Historic Pictures
Labels below the pictures link to the source websites
 Isreali halftracks during War of Independance, 1948 |
 Isreali halftracks during Six Day War, 1967 |
 Isreali halftracks during Yom Kippur War, 1973 |
 Isreali halftracks during Operation "Peace For Galilee", 1982 |
 Israeli museum Picture |
 Israeli museum picture of Halftrack used for recovery |
| The above two pictures are a special and personal courtesy of Isreal Weapons.Com, who sent me more than a dozen high res pictures | |
 Japanese halftrack, lost in the river 1940's |
 Restored by FIGHTING IRON |
 M3 White Scout Car |
 M3 White Scout Car interior |
History |
|||||
 French-built Citroen-Kegresse |
 Britsh built White M2 Scout Car |
The M3 Halftrack was the complete armored personnel carrier developed in the US from the M2 and M3 Scout car created by the White Motor Company in 1938, which it consequently replaced. The M2 was in turn based on White's then current commercial truck chassis.
The M3 White Scout car had a roller mounted in front of the bumper that could be lowered to help it not to bog down in soft ground as well as armoured shutters protecting the radiator, which could be opened and closed by the passenger, using a right foot lever.
| Originally M3's would have a .50 caliber Browning heavey machine gun in the center of the rear quarters but it moved soon to the cab rooftop, while later, in the M3A1 version a pulpit mount appeared and a 0.303 caliber Bren Gun light machine gun in the rear.
The hull was elongated and got bench seating varying per model from 10-13 occupants. A development of variant of the M3A2 was the M5A1 and had an M49 ring mount for the machine gun and could carry 13 passengers. The M5 variant had bodies with rounded rear corners while the M2 and M3 were square and also had a different type of armour fitted, which provided less protection from small calibre AP rounds, due to how the armour plate was tempered. As of 1944 the US Army began to scale back production of halftracks in favor of fully-tracked vehicles. The Israeli Army has bought old halftracks on any European scrapyard they could find and used them refurbished and modernized until the end of the millenium. Also other nations continue to use the American halftrack as a battlefield recovery vehicle. Even the Soviet Union received Half-tracks in large numbers from 1942 onwards through the Lend-Lease Act. |
 M16 Quad AA with gun-ring and quad AA gun |
Specifications
militaryfactory.com
BASE INFORMATION:
Designation: M3 Halftrack
Contractor: White Motor Company / Autocar / Diamond T - USA
Country of Origin: United States
Service Year: 1941
Type: Multi-Purpose Armored Personnel Carrier
Crew: 3 + 10
Production Totals*: 41,170.
DIMENSIONS:
Length**: 20.28 feet | 6.18 meters
Width: 7.28 feet | 2.22 meters
Height: 7.41 feet | 2.26 meters
Weight: 10.3 tons (US Short) | 9,299 kilograms
**If a tank, overall length is with gun forwards whenever possible.
SUPPORT SYSTEMS:
NBC System: None
Night Vision: None
PERFORMANCE:
Powerplant: 1 x White 160AX 6-cylinder petrol engine delivering 147hp.
Maximum Speed: 40 miles per hour | 64.4 kilometers per hour
Maximum Range***: 175 miles | 282 kilometers
***Values indicative of vehicle's road range (for self-propelled vehicles) OR maximum effective firing range (for stationary towed-artillery systems).
ARMAMENT:
1 x 12.7mm machine gun
1 x 7.62mm machine gun
Other mission specific variants included:
1 x 81mm mortar
1 x 57mm anti-tank gun
1 x 75mm field gun
1 x 105mm howitzer
2/4 x 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns
2/4 x 20mm Bofors cannons
2/4 x 40mm Boford cannons
AMMUNITION:
700 x 12.7mm ammunition
7,750 x 7.62mm ammunition
On Sunday, May 4, and Monday May 5, 2008
the following message was sent to the various sources:
Dear Madam/Sir,
I'm a collector of Dinky Toys and maintain a website featuring my collection.
One of the models is the Dinky Toys 822 - M3 Halftrack (1960).
I've linked with it a background page including some information/pictures that I found on your website.
I would like to obtain your permission to do so.
Please have a look at attached pdf.file or check my website directly.
Kind regards,
Christiaan Boland
http://www.boland-dinkytoys.com
In reply the following messages were received:
From: iweapons
To: Christiaan Boland
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 5:14 PM
Subject: Re: Permission to copy some pictures on my website
You can use these photos
From: Jon Philbrook
To: Christiaan Boland
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 2:33 PM
Subject: RE: Permission to copy a picture from you on my website
Hello Christiaan: Yes you can use the picture. Thank you for asking. I like the historical pictures you have located, keep up the good work.
Jon
Jonathan Philbrook
Rochester, Massachusetts
From:William Kirk
To: Christiaan Boland
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2008 2:27 PM
Subject: RE: Permission to copy a picture from you on my website
Of course!
Have a wonderful day,
Bill Kirk
TANKS!
From:Alistair Coudray
To: Christiaan Boland
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 4:15 PM
Subject: RE: permission de copier
Bonjour,
c'est avec un grand plaisir que je vous autorise a utiliser mes photos.
Je vous demande juste de bien vouloir faire mentionner le nom de mon site sous chaque photos.
Cordialement
Alistair