Half Tracks?

The A-26 was an excellent ground attack and medium bomber that used some the lessons learned earlier in the war and the solid nose variant packed on hell of a punch. Mostly used in European theater near the end of ww2

Thanks for the great content. A comparison of halftracks might be interesting to hear your viewpoint. I keep hoping you'll do a video series on the A-26 Invader and on the P-40 series (that one could probably make a 10-parter, given the variety of models). As far as shorter videos, maybe the XP-77 or XP-79 would make interesting subjects.

This sounds realy interesting. you might want to colaborate with The Chieftain on it :)

Hey Greg. I would hold off on Halftracks until after you've found a good segue into armored vehicles. Something along the lines of how Aircraft engine development affected other sides of the industry and how other sides of the industry affected it.

Honestly, if you made a video on the engineering of a paperclip, it would probably be interesting. So, yes, this topic would definitely interest me.

YES, BIG YES on half tracks. Please feel free to make it a two parter or a long episode.

When Marshall reorganized the infantry divisions from the old "square" to the triangle divisions, he wanted complete mobility to complement increases in firepower. So the halftract, along with the duce and a half, were born. No other army in the history of war had the combo of mobility and firepower the US army had. Even the Germans were still a majority horse bound army at the end of the war...

Unfortunately, yes. I am interested. But I feel like your time is occupied enough as it is 😅

Yes, please.

Greg, I am amazed by the feedback on this question. I must say I am curious as to the origins of the half-track concept. I was an Infantry officer once upon a time so unfortunately I probably ought to know. I was always light or airborne infantry, but during my first deployment we did make use of an M113 with our HMMWVs. There were a few old US half-tracks in Iraq that I believe the British once used. When the subject of half-tracks came up people seem to question the point of them when they can't travel as well as a truck and do not have the off-road capability of a fully tracked APC. I suspect their primary role was to be a tow vehicle for equipment like artillery and this was from lessons learned from WWI trying to move equipment following an advance thru the scarred landscape of a battlefield. I suspect that having the steer axle and the weight of the engine out in front of the tracks acts as a moment arm and assists in the physics of pulling and stopping a trailer. The fact that the axle steered was actually probably secondary. That's my hunch anyway. Of course any performance data would be interesting.....0 to 60 times, how many G's on the skidpad, etc!

Greg, I love WW2 armor, it would be great to see some technical information about German vs American half tracks!

High interest, absolutely. I’ve seen the German main infantry one described as a ¾ track. Know a big difference is that U.S. one has both axles powered. Particular interest comes from the tactical war game Advanced Squad Leader classifying the U.S. M3/M5’s as less reliable than the German 251 counterparts. Skeptical of this from the 1945 feed-back letter from the 2nd Armored Division in early 1945 to Eisenhower: “United States vs. German Equipment” (available on Amazon, but barely), but probably findable in National Archives. U.S. troops clearly preferred the M3 over the German vehicle. There’s a lot of cataloging of types without a good discussion of automotive reliability. Surprising how few books on the 251 pop up doing a search. Know a key improvement on the M3 series early on was a much more robust tensioning spring for the track system.

Absolutely interested in this.

Halftracks? Yes!

Oh heck yah! To quote someone famous “knowledge is good”😇

YES my favourite SUV

If you decide to another muscle car … can you do the 69 Chevelle SS or maybe your favorite, the Subaru Forester????

Greg, yes it would be great for you to expand your channel to "Greg's Airplanes, Automobiles and Armored vehicles"....There is huge following on You Tube for armored vehicles, but know one is doing the in depth engineering, performance analysis like you do for aircraft.

Hi Greg, my buddy Jan is working on a series about German vs. U.S. on his channel “Säbelzahnmöwe” (Yes German ;-) Half Tracks. He just visited the company engaged in the restoration and sale of half-tracks and tanks. A video is already out and more will follow. If you need some information and first-hand information, knowledge, and potential sources, Mariela. feel free to get in touch saebelzahnmoewe@outlook.de. Alex

Yeah I suppose.. Also silly question but is there much out there on why the P-51 never got a Griffon engine?

I think that would be great! Obviously it caught your interest. Variety being the spice.

Yes!

I'd be interested in the day to day details of air logistics as the front moved forward. You mentioned the tough conditions for the ki84 at forward bases. I'd be keen to understand how say a p47 was kept in the air from a French paddock. I also liked the concept of aircraft lifecycle and the "war weary" designation

Always interested in another’s viewpoint.

Sounds good to me.

Yes and thank you! I’ve always been puzzled by the design and engineering and use of the half track vehicles of WW2. Enigma is a term that comes to mind.

go for it, an occasional video about other topics is fine, just don't let the detour distract too much from videos primarily about airplanes

I would be interested in a video covering them

Yes, please! That sounds like a great rabbit hole to jump into - and might lead to other interesting topics ;-)

Definitely! German half-tracks are usually portrayed (as are many things German!) as over engineered (linked tracks, steering interlock, interleaved road wheels) while American half-tracks are portrayed as being simple (rubber band tracks, etc) and more reliable. It would be interesting to get the "hard truth" according to Greg!

Thanks for asking. I'd rather see you stick to your current subject areas because there is still a lot of ground to cover, and I have already seen videos on half-tracks on other channels that specialize in that area. For example, nobody else could do the job on turbo-compound aircraft engines like you could. The subject of half-tracks is more about mechanized warfare doctrine than engineering.

I'd be interested in this - Having owned a Halftrack, I find these vehicles very interesting. Let me know how I can help!

I'm interested in any military errata you might publish. In fact, you could probably do an excellent piece on the different motorcycles used by the Allies and the Axis during the war. Your knowledge of things automotive would come in quite handy.

I’d be interested.

Knowedge is a good thing

Sounds like a real treat- go for it

Military History Visualized and not Visualized each have a couple of videos on German halftracks, and memory says one of them does discuss the differences. But I don't remember any detailed dives and comparisons.

I would really enjoy information on the half tracks. Could you also cover the Kettenkrad (spelling?) a motor cycle like half track, a design which I believe only the Germans built and used.

I vote yes

Ever since I re-watched The Dirty Dozen a couple years ago, with their escape at the end in a ginormous German halftrack, I have been curious about this exact comparison.

Need you ask? Anything from you is welcome!

Weird but yes.

Definitely interested, especially since so many us ones were captured and used by the germans, it would be interesting to see what they thought of the different designs(assuming that info is available)

Would this be the first video purely covering ground forces if it would be made? If so, it's a great topic. Halftracks are very interesting

Sounds interesting, I would definitely watch videos on half-tracks.

An answer and random thoughts: Any information you put out will be happily consumed. Most of us I suspect are interested in your content, not yet because it’s about flying machines, but because we appreciate the mechanics. A half track is an airplane and a battleship and a machine gun all the same. Fascinating mechanical devices that we enjoy learning about. I think you could really do a great episode on the flying tigers. All the different planes and trainers they used before the p40s. Lastly, heard something today about a fluid coupling between the roots supercharger in the Battle of Britain. I need to go back and see your video but the video in questions suggested that this gave the plane a more efficient means of boost across altitudes than the British spitfire type. Planning to rewatch the supercharger and “p51 vs 109” videos to try to see if this is mentioned but I don’t recall it being discussed.

Absolutely interested!

I would love see you r take on this. 👍

Should be an interesting topic. The one thing that often gets overlooked when comparing machinery and equipment is the conception of its employment prior to the actual design phase. Based upon your other videos, I’m certain that aspect will not be overlooked.

I'd definitely be interested, and specifically in how effective and important they were in WW II military activity + combat.

That would be interesting......

A colab with Chieftain would be fun, but not sure how you feel about collaborations.

They are automobiles, yes? So they would fall under the scope of the channel. If you think you can collect enough information on the half tracks, I say go for it.

Have you checked out chieftains channel? He may have covered half tracks, but I can't recall.

Yes. very interesting vehicles. how they were used, performance specs like payload, hill climb, range. it there a way to determine their performance on different surfaces? Also how to day compare to standard military trucks? And what does a half track cost vs a truck and then finally which was better the US or the German version.

Could be interesting but not enough to change your production schedule