Model Forum / General / Models / May 2006

Book Review: High Speed Tractor: A Visual History of the U. S. Army's
Tracked Artillery Prime Movers by David Doyle and Pat Stansell;
Ampersand Publishing, Del Ray Beach, Florida 2006; 112 pp.; price about
US $18 (ISBN 0-9773781-0-1)

Advantages: first, good clear reference work on the American tracked
gun tractors and prime movers from WWII and Korea, only reference on
some of them

Disadvantages: no plans provided

Rating: Highly Recommended

Recommendation: for all WWII and Korean war American Army and Army Air
Forces fans

    When it comes to tracked vehicles, most of the glory goes to tanks,
armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, and
self-propelled guns with a few nods to recovery vehicles. But few
reference works, and even fewer kits, honor the unsung "heroes" of
tracked vehicles: the unarmored gun tractors and prime movers that
lugged just about everything else.

    Some vehicles, like the M4 18-ton High Speed Tractor, gained
popularity back in the 1950s when Revell put out a model of the 155mm
M2 "Long Tom" gun with the tractor and a crew of figures, and this
neat looking vehicle first became known to modelers. Later Aurora put
out a model of the postwar M8A1 with all kinds of moving parts and a
choice of either the tractor alone, the tractor with an M2 155mm gun,
or an M115 8" howitzer in 1/48 scale. Nitto of Japan later essentially
copied this vehicle in 1/35 scale and those molds continue to migrate
to the present day. Other companies, such as Monogram and Lindberg,
provided copies in 1/48 scale of the diminutive Cletrac M2 7-ton
tractor with their B-24 and Snark kits respectively. But no references
existed for any of these models.

    Ampersand has now continued its great series of focused books looking
at US vehicles with one covering the five primary series of high-speed
tractors and prime movers that were placed in production between 1940
and 1956. All of these vehicles had relatively long lives by military
standards and as such are both important and of interest to modelers.
Written by David Doyle, contributing author from Military Vehicles
Magazine, and Pat Stansell of Ampersand, the book follows the past
format of presenting new, large, clear photos of the vehicles, based on
both contemporary sources and restored vehicles.

    A short history of the vehicles under their ordnance G numbers is
provided at the front of the book. This gives a thumbnail description
of the developmental history of the vehicle and its background, as well
as production runs and variants. Photos of some of the prototypes are
also included.

    The section on G-096, the M2 7-Ton High Speed Tractor, covers the
Cletrac vehicle which was found wanting by the Army Ground Forces, but
was the perfect airfield servicing and towing vehicle for the USAAC
(and later the USAAF and USAF) due to its dependability, power,
tractive force. and a powerful two-cylinder air compressor mounted at
the rear of the chassis. Over 8,500 were built and these served into
the 1960s with the USAF as a prime mover and airfield "hack." The
book dedicates 21 pages to this vehicle, and any aircraft modeler who
wants to do theirs up right should take a look at the book to see what
it really entails. (It always struck me as silly for some aircraft
modelers to spend dozens of hours detailing wheel wells and then stick
a seven part Cletrac on the same base with no added details!)

    The section on G-150, the M4 18-Ton High Speed Tractor, covers the
Allis-Chalmers built gun tractor which the US Army used in two
variants. Type A carried a rectangular chest at the rear of the hull
for 90mm AA or 3 inch antitank gun ammunition, and Type B had a bulged
chest with an open top which could be fitted with variable plates for
carrying either 155mm, 8", or 240mm ammunition and propellent, and was
fitted with a small crane and hoist to handle that. The book provides
25 pages of coverage of both variants, and gives plenty of detail
coverage to them.

    The section on G-162, the M5 13-Ton High Speed Tractor family, covers
one of the lesser known but still widely used prime movers used by US
Army Field Artillery - it was the prime mover for the 155mm M114
towed howitzer late into the 1950s. Built by IHC, the vehicle used a
suspension based on that of the M3/M5 light tanks but modified to
provide more suitable performance when towing heavy loads. The book
allocates 26 pages of coverage to all four major versions of this
tractor - M5, M5A1, M5A2 and M5A3.

    The section on G-184, the M6 38-Ton High Speed Tractor, covers another
lesser known but still highly important vehicles used during WWII.
Designed again by Allis-Chalmers, the M6 looked like an M4 HST on
steroids with a longer wheelbase and wider hull, and was designed to
tow either the barrel and carriage sections of either the 240mm
howitzer or 8" guns, as well as other sectional weapons. While it
appeared to use parts from the M4 medium tank series, it did not and
this book puts any allegations to that effect to rest. While over 1200
were built, it still is among the most elusive of American HSTs to
discover, and happily the book provides some 24 pages of detailed
coverage (including following the 1,235th and last one being built.)

    The last section of the book covers the G-262 M8 High Speed Tractor
family. Built during the 1950s using the common M24/M41 light tank
parts then being used on all sorts of Army vehicles and prototypes, the
M8 was originally planned to combine the functions and replace the
first four series of vehicles. Later, the M8A1 with swing-out platform
for a generator set was accepted for service with the M51 75mm
"Skysweeperer" radar directed antiaircraft gun. But when that
system was scrapped in favor of the Nike-Ajax missile system, the
systems were either allocated out to other units or rebuilt as prime
movers. Over 480 were built, and the book does present some of the uses
for them, mostly as prime movers and cargo transports in Alaska. This
covers the last 12 pages of the book.

    Overall this is a great reference, and for example, the section on the
M4 provides more information of use to modelers than the FM for the
vehicle does, and that alone costs more than three times the price of
this handy little volume.

    Thanks to Gene Bagnoli for the review copy.

Cookie Sewell