I have noticed in various photos of the Sherman tank, a pair of upright strips (joined at the top with two circular pieces) on the rear of the commander's cupola. My first thought that this was a gun-sight, but why would it be at the rear? My next thought was that it was a rest for the .50cal machine-gun (when not in use), but surely not, as it would mean that the weapon was directly over the hatch covers. I also note that some Shermans have their machine-gun mounted at the rear of the cupola, and the upright strips at the front. Does this suggest that the cupola was a rotating section on the turret roof?

Hi Paul,

On the early "split hatch" cupola the uprights were indeed the MG barrel rest! Good reason to wear a steel helmet when emerging...

And yes, the split hatch ring could be rotated from inside, so the MG could be at the front or back depending on the crew.

Thanks for the speedy response ... I thought that was the case, but couldn't see that storing the machine-gun in that way would be logical. So, was the cupola ring simply rotated manually? ... I imagine that was fairly difficult, given the weight of the item (with hatch covers and machine-gun).

The split hatch assembly did rotate manually and was, apparently relatively easily done as the bearings were pretty good. It didn't slide metal on metal. If I remember, there is a friction lock on the inside of the turret attached to the hatch assembly that locks it in place to prevent unwanted rotation.

And the position of the .50 cal (both when in the rest and when trained outwards) is one of the reasons that Commonwealth crews usually got rid of the .50s supplied with their tanks. Their doctrine did no have the commander using an MG, by and large, and the bloody thing got in the way when bailing out. Which, unfortunately, was a frequent enough occurrence that having the receiver or the barrel in your way was not going to be tolerated.

MGs attached to Commonwealth turrets were, if present, almost always .30 cals.

Paul

A further question ... I have Dragon's 1/72-scale 'M4A1' (ref. 7273). I recall that certain Shermans had 'direct vision'for the driver and bow gunner, and others were fitted with periscopes in the hatch covers. This particular kit has no periscopes in these positions. I plan to depict the model as a vehicle in the Normandy 'bocage', and wondered whether periscopes would be fitted at that time. This is important, as I wish to have all hatches open, and need to clarify what detail would be on the interior faces of the driver's and bow gunner's hatch covers.

I looked up the CAD images of the DML 7273 kit. These are typical mid production M4A1s. Both the driver and co-driver had two periscopes. There was a rarely-used fixed periscope just forward of the hatch opening. On your kit, it's depicted closed -- it's only a rectangular flap there.

Most Sherman drivers and co-drivers used the rotatable periscope that protruded from the hatch itself. Unfortunately, your kit's hatch interior is smooth and lacking detail where the hardware for the periscope mounting should be. Here's what it looks like

This picture shows the layout with the fixed (non-rotatable) forward periscope and then the hatch mounted periscope.

Best I could find, keep in mind the hatch will open and clear the gun in that configuration

That's a neat detail I've missed. Just had to try a couple for myself.

The clip was also a useful place to hang one’s RAC pattern helmet. David Render (SRY, 8AB) used to put his goggles on his helmet there and reckons it absorbed several bullets from people thinking that it was his head.

I don’t think the idea was to use it when tactical - it kept the .50 from swinging about but it was hard enough to get out quickly without having the receiver clamped in position there.

And if you look just behind the ventilator in the middle of the picture of the top of the turret, you'll see another barrel clip (almost in the center of the photo) in line with the gun pintle mount at the rear of the turret bustle (the circular object sticking out the rear of the turret). The barrel could be "clipped" into the "barrel keeper"--(not sure what the technical name was), when the gun was stowed at the back of the turret too, or a spare barrel could be kept there.
VR, Russ

That's the beauty of this forum ... however random the question might be, there is always someone who has the answer!

Many thanks.