20 Facts About M48 Patton

M48 Patton is an American first-generation main battle tank introduced in February 1952, being designated as the 90mm Gun Tank: M48.

The M48 Patton was the first US medium gun tank with a four man crew, which replaced the traditional 5 crewmen tanks, a centerline driver's compartment, and no bow machine gun.

M48 Patton-series saw widespread service with the United States and NATO, until it was superseded by the M60 tank, and were widely exported.

M47 M48 Patton entered production in 1951 and was used by the United States Army and Marine Corps but ongoing technical and production problems kept it from serving in the Korean War.

The M48 Patton hull had a wedge-shaped front glacis compared to the M46's rather flat design.

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Turret used for the M48 Patton series was hemispherical in shape and was made from cast homogeneous steel.

T48 and M48 Patton tanks featured a remote controllable machine gun mount as the tank commander's weapon on a pedestal, which allowed him to fire the.

M48 Patton featured a gasoline-powered engine, different models were used depending on availability and manufacturer.

M48 Patton's turret consisted of a redesigned flat gun shield and standard pop-up hatch for the commander's station.

Ford's production of the M48 Patton ended in August 1953 after a fire destroyed most of the Livonia Tank Plant.

Concurrent testing of the T48 and production of the M48 Patton was the source of widespread debate among Congressional Budget Oversight committees.

M48 Patton saw extensive action with the US military during the Vietnam War.

Some M48 Patton variants, nicknamed "Zippos", or M67A1 Flame tanks were used by some USMarine Corps units, but the US Army no longer used them.

M48 Patton has the distinction of playing a unique role in an event that was destined to radically alter the conduct of armored warfare.

In contrast, Pakistan's Patton tank failed to live up to its high expectations in the Battle of Asal Uttar in September 1965, where about 97 Pakistani tanks were lost, the majority of them being Pattons.

Later, the M48 Patton tank was the main Pakistani tank at the Battle of Chawinda and its performance at that battle was deemed satisfactory against Indian armour.

M48 Patton was later used by Pakistan again, this time, in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

Analysing their overall performance in their wars with India, the Pakistani military held that the M48 Patton was held in reasonably-high esteem by both sides and that combat-tactics were to blame for their utter defeat and the following debacle at Asal Uttar.

Together with the M47, M48 Patton tanks were used by the Turkish Armed Forces during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.

Iranian M48 tanks were used widely in the Iran–Iraq War from 1980 to 1988, where they faced Iraqi T-55s, T-62s and T-72s, alongside M60 Pattons, in fierce and harsh combat with their Iraqi foes, with mixed results.