Ok, I’m a little confused. I have this kit, and was wondering what the differences were between this piece of artillery and the M59 long tom, besides a longer barrell maybe? Were they both used in WWII? Additionally, what can be used to pull this piece? I know of the M35 prime mover, but was there something else in the US inventory at the time that could/would have done the job?
Thanks!
Well, the main difference is the size of the shell, since the Long Tom was a 155mm gun and the M115 was a 203mm gun (or 8"). Presumably this makes them fairly different weapons.
Yes, they are very different weapons in their capabilities. They both used the same trunion and trails, but with different cannons on them. The M115 with a 203mm cannon could travel almost twice the distance as the M54, 155mm cannon. The 203mm shell also had a much larger explosive charge as well. The M54, 155mm. was a medium artillery piece that usually supported heavy divisions in a Direct Support (DS) role, that is they took calls for fire directly from units in the division. The M115, 203mm. was a heavy artillery piece that was used in a General Support/Reinforcing (GSR) role (used to fire on Corps targets and to provide reinforcing fires to divisional DS units), across a much wider front and was maintained at Corps level to provide greater coverage of the battlefield.
Actually, the M35 did not usually pull these pieces of artillery. AFV Club just shows them together to sell more models. The M54 was usually pulled by a 7-ton Mack NO truck. The M115 was usually pulled by the M4 or M5 High Speed Tractors.
Thanks a lot for the info guys. Yeah, I did hear about them usually being pulled by the HST, but unfortunately there do not seem to be too many kits lying around. Either way, thanks a lot for the info.
Would there be anything else besides the HST that could have pulled the piece?
Actually from what I understand M-5’s usually only pulled 155 Howitzers not the Long Toms.
Hmm, that sounds like what I said. Actually, the Long Tom is the 155mm M54.
Thanks for the info. The old M4 kits don’t seem to be readily available. Maybe I’ll eventually just scratchbiuld a representation of one.