light tank
is_vehicle=yes
service=
used_by=UK EGY ISR
wars= World War II 1948 Arab-Israeli War
designer=
design_date=
manufacturer=
unit_cost=
production_date=
number= 830
variants=
weight=7.4 tonnes (16,400 lb)
length=3.93 m (12.89 ft)
width=2.16 m (7.09 ft)
height=1.82 m (5.97 ft)
crew=3 (Commander/loader, gunner, driver)
armour=9.5 - 25 mm (0.37 - 1.0 in)
primary_armament=1x 37 mm Gun M6
50 rounds
secondary_armament=1 x .30-06 Browning M1919A4 machine gun
2,500 rounds
engine=Lycoming O-435T 6-cylinder radial gasoline
engine_power=192 hp (162 kW)
transmission=
fuel_capacity=
pw_ratio= 25.81 hp/tonne
suspension=Vertical Volute Spring Suspension (VVSS)
clearance=
vehicle_range=217 km (135 mi)
speed=64 km/h (40 mi/h)

The Light Tank (Airborne) M22 was an American design of airmobile light tank used during the Second World War by the British forces, who gave it the name Locust.

Design

The crew of three consisted of the commander-loader and gunner in the turret, and the driver in the hull. The vehicle has light armour, about 25 millimeters thick on the front of the hull and the turret down to 12 millimeters on the rear of the hull. The main armament is a 37 mm M6 gun with a coaxial M1919A4 .30 calibre machine gun mounted in the turret. Both guns could be elevated from -10° to +30°. Additionally either three M3 submachine guns could be carried or a single M1 carbine and two sub-machinegun could be carried by the crew along with twelve grenades."Catalogue of Standard Ordnanace Items", Office of the chief of Ordnance Technical Division, Second edition 1944, Volume 1]

The engine is located at the rear of the tank, a horizontally opposed six cylinder, air cooled Lycoming 0-435-T gasoline aircraft engine which drives a four speed transmission with a controlled differential, located at the front of the tank.

The vehicle is fitted with four brackets for suspending it from an aircraft, these are fitted above and slightly behind the suspension bogies on each side of the hull.

History

The original specification for an air-transportable light tank was issued in May 1941, with a target weight of eight tons. Three companies were invited to submit designs, Christie, GMC and Marmon-Herrington. The Marmon Herrington design was selected for production with the designation T9. After the first vehicles were delivered in late 1941, it was found to be too heavy, and a number of alterations were made, such as making the main turret removable, and removing the gun stabilization and power traverse systems. The resulting vehicle was designated T9E1.

The resulting vehicle could be airlifted only by the C-54 Skymaster, and only with turret removed and placed inside the fuselage and the tank hull suspended below the wing. As the British had the Hamilcar glider which was big enough to carry the M22 ready for battle, they took over the vehicles. Of 1,900 Locusts ordered, only 830 were delivered.

In a number of vehicles guns were fitted with a Littlejohn adaptor, which produced higher muzzle velocity. "The Encyclopedia of Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles", Christopher F. Foss ]

The British 6th Airborne Division used the M22 in March 1945 crossing the Rhine in Operation Varsity. After the war some Locusts were given to Egypt and were employed there until 1956, including in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Some tanks were captured by the Israel Defense Forces. Three of those were adopted by the IDF; all were retired by 1952.

References

* Leland Ness (2002) "Janes World War II Tanks and Fighting Vehicles: A Complete Guide", Harper Collins, ISBN 0-00-711228-9
* [http://www.waronline.org/IDF/Articles/Armor/1948-1952_tanks.html Oleg Granovskiy - "Names, Designations and Service Figures of IDF Armored Vehicles" (Олег Грановский - "Названия, обозначения и количества бронетанковой техники АОИ") at Waronline.org] ru icon

ee also

*List of "M" series military vehicles
*Tank, Light Mk VII, Tetrarch I - A British built airportable tank

External links

* [http://afvdb.50megs.com/usa/m22locust.html AFV database]
* [http://www.wwiivehicles.com/usa/tanks-light/m22.asp WWII vehicles]
* [http://www.onwar.com/tanks/usa/fltm22.htm OnWar]
* [http://www.thelocustpage.tk M22 restoration and history]
* [http://gva.freeweb.hu/weapons/usa_guns2.html Armor penetration table of US 37 mm guns]