Tomorrow Sunday October 9th we like to welcome you at the Keep Them Rolling Militaria Fair and discover one of our unique ongoing projects being a M46 Patton.
As BAIV B.V. we will present ourselves at this fair, together with our sister company TracksandTrade BV,
For the occasion we will bring with us the almost finished M46 Patton without turret.
This makes it unique because this is the perfect opportunity to take a look at the crew area and engine compartment
The M46 was the ‘Godfather’ of the US Patton series and the Decision Maker in the Korean War,
Production on this tank began in January 1948 on replacing the original power plant with the Continental AV1790-3 engine and Allison CD-850-1 cross-drive transmission.
This design was initially called the M26E2, but modifications continued to accumulate; eventually, the Bureau of Ordnance decided that the tank needed its own unique designation, the M46. Upon completion of the first model of the Detroit Tank Arsenal production line in November 1948, the M46 was christened after the late General George S. Patton. This was one of these early models! By December the Army had ordered several hundred.
In July 1950 Detroit Arsenal was producing Perishing’s and M46s at a rate of over a dozen a day!
In August 1950 President Harry S. Truman authorized funding for increased M46 production as part an expansion of heavy tank development program.
The only American combat use of the M46 Patton was during the Korean War however its performance was impressive!
A total of 1,160 M46s of all variants were built.
In the 1950s, small numbers of M46s were leased for training purposes at no cost to some European countries, including Belgium, France, and Italy, in preparation for the introduction of the M47. This was one of them!
This M46 will be restored in our workshops for the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois Wyoming.
Work started in January 2022 and completion is scheduled for December 2022.
U unique project to see, so visit us at booth 88-92 at the Evenementenhal in Gorinchem the Netherlands!