M41 Walker Bulldog Tank

   World War II was decided by the immense
production capabilities of the United States. The
continental U.S. was never under attack and her
plants and factories ran twenty-four hours a day
turning out tanks, trucks, planes, and weapons.
Every tank the Germans produced was superior 
to the M4 Sherman tank provided by Detroit to 
the armies of the United States and Britain... BUT
they were produced in such quantities they 
overwhelmed the Germans. 
   The M4 Sherman was replaced in the late 1940's
by the Chaffee tank and it was not much better. Around 1950 plans were accepted for a new battle 
tank and the result was the M41 Walker Bulldog (seen here). The tank was named after General Walton Walker, who was killed in a jeep accident in Korea in 1950. It featured a 105 millimer main cannon and a top mounted thirty caliber machine gun. Weighing in 
at forty tons it was listed as a medium tank. The
Walker tank entered service in 1953 and saw duty in
Korea and Vietnam. By 1972 it began to show its age
and over 200 of the Walkers were left in Vietnam
when the U.S. pulled out. All of the Walker Tanks 
in the United States were remodeled and up dated
into what became the M48 Patton Tank. The chassis
of the Walker tank also became the platform for the
mobile artillery unit 'Sheridan.' Some of the Sheridan

units still serve the U.S. Army today.