Yeah I know, another Sherman II question from Willie. On all of the kit turrets and after market turrets for the M4A1 that I have looked at, I have noticed that the commander's hatches open towards the left and right sides of the turret. In photos and drawings (Concord Pub.) of the Sherman II in North Africa, it appears that the hatches open towards the front and back of the turret. Was this a field modification or were they delivered that way? Can I just rotate my kit's (Formations early M4 turret) cupola 90 degrees or will I need to do major surgery to get it to be correct? I really need to start doing these things built out of the box, they would be cheaper and less time consuming.

The commander's hatch rotated so concievably you could have it positioned any which way. It was common practice in the desert to remove one half of the hatch lid to stop it crashing down on the tank commander's head when the tank stopped.

Pat's right. The early type turret hatch (i.e., the split hatch) spins, so it could be position however you want.

Rob

Having looked at almost all my resource materials on British Sherman I, II, III and V's, most photos show that Tank Commanders had their cupola hatches at the left/right position as opposed to the back/front position.
I've found a few photos where the hatches are in the back/front configuration but they're usually when the tanks are stopped, either to load ammunition or for the crews to confer with infantry.
I imagine the hatches in the back/front position would offer TC's some greater degree of protection, from snipers or shell fragments, while moving forward with their upper body and/or head exposed .

Pat - Thanks for pointing out the fact that the British removed one hatch when in the the North African desert,
When I went back and looked carefully at photos of Shermans used during the NA desert campaign, sure enough, a number of them only had one half of the hatch showing.
Maybe their version of a desert soft-top or convertible. LOL
Nice tidbit of information, I'll remember that when I get around to building my next NA Sherman.

Cheers

jjumbo

If you look carefully at these Shermans with one hatch removed, often you see it welded in front of the driver -- why waste a good piece of American steel?

Look and you'll see what I mean.

Thank you so much for the inputs, they really helped.