M3A3 Stuart Walkaround

It must be some sort of sickness to go to one of the great aviation museums in the world, the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, and photograph some armour! In amongst all of the magnificent planes on display, this rather rare M3A3 Stuart caught my eye, though.

The M3A3 is a rather strange vehicle in the lineage of the Stuart, since it went into production after its successor, the M5 series. While retaining the Continental radial engine of the earlier M3 and M3A1, the M3A3 had a newly designed hull with sloped armour all around and a new turret which had the radio moved to its rear from the hull. With US forces standardizing on the twin-Cadillac powered M5 series, almost all of the 3,427 M3A3s built went to Commonwealth and other Allied armies. The new turret fitted to the M3A3 was found to be much superior in layout to that of the M5, so a version of that turret was mated to the M5’s hull, resulting in the M5A1. Luckily for modelers, AFV Club has blessed us with an excellent model of the M3A3; hopefully, these photos will be of use to anybody working on that kit.

This shot of the bow gives a good view of the major components. The rack running diagonally across the glacis plate was originally fitted for grousers, but here has spare track links fitted. The neat but fairly prominent weld seams are noteworthy.

Looking at the rear, the sloped sides and significant overhang of the new upper hull is evident. The engine exhaust outlet screen is under the rear overhang. The rubber chevron tracks are non-standard for a World War II vehicle; most were fitted with T16E1 or T16E2 rubber block track or T36E6 steel cleat track.

The left side of the turret is shown here, complete with grouser racks along the rear portion. In the foreground is the hinge and periscope for the driver’s hatch. The construction of the turret, as well as the texture of the rolled steel plate, is plainly visible.

A new gun mount, the M44, was designed for the M3A3’s turret. Its revised contours can be seen here, as can the .30 calibre machine gun mount on the right side of the turret. That gun was manned by the commander/loader, who was in the right side of the turret. The two driver’s hatches, with a ventilator in between, can be seen underneath the gun.

The rear of the turret is quite boxy, to make room for the radio (a No. 19 set was fitted to Commonwealth vehicles); the antenna mount is prominent on the rear. More grouser racks are fitted to the right side of the turret, with the machine gun mount to the right of them. Above the grouser racks can be seen a latch for securing the commander’s hatch in the open position. Pistol ports, a prominent feature of earlier Stuarts, were deleted. In the foreground can be seen the large armoured fuel cap covers.

The running gear and suspension of the M3A3 was unchanged from earlier (or later) Stuarts, with double-pinned tracks and vertical volute suspension system. This photo gives a good view of the drive sprocket.

All Stuarts had a very large trailing idler, the design of which changed little throughout the entire series. As can be seen, the idler was rubber-rimmed. Although some Stuarts (especially M5s) had solid roadwheels and idlers, this vehicle has had plates welded to the inside of the wheels to block the holes; this was done either to prevent enemy soldiers from jamming steel bars through the holes to jam the running gear of prevent mud buildup. While a fairly common modification to Shermans, this is one of the only examples I’ve seen on a Stuart.

Our final view looks at the idler mount from the other side. One can see how the plates were welded to the inside of the wheel, as well as details of the track tension idler adjustment device. To the upper left, above the tow shackle, are the engine access doors.