On September 20, 2020, we were driving up to visit my son and passed through Breckenridge, MI, when a cold war jet fighter on pedastals appeared on the left. It didn’t dawn on me until we went by it. We turned around and I got out and snapped some photos planning to write something later when I had time.
Well, three and a half years later, here’s the post. It’s funny how as you get older, time flies by. At any rate, I dug out the photos and decided to research the jet.
First off, it’s located at American Legion Post 295 in Breckenridge, MI. It’s on the North side of 46 between Spruce Street on the West and Wright Street on the East – the Jet is in front of the buildings and is hard to miss.
Next, the jet in question is a T-33A Shooting Star and the tail number is 51-4067. The “T” tells us this was a trainer version of the famous Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star – America’s first operational jet fighter.
A Bit of History
The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, developed during World War II, holds a significant place in aviation history as the United States’ first operational jet fighter. Designed by Lockheed’s Skunk Works team under the leadership of Clarence “Kelly” Johnson (who went on to lead the design teams for both the U2 and SR-71 – click here to read more about this amazing man), the P-80 was a groundbreaking aircraft that pushed the boundaries of speed and performance.
While not seeing combat in WWII, the Shooting Star proved its worth during the Korean War. It served in various roles, including fighter-bomber, interceptor, and reconnaissance aircraft. The P-80’s sleek design, powerful engine, and maneuverability made it a formidable adversary. However, it faced challenges against the Soviet MiG-15, which led to the development of the F-86 Sabre.
The P-80’s legacy extends beyond combat. The design served as the foundation for the T-33 Shooting Star, a widely used jet trainer that played a crucial role in preparing pilots for the jet age. The T-33, with its tandem seating and simplified controls, became a staple of air forces around the world, training countless pilots and contributing to the advancement of aviation technology.
The P-80 Shooting Star and its T-33 trainer variant stand as testament to American innovation and engineering prowess. They represent a pivotal moment in aviation history, marking the transition from propeller-driven aircraft to the jet age. While the P-80’s combat career was relatively short, its impact on aviation technology and pilot training was profound and enduring.
The Jet at Post 295
How exactly the jet arrived at Post 295, I don’t know. On one hand, it had seen its better days but on the other it is a clear monument to air power. I can’t help but wonder how many young people have looked at it and dreamed over the years.
Here are photos from that day:
We can see the Strategic Air Command (SAC) emblem near the top of the tail and it looks like someone spruced up the air inlet with a shark’s mouth. The elements are taking their toll on the plane. The machine gun openings have been filled in to the front – that is the slightly yellow area and darker patch just behind the nose.The two middle pylons attach where the landing fear were originally located. It looks like at least one bird realized it was a safe spot to build a nest.A view from another angle of the West side of the plane. The P-80 would have been armed with six .50 caliber machine guns plus a payload of 2,000 pounds of bombs or 8-10 rockets (I read different numbers and am not sure which is right). The ark just to the right of the nose on the lower section and the yellow patch above and behind it are where machine gun openings would have been. Looking at her straight on and slightly up. The jet is pointed South.One last photo.
Summary
If you are in the Breckenridge, MI, area and interested, drop by and see the Shooting Star. It’s an interesting piece of history.
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Japanese Type 96 25mm Anti-Aircraft Gun – Single Mount
The Type 96 was a variant of the French Hotchkiss 25mm anti-aircraft gun and was made in Japan.
The Japanese produced the Type 96 anti-aircraft cannon with single (1943), double (1935) and triple (1941) gun mounts. The weapon was generally considered reliable but the mounts were very slow to move.
Note the rock keeping the gun pointed straight ahead. Layers of paint were helping to slow the rust.As with pretty much every display I’ve seen, the breech and receiver internals are gone.
Japanese Type 1 mobile 47 mm Rapid Firing Anti-tank Gun
The Type 1 was produced at the Osaka Army Arsenal – reflecting it was the year 2601 of the Japanese imperial year and went inhto production in 1942 with a total of approximately 2,300 being built.
I don’t know why I only have one photo – if you look on the web, everyone has this photo. I wish I had more angles.
There was more to see at Villa Escudero. Why I didn’t take more photos, of the displays, I don’t know. It was a beautiful resort and I will end this with my favorite photo from there.
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In Saint Joseph, MI, near the intersection of Lake and Broad Streets sits a civili war monument consisting of an Eleven Inch Dahlgren and some stacked shot. The gun is pointing out to the lake and there is a simple sign for curious folks to read.
I’ve read this sign and looked at the cannon many times over the years and realized it was time to write a post about it.
Photo Gallery
The following is a gallery of photos of the 11-inch (XI) Dahlgren. If you clck on one, then you can see it full size and navigate around:
Some History
St. Joseph’s 11-inch Dahlgren gun was built in 1864 at Hinkley, Williams & Co. in Boston, Massachusetts, for service in the Civil War. It and other guns of its type were designed by Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren who wanted to use more more modern design methods to create a safer and more powerful gun. His designs were known as “Soda Bottles” because of their characteristic rounded shapes with additional steel at the rear to strengthen the breach.
Rear Admiral John A Dahlgren – the designer of the Dahlgren guns (Source: Wikipedia)
In total, 465 of the XI (Eleven) inch guns were made at five different foundaries between 1856-1864. That means the Saint Joseph gun was built during the last production year.
The smoothbore gun was cast hollow, bored out and lathed to a finished weight of 15,890 pounds which is marked on the gun. The sign and the reference table from Wikipedia are close but not exact:
The sign says the gun used a 15 pound charge and could hurdle either a 130 pound exploding shell or 200 pound solid shot a distance of over two miles.
Wikipedia cites a reference book on Civil war artillery that the gun used a 20 pound charge to launch either a 133.5 pound exploding shell or 166 pound solid shot a distance of 3,650 yards (2.07 miles) at a 15 degree elevation.
Here is an 11-inch Dahlgren mounted on a pivot mount. This is on the USS Kearsarge, a contemporary ship to the USS Marion that the Saint Joseph gun came from.
There is an interesting 12 year gap here. The gun was made in 1864 and the sign says it was removed from the USS Marion in 1876 and it’s previous use was uncertain. Was it on the Marion the whole time? Let’s try and look at that.
USS Marion
Drawing of the Marion at Hampton Roads circa 1880 (Source: Wikipedia)
From Wikipedia, here’s a quick timeline of the USS Marion:
April 24, 1839 – Launched as a sloop-of-war – 25 years before the St. Joseph gun was made in 1864
1856-1857 in ordinary – this means it was in a reserve fleet. It might have needed repairs or overhauling.
June 21, 1861 – recommissioned after the Civil War broke out
July 14, 1861 – set sail
May 1862 – ordered to Boston for repairs
July 24, 1862 – ordered to Annapolis for use as a practice ship until 1870
1864 – The St. Joseph gun was made in Boston (according to the sign)
1871 – Rebuilt as a third-class steamer
January 12, 1876 – Recommisioned
1876 – The gun was removed from the Marion (according to the sign in St. Joseph)
July 5, 1897 – gun dedicated in Saint Joseph – it had to travel there, be installed, etc. (according to the sign)
So, not much we can glean from what I can find. Odds are the 11-inch Dahlgren was getting dated by that time.
Summary
Today, kids climb around on the XI-Dahlgren gun and families take photos but they don’t know much about it. I suppose the Civil War is becoming just a few days, if even that, in history classes. Regardless, it is a memorial for men who served from the area. It’s well maintained by the city and gracefully stands guard looking out at the lake.
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South Haven, MI, is about 40 minutes up the road from us and we’ve been there a number of times over the years. On a number of occasions we’ve driven by American Legion Post 49 and seen the M60A3 tank sitting overlooking the river. We were up there recently and I snapped a few pictures in order to assemble a post about it.
The tank is a M60A3 serial number 7582 and was overhauled at Anniston Army Depot in October 1988.
The “Tank, Combat, Full Tracked: 105mm Gun, M60” was officially adopted in March 1959 and was an evolutionary design from the M48A2 Patton though never officially considered as part of the Patton family.
The M60 tanks served as the main battle tank during the cold war with 15,000 being produced. It was first put into operational use in Europe in 1960. Chrysler started production in 1959 and then the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plat produced them from 1960-1983.
Over it’s design life, there were many upgrades as the Americans and Soviets tried to “one up” each other in terms of capabilities. M60: 1959-1962, M60A1: 1962-1980, M60A2: 1973-1975 and then the M60A3 from 1978-1983. Note there was a modernization program and one point that upgraded 5,400 older tanks to the M60A3 variant that ended in 1990.
The M60 was eventually replaced by the M1 Abrams. The US retired the M60 from front-line use after Operation Desert Storm (August 1990-February 1991). The last tanks were retired from the National Guard in 1997. The M60 still sees use in many other countries including Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
I am not going to cover all of the history and design changes. Click here for a good Wikipedia post with that info. Instead, I am just going to list some stats I found interesting about the M60A3 specifically.
M60A3 Stats
Number produced: 1,052 new vehicles + 5,400 tanks upgraded to A3
Weight: 54.6 short tons ( 1 short ton = 2,000 pounds)
Hull length: 22 ft 9.5 inches
Gun forward length: 30 ft 6.5 inches
Width: 11 ft 11 inches
Height: 10 ft 9 inches
Crew: 4 people
Main cannon: The 105mm M68E1
Secondary Armament: .50 BMG or 7.6×51 on the commander’s cupola.
Engine: Continental AVDS-1790-2 V1 Air cooled twin turbo diesel with 750 BHP
Suspension: Torsion Bar
Transmission: GM cross drive single stage with 2 forward and 1 reverse gear ranges
Fuel capacity: 385 US Gallons
Range: 300 miles – so optimistically maybe a gallon per mile
Max speed: 30 mph on the road and 12 mph cross-country
Here’s what the Post had to say about the tank
They had this summary on a fence post by the tank.
And this was on the ground.
Photos of the American Legion M60A3
Summary
A big thank you to the Post setting up the tank for people to see and providing the background placard.
If you are travelling through South Haven, MI, it’s worth a quick stop the the American Legion Post to see the M60A3.
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As I have written in the past, I am always fascinated my old military equipment located at American Legion Posts, VFWs, cemeteries and so forth. My wife and I have driven on US-131 a number of times over the years and seen a M4 Sherman tank right by the road but have never had the time to stop and take photos until October 2022. We were on our way home and had time to stop and take a few quick photos. Now, weeks later, I did a bit of research and compiled this post.
The tank is a static display for American Legion Post 264 in Mancelona, MI located on the corner of US-131 and State Street in downtown Mancelona – if you are headed North, it’s on the the right hand side of the road just before the intersection.
The tank is a M4A3 Sherman serial number 11755 with a 75mm cannon with a small hatch and dry storage. The smaller hatches were an earlier production design and many were kept in the US for training purposes and did not see battle.
Dry storage models had ammunition racks mounted on vulnerable positions and the rounds could catch fire. Later “wet storage” models moved the racks to the floor in less vulnerable positions and protected them with sealed chambers filled with water and anti-freeze to slow the progression of fire and allow the crew a few more seconds to escape.
The Details
To be honest, I had no idea how many variants to the M4 Sherman were made – it’s stunning actually. This Wikipedia page gives info on the tank in general and this one lists info on variants. I thought this would be a quick post to write but every time I pulled back a layer and got more details that then led to more details. I had to then dig specifically on the tank to read what others had written about it.
So here is the info I could sort out:
Model: M4A3 small hatch dry storage
Maker: Ford
Where: Highland Park Plant
When: February 1943
Production: It was one of 1,690 small hatch dry storage M4A3 Shermans made by Ford between June 1942 and September 1943. This variant had the lowest production numbers.
Serial Number: 11755
US Registration: 3053910
B&R Rebuild Stamp: 579
Engine: Ford GAA V-8 500HP – that engine is really interesting – it’s an all aluminum 1,100 cubic inch 32 valve dual overhead cam 60 degree liquid cooled engine. Everything was geared – no belts or chains – so it was actually very reliable. The design is amazing in my honest opinion.
Transmission: Synchromesh with 5 speed forward and one reverse
Max road level sustained speed: 26 mph – I got stats ranging from 21 to 30 mph on this one)
Fuel type: Gasoline, at least 80 octane
Fuel Capacity: 174 gallons
Range: From TM9-759, the manual reports 110 miles cross country or 155 miles on the highway. Note that means it’s not even getting a gallon per mile in terms of fuel economy.
Suspension: Vertical volute spring suspension (VVSS) with three bogies per side and two wheels per bogie
Track: This tanks has the T48 track with rubber chevrons – 16.56″ wide and makes contact for 147″
Main Cannon: 75 mm (97 rounds carried)
Integral machine gun: Two .30 cal M1919A4 – one in the ball mount on the right side of the hull and one coaxial to the main 75mm cannon. (4,750 rounds carried)
Secondary machine gun on the turret: .50 Browning M2 (300 rounds carried)
Mortar: 2″ M3 mortar for smoke (12 rounds carried)
Small arms ammunition: 600 rounds of .45 ACP and
Weight: 30.3 tons
Length: 19’2″
Width: 8’7″
Height: 9′
Crew: 5
Okay, I am a gear head. The more I read about the Ford GAA engine, the more fascinated I got. Displacing 1,000 cubic inches or 18 liters, it remains the largest V8 gas engine Ford has made and it made more than 28,000 of them. It’s estimated that only 500-1,000 still exist and they are sometimes found in competition pulling tractors. Here’s a video of one running on a test platform in 2019:
Here are pages with more info just on the GAA engine:
There is a nearby park with a lot that we left our van at. We then came up on the tank from behind. The American Legion post did a nice job painting it. It’s always nice to see history preserved.
One of the things I noticed right away was that the rubber treads were in remarkably good shape. On some tanks they are worn down next to nothing. The folding blanket rack on the back is down.
Close up of the rear left side idler wheel. You can see a grease fitting at the 10 o’clock position.
This is a photo of the rear bogie and two wheels. The Sherman M4A3 had three bogies on each side as part of its Vertical volute spring suspension (VVSS) with three bogies per side and two wheels per bogie. The bogie is the vertical part that the two wheels connect to.
Just forward of the “American Legion” signage looks like a sign board with more text on it. That’s actually additional armor welded onto the hull.
The hatch in the turret is a pistol port. You don’t see those on modern tanks 🙂 General Steel, who made the turret, stopped casting turrets with pistol ports in May of 1943 and any with them were welded shut.
The big upside down U is a lifting eye. The hatch behind it is a cover to the grouser compartment.
This is for the blanket rolls and could have held cleaning rods, etc.
The sun and that pine tree were in just the wrong place at the wrong time so I have a ton of shadows but figured I would include the photo regardless. You can see the elaborate front sprocket.
You can see the rifling in the barrel of the 75mm cannon. 24 grooves with a 1:25.59 right hand twist. The coaxial .30 cal machine gun would have poked out of the hole to the right of the cannon. Note, the cannon is resting in it’s “travel lock”.
This shows the travel lock a little bit better. At some point – presumably during the B&R rebuild – it was upgraded to the post war single locking arm model. In WWII it would have had two “fingers” – one on each side of the barrel – that would curl around and hold it.
Looking at the front cast nose section of the tank,
7411 was cast and the -107 was stamped.
The protruding armor on the side of the turret and the sides of the hull is known as “applique armor”. It was welded in place to compensate for sections of the casting that needed to be thinner.
This is the best photo I have of the applique armor welded to the turret. The casting’s armor was thinned by 2″ internally to make room for the gunner’s controls. It’s actually two plates welded together and to the hull to compensate for the curvature of the turret.
This is the only partial close up I have of the Ford front sprocket. It’s really eye catching and unique. One of the websites mentioned that there were so many field repairs going on that it wasn’t surprising to find parts from one type of Sherman on another.
Firestone showing their brand! You can see a grease fitting as well. The lubrication guides to the Shermans are incredibly elaborate – there were many, many grease points as you can well imagine trying to keep a 30 ton
More applique armor.
A view up at the turret.
This is the exhaust deflector.
I turned around and snapped one more photo of the old tank guarding the road,
Videos of restored M4A3 Sherman tanks
When I see a piece of history, I always wonder what they looked like when they were actually running / in use. Fortunately, there are many videos of restored tanks that you can watch and here are two:
This one has some interesting coverage of the “top 10 variants” containing narration, stills and original footage:
For More Information
Folks, there is just so much history relating to the Sherman tanks that there is now way I can capture it. Below are links where you can find out a ton more:
First off, specific to the Mancelona tank, L&P Hannah took a ton of photos of it in 2014 and still have them posted online. The paint had not been refreshed at that point but what is cool is that the photographer took many photos from many angles – way more and better photos than mine. Click here to open a new tab to go to their page.
This page hosted in France has a lot of info on Ford M4A3 variants.
A gentleman named David D Jackson has assembled an amazing tribute page to the American Automobile Industry in WWII and he provides photos and a wealth of info – click here to open a tab.
This page contains a wealth of statistics on Shermans including things like armor thickness, depth of water fording, etc. It’s a treasure trove of info and you have to scroll down to the M4A3 section, Click here.
The above links reflect massive efforts by their curators to capture history before it is lost. I couldn’t have written this post without their shared works.
Summary
It was pretty neat to stop and see the tank I wish I had a ladder or something to get more angles plus I wish I took more photos but you get the general idea. I learned quite a bit while researching this post and only scratched the surface, which is why I listed all of the additional resources above.
If you are on US-131 going through Mancelona, it’s definitely worth the stop. Finally and perhaps most importantly, kudos to the members of American Legion Post 264 for keeping the tank in such good shape and sharing history with us.
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Lest We Forget is an organization dedicated to keeping the memories of what our military has done for us. The 2019 event was the last one for WWII, 2020 was cancelled due to COVID and 2021, this year’s event, remembered Korean War veterans. They have static displays, food, vehicles you can ride on and re-enactments.
We arrived a bit late on June 19th due to family commitments but I did have a chance to snap some photos of the various vehicles on display that including a M3 halftrack, a DUKW 6×6 amphibian, an M37 dodge and a M59 APC to name a few.
Here’s the slideshow:
If you ever get a chance to attend a Lest We Forget event, I highly recommend it. The atmosphere is family oriented and everyone there wants to share and have a good time.
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My wife and I like driving around and war memorials, VFW displays, and military tributes are always likely to cause us to stop, read and take pictures. Dowagiac, MI, is about 45 minutes from where we live and one fine summer day we decided to stop at the National Guard Armory there and take pictures.
It wasn’t until I was researching for this post that I found out that Dowagiac was the “Home of Armor” for the Michigan National Guard. From sometime in the 1940s until October 2006, the armor batallion was located there. Click here if you want to read more about the armory’s history.
Today, when you drive by the armory you will see two tanks and lets start with the M103 Heavy Tank stands at the corner West Prarie Ronde Street and Middle Crossing Road.
The M103
The 120mm Gun Combat Tank M103 began with the designator “T43” and was meant to counter Soviet armor at a distance. It suffered from an underpowered gasoline engine and then they moved to a diesel to try and improve matters. The M103 served with both the US Army and Marine Corps – 80 units with the Army and 220 with the Marines. They were in use from the late 1950s until 1963 when the Army started switching to the M60 Main Battle Tank and with the Marines until 1973. Wikipedia has a good history if you wish to read it – click here.
The following photo gallery lets you see some different angles of the M103 on display and you can see its current shape as well. The following is a gallery so if you click on a small photo to begin, a larger photo will pop up and then you can navigate through the larger photos:
The M60
The M103 at least sits by the corner displayed with a bit of aging pride. Behind a fence on the Middle Crossings Road side of the armory you can see an M60 sitting in the weeds sinking into the ground. I realize there is probably little budget or time to put much care into these tanks but it is a shame to see their current state at an actual armory no less.
The M60 was a second generation main battle tank that evolved from the M48. Over 15,000 of them were built by Chrysler. The first combat usage of a M60 was Israel in the 173 Yom Kippur war. The largest US deployment was in the 1991 Gulf War. The tanks were phased out from front line use after that and even retired from national guard use in 1997. The M60 is still in use by a number of militaries around the world. Wikipedia has a through write up on the history and evolution of the M60 and its various models – click here to access it.
Because the M60 was behind the fence at the armory, I was limited to the photo angles I could get. The following is a gallery also so click on a small photo and a large one will pop up:
The history of armory was interesting to learn while researching for this post plus seeing the two tanks is always pretty neat.
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If you like to watch old school machining, this video from the Library and Archives Canada is pretty amazing. It’s a silent black and white video that is just shy of 54 minutes long. The title of the video is “Manufacturing an Eight Inch High Explosive Howitzer Shell At The Works Of The John Bertram & Sons Company, Ltd., Dundas, Ontario – Canada”.
The video steps you through the process as well as general view of the shop. This shows you manufacturing in an era where a lot of artisan skill was required to turn out products. It’s really fascinating to watch. The following are some screen shots from the video:
Here’s the Video:
I hope you enjoyed this bit of history!
Please note that all images were extracted from the video and are the property of their respective owner.
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