T17 Deerhound

The T17 Armoured Car, sometimes referred to as the M5 medium armoured car and by the British as the Deerhound, was an American six-wheeled armored car produced during the Second World War.

This article is about the 1940s Ford design for an American medium armoured car. For the four-wheeled design by Chevrolet, see T17E1 Staghound.

T17 Armoured Car
Place of originUnited States of America
Service history
Used byUS Army
WarsWorld War II
Production history
DesignerFord Motor Company
Designed1941–42
ManufacturerFord Motor Company
Produced1942–43
No. built250
Specifications
Mass17 short tons (15 t)
Length18.21 ft (5.55 m)
Width8.86 ft (2.70 m)
Height7.71 ft (2.35 m)
Crew5
Main
armament
37 mm Gun M6
Secondary
armament
2 x .30 in M1919 machine guns
Engine2 x Hercules JXD 6-cylinder petrol engines
90 hp (67 kW) each
Drive6x6
Operational
range
450 mi (720 km)
Maximum speed 56 mph (90 km/h)
ReferencesChristopher Foss[1] & Military Factory[2]

The T17 lost out to the T17E design for British use but 250 vehicles were produced as a stopgap for the US Army until their preferred design, the M8 armoured car was available.

History

The T17 Armoured Car was developed by the Ford Motor Company. and was one of two designs submitted to meet a 1941 Ordnance Department requirement (which also met a British Army Staff requirement) for a medium armoured car for Armored Force, the other being the Chevrolet four wheel drive T17E1 Armoured Car.

A contract for one pilot model each of the T17 and T17E was placed. Testing of these led to production contracts for 2,260 T17 armoured cars in January 1942 with a contract for a further 1,500 in June 1942. The T17E1 was also ordered in similar amounts.[3]

In the early 1940s the US Army was pursuing a number of heavy, medium and light armoured car designs and, in an effort to reduce the number of competing programs, in October 1942 Headquarters Army Ground Forces commissioned the Special Armoured Vehicle Board (known as the "Palmer Board" after its head Brigadier General W. B. Palmer, to impose some standardisation. After tests in winter of 1942–43, the Palmer Board recommended the termination of all programs except the concurrent Ford T22, which in T22E2 form entered service as the M8 Greyhound.[1][4] The Board recommended a utility car version of the T22 (M20) and allowed the completion of the 250 T17 already being produced.[3]

Rear view.

The British Purchasing Commission continued to show interest in the two medium designs and asked the US Army Desert Warfare Board to conduct trials of the two designs, which were completed in February 1943, the Chevrolet T17E1 design emerging as the clear winner. Despite this, the US Army authorised Ford to complete 250 vehicles as a stopgap until production of the M8 commenced. The first 32 T17s were produced in 1942, the remaining 218 were completed in 1943.[1][4][5]

In US Army service the T17 was sometimes referred to as the 'M5 Medium Armoured Car', despite never being standardised. All vehicles had their 37 mm main guns removed and were assigned to the United States Army Military Police Corps for patrol duties in the continental United States.[4]

Design
Side view.

The T17 Armoured Car was a turreted 6x6 vehicle with a crew of five: driver, co-driver, gunner, loader and commander. The T17 and T17E1 both used the same turret designed by Rock Island Arsenal fitted with the combination gun mount from the M3 Lee medium tank, armed with a 37 mm M6 tank gun and coaxial .30-inch M1919 Browning machine gun. A second M1919 machine gun was mounted in the bow of the hull.[1][2]

See also

References
  1. Christopher Foss, The Encyclopedia of Tanks & Armoured Fighting Vehicles, London: Amber Books, 2002, ISBN 9781905704446.
  2. "T17 (Deerhound) 6x6 Armoured Car", Militaryfactory.com, 28 September 2018, retrieved 19 February 2019
  3. Icks, AFV Profile 40
  4. Zaloga, Steven J. (2011), Staghound Armored Car 1942–62, New Vanguard 159 (epub ed.), Osprey Publishing, ISBN 9781780962108
  5. Forty, George; Livesey, Jack (2006), The World Encyclopedia of Tanks and Armoured Fighting Vehicles, London: Anness Publishing, ISBN 9780754817413
  • Icks, Robert J., U.S. Armored Cars, AFV Profile 40, Profile Publishing
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