Firepower: A History of the American Heavy Tank

Murphy's Law of collecting - if you have it in your hands, buy it. I know that one now, 20+ years ago I saw this one in a book store - maybe selling for the ungodly sum of $60.00. After all of this time and many times that price, I own this, finally completing my R.P. Hunnicutt collection.The photo of the M-103 on the front may lead you to believe it's all about that one tank, but as with all of the other Hunnicutt books, it's a lot more than that. This traces the US Army experimentation with heavy tanks from WW1 to the (then) present 1987. The first 27 pages cover the Mark VIII (1917 thru WW2). Pages 28-108 are WW2 (essentially Pershings & experimental tanks) and the last 80 pages are reviews of Cold War tanks, of which 300 M-103's were made.If you have ever seen a Hunnicutt book, the format is the same. The book is filled with US Army B&W photos of the tanks during testing, including top views, sides, rear, interior cut aways, line drawings, technical diagrams of the complete tank - hull, chassis, suspension system, armament, and turret. The photos of the interior often are labeled, so you can determine what is what. Many of the photos are dark or small, but they are still very helpful. The last chapter contains 30 pages of technical data for each tank. The US Army never met a tall tank it did not like! Most of these tanks are over 12' tall.As a modeler, I would not recommend this book - you can get many color photos of these tanks on line, indeed, much of what I have seen on line comes from this book. As a student of armor, a collector, you simply have to have it. Hunnicutt set the standard when he wrote these books; I only wish he could do more. BTW, I do know Murphy's 2d law of book collecting...as soon as you break down & buy this used, the publishers will re-print this and sell it on Amazon for a fraction of what I paid. Enjoy!

This gives a pretty good history on the development of American heavy tanks. It starts with the Mark VIII (aka Liberty tank) which was produced too late for WWI. This tank was a little more advanced than one might think for the tanks of that day including an intercom system for the crew, which was a big improvement over hand signals and banging wrenches. He reviews the M6, the T28/98 (designation changed three times) assault tank/gun (the Army didn't really have a classification for it) and the M103. He goes into detail about the various design and component changes. Photographs and drawings of the vehicle interiors/exteriors and components are numerous and well done. There are also discussions of the research and concept tanks that never went into production like the T30 and T34, or the nuclear powered tanks (concept only; wisely abandoned). Also the M51 heavy tank recovery vehicle. There are detailed data sheets on the various tanks and their guns. There is also discussion of how changing priorities affected heavy tank development. For example, in WWII, the M6 faded away as the US was fighting a global conflict and needed to be able to ship as many tanks as possible, far more than they could with the M6; and the heavy tank did not fit into the US doctrine of rapidly moving armored formations. My only dislike for the book is the addendums. Instead of incorporating additional information that came out after initial printing, they put them separately. Perhaps addendums were the cheapest and fastest way to include the info but it was disjointed to me. Otherwise, a 5 star book.

This is the most comprehensive book I have found on the development of the US heavy tank. It covers all the prototypes: Mark VIII, T1 (M6), T29, T30, T34, T43 (eventual M103) plus several later concept studies. It's interesting, I thought, that all this effort only resulted in the production of 300 M103s for the Army (a single deployed battalion) and the Marine Corps.The text describes the tactical and mechanical engineering development of the various heavy tank models from around the late 1930s through the 1950s. The are also many black and white photos of the tanks plus a couple of pages of color photos at the end. Part III "Reference Data" contains detailed data sheets on the dimensions and performance characteristics of each tank model. There are also data sheets on the dimensions and performance characteristics of the main armaments.My only criticism is that there are many small ("tiny" may be an even better word) photos that are difficult to view. In many such cases the lettering within the photos is almost unreadable.

Really a good Hunnicutt quality. I own books from the series this is one of my favourite ones.Covers pre war tanks. Ww1 era.Ww2 tanks m6, t28,t29,t30,t32,t34And post ww2 m103 t57 etc.Photos both interior and exterior drawnings general descriptions, testings with resultsIncuded for all of them. Also includes some heavy towing vehicles.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the development of American heavy tanks. (Probably more than you wanted to know.)This is the book you need.

Great book. Long out of print and high priced originals

A classic from Hunnicutt. If you appreciate U.S. armour this is a must.

Excellent book. Print could be better though.

It's great to have an affordable reprint of this classic volume, especially since original copies are hard to find and ridiculously pricey when they can be found. The reprints of this series are good quality. Comparable to the originals that I have seen. This volume, like all the others in the series, contains many great photos and drawings, though some are quite small and of limited clarity (as in the original books). The text contains quite a bit of very good detail concerning technical aspects of the designs and their development, including information on the many designs that were considered but were not built or were only built for evaluation purposes. This book does not go into much detail concerning actual deployment and use of the vehicles that made it into production and somebody wanting that type of information might be disappointed -- though all of the vehicles covered in this volume saw limited use and were never deployed in combat in any case.

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