Can someone tell me what the sideways "S" on Sherman T-59 tracks is made of? Is it rubber, or metal? Can't find any good photos showing for certain, though it looks like it's black and rubber.

Bill,

Do you have a pcture of the T59 track type? I can't find an image of them on the Sherman Register:

http://web.inter.nl.net/users/spoelstra/g104/track.htm

Paul

Pretty sure that's a T54E2, which is all steel.

http://the.shadock.free.fr/sherman_minutia/tracks/vvss_tracks.html

Sorry, my error: T62 (Axis geek here, part-time Allied modeller). They would then be all steel.

All steel and produced by Chrysler. They had the "export" contracts, that's why you see this type mostly on Commonwealth tanks.

G

Not exactly. It's true that T-62s were produced by Chrysler, which made the M4A4 which was mostly shipped as Lend Lease. The Commonwealth used many other types of Shermans and Sherman variants -- but they wore what was placed on them at their manufacture points.

The frequency of the T-62s on Lend lease tanks is equivalent to M4A4s. Only very rarely do you see them on other lend lease AFVs.

Hope this makes sense.

There were no "export contracts". The closest thing to them were the British Purchasing Commission orders from before Pearl Harbor, none of which went to Detroit Tank Arsenal (It was a Government facility, managed by Chrysler, not a Chrysler plant). There were only 30 less M4A2s than M4A4s given out under foreign aid, and Chrysler didn't build any of them. They are as good a measure of equipage as the M4A4.

If you look at the contemporary records you'll see that the track used on a tank was far and away more likely to be determined by what was available rather than any deliberate choice as to the style, construction, or ultimate destination.

P.S. It's called a chevron grouser.

KL

Thanks for that, I'm certainly NOT grousing after all this great discussion and information!