This may seem like an odd question, but there are a lot of armor experts on here so I figure this is as good a place as any...

Did WWII tanks have interior lighting? I know the interiors were painted white, which I'd guess was to create a feeling of space and also make maintenance easier. But I'd still think that all buttoned up they'd be awfully dark inside to try and work in if there was no lighting.

Can anyone point me in the right direction of reference for this? My google search-foo has been weak. I have a "walk around" book for the M18 Hellcat, but not having an enclosed turret, it's in a bit of a different situation.

Also, can anyone recommend any good books to read about life as a WWII tanker? I'm specifically interested in US, ETO.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Doug.

The short answer is, yes. They had interior lighting, or they would have been as dark as the bottom of a hole at midnight inside all of them. Not a very good way to go to war

HTH, Gary

From the two most prolific tanks of WWII, the Sherman and T-34:




These days the interior lights are blue, at least in some of the MRAPs

Thanks Gents! Robert, the interior shot of the Sherman came through great. I had a hard time getting the T34 to work. Since posting the original question I came across a Sherman turret photo that showed the same light, but from a very different angle. I couldn't tell for sure from the other angle, but suspected it was a light. Your photo removes all doubt.

In my looking I also came across an interesting set of photos from an M8 HMC. Even though it was in awful condition, you could clearly see the entire "turret" interior was painted white. Not like the other photos I've seen where the turret interior is OD because of the open top.

Was the photo of a post war M8 or one in a boneyard or an actual WW II photo of a beat up M8? I ask because I've seen several M8 wartime photos and the interior of the turret is always OD as is the fighting compartment floor. The driver's area was white. Individual crews may have also painted their wartime M8 turret interior white, but it really does stand out from the air and I just can't see any unit permitting that during WW II.

Paul

Hi Paul, it was a boneyard M8, I don't know if it saw action or was simply very neglected. It was definitely not a wartime photo...about 50 years worth of rust and crud accumulation. Somewhere on here I read that TD open turrets came white from the factory and that crews then painted them OD for camouflage. I have no idea what the source for that was.