The US M47 Patton Medium Tank

The US M47 Patton Medium Tank Background

The M46 had been a temporary upgrade to better the Pershing whilst the US Army completed the merging of departments and developed a new line of tanks which would later known as the Patton series after the late US Army General George S. Patton (born November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945).

A working prototype for the light tank, medium and heavy tank were built. The turret of the medium tank which was known as the T42, was fitted to the hull of an existing M46 and proved to be a successful combination.

Production

Existing M46 were upgraded with this new turret to form the M47 Patton and entered service in 1952, whilst some faults were ironed out and production using new hulls began at the Detroit Tank Arsenal.

Some 8500+ were built but were replaced in front line service by the M48, however they were passed on by that point to alley nations (as well as the National Guard) under the mutual defence aid program, which included West Germany, Japan, France and even Iran to name a few. They carried out various modifications and were passed on to other nations in later years as more capable indigenous tanks were introduced.