Any Sherman Tankers (NOT rhyming slang!!!)

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 8:16 am

Are there any American or Commonwealth vets on the site who have ever served in the crew of a Sherman of ANY model, whether in the regular army or reserve/national guard???

Commissar D, the Evil · Wed Oct 31, 2007 4:07 pm

Why Phylo? Just curious....

Here's a better forum on this subject for you:

http://www.com-central.net/index.php?na ... forum&f=73

Best,
David

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 4:29 pm

because I'm fed up seeing even the most expert tomes of knowledge referring to that OUTWARDS opening flap on the left rear side of the turret as a pistol port. Either the loader was armed with an gurt big 17th flintlock pistol...or that was a hatch for dumping spent brass...

David W · Post by **David W** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 4:35 pm

It was also used for urinating out of, or so I've heard. Looks a bit high up for that to me. Perhaps they urinated into a container, then dumped it out of the flintlock port.

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 4:41 pm

hey, I know the US Army are mean macho guys....but doing that through a cast-steel hatchlet that has to be poked OUTWARDS from inside....They Are Obviously Not Built As Other Men...!

Commissar D, the Evil · Wed Oct 31, 2007 4:41 pm

Definitely for disposing of shell cases. This hatch didn't change much from the early Sherman to the 76mm. T-23 turret.

But hey, not my specialty, Shermans and such.

Very Best,
David

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:46 pm

Well, I KNOW its for spent brass, but why does EVERYONE seem to call it a "pistol port"???

Tom Houlihan · Post by **Tom Houlihan** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:52 pm

phylo_roadking wrote:Well, I KNOW its for spent brass, but why does EVERYONE seem to call it a "pistol port"???

Because that's easier than making the effort to find out what it really is????

David W · Post by **David W** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 1:30 am

Sadly, Tom is right.

5RANGLIAN · Post by **5RANGLIAN** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:12 am

phylo_roadking wrote:Well, I KNOW its for spent brass, but why does EVERYONE seem to call it a "pistol port"???

'Cos our American cousins love handguns, and 'pistol port' is SO much more ally than 'spent brass ejector port!

I seem to remember that in Ken Tout's books, brass was passed up to the commander to be thrown out, no mention of a special port for the job. His co-driver used an empty MG ammo tin to pi$$ in, and they had to pass that up as well.

In a German tank, it would probably have be called a Heissemessingsnotrauswerfenoderpistolenrausschiessentur, so it was just easier to omit the damned thing.

David W · Post by **David W** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 3:02 am

In a German tank, it would probably have be called a Heissemessingsnotrauswerfenoderpistolenrausschiessentur

For short!

michael kenny · Post by **michael kenny** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 6:01 am

It would appear that it was indeed a 'pistol port'. Looking through Hunnicutt I find it is always refered to as a pistol port. The early Shermans had one either side of the turret and they had vision ports in them. One was deleted along with the vision port.
Look at the earlier Grant tanks. They had 5 of these fitted on the tank. It was a standard design