Tank Chats #160 | M18 Hellcat | The Tank Museum

Hey Tank Nuts! What do you think of the Hellcat?

TD for us army was good idea early in war when didnt have perfected tank design but by time Sherman came along then downfall...more a defensive cheaper alternative to tank

David Willey looking fly af in this clip

To be honest I hoped for more, the issue with tank destroyer doctrine was that the Germans stopped attacking. In North Africa, the tank destroyers performed as expected when the Germans attacked and American leadership showed up. There were other flashes but unlike France 1940 and the Soviet Union 1941, the Germans preferred to defend against the Allies in the West

Looks like a patton

I've heard that the radial engine was cooled by a huge fan the pulled air through the open turret hatch, Imagine being in the turret on a freezing cold winter day. Can you say windchill, yikes, yikes yikes.

m18 was supplied with a special hot round which basically punched through the german armor and explodes inside.

They really should make an updated version of this tank destroyer.

Modern tank. Copied from German and Russian prior designs. The T34 in various variants was the ultimate mass production and all round performance balance. It was due to it and the Russians - the war could be won. Tank destroyers like this one and the Firefly assisted the western war effort - but were tiny in their overall impact relative to the outcome of the war in comparison to the T34s.

I think the crumbling of the Tank Destroyer doctrine was one of those things rooted in the state of technology before the war but that eventually lost its relevance as technology changed (similar to how nations had dive bombers until they realized "hey, we can just put those bombs on our fighters, now").

If technology and doctrine weren't ready to respond quickly to an armored attack, then a fast-moving AT gun would be helpful. But if a country was better at anticipating enemy activity and tanks were designed with more focus on moving quickly than just breaching trenches, the need for that fast-responding AT gun isn't as pressing.

You can be cool. But you can never be "David Willey with sunglasses" cool.

I was a photographer in 12th cav - tanks are horrible machines that do terrible things to human beings. That being said, I'm interested in the tech and history of it, and I have an M18 in my WW2 armor collection. The Hellcat is essentially a sniper for tanks.

Do you have a documentary on the Sheridan? I was a crewman on one with 1st Cav 71-73.

Resurrect and modernize the beast and you will get the best recce vehicule for a song.
Well done on your appreciation of the M18.

M18's played a major role in halting the advance of the "bulge" of December 1944. Their courage, speed, teamwork and 76mm gun gave some Nazis a very big surprise. We owe them a lot.

That’s a good looking Tank 🇺🇸

It seems to me that the reason it wasn't a very successful doctrine is because the German Army wasn't really on the offensive anymore once it finally got into service. It was a good idea but arrived too late, when the war was already pretty much won without them. The US had plenty of manufacturing capacity so I don't think it made that much of a difference to produce a few extraneous vehicles near the end of the war.

20 tank rounds in a minute💀

The M18 hellcat had the best kill/ death ratio of American tanks in world war II.

Imagine if they had a good stabilizer on this thing... That would be an absolutely terrifying weapon

hellacious

Shoot and scoot baby! 😎😎

One of my favorite armored vehicles, shame that the doctrine didn't work out.. Great video!

One of the best looking tanks ever made

Hillcats are Buicks? That is pretty cool actually so if I ever win the lottery I'm buying an M18 Hellcat and registering it as a Buick LOL

Would it not have been useful in the Pacific?

My grandfather was a tank commander in WW2 and commanded a Hellcat 631st tank battalion Pattons 3rd army Quitman C. Berthay..my hero Google him he went from the beach till Patton said stop ✋️ that's who raised me and I thank him for it the way the world is today

First of all i want to say i survived the mass genocides across Bosnia that was done by the Serbians (example srebrenica). Yugoslavia split up and Serbia did not like it and backed by Russia they attacked Croatia and Bosnia. Croatia had a military and so did Serbia while us Bosnians did not and had to fight basically civilians vs an army and supply ourselfs or use stuff we captured. Serbs wanted yo slaughter us and take our Land. We had a Sherman we captured in out town from the Serbs and it served us well. Now i live in USA and love history and many things especially Tanks! Thanks for these tank chats! Love em! I want to say, if Germany had these Hellcats instead of these huge Tigers they would not have lost the war so quick! Hitler made so many mistakes and the allies were lucky he did and thats why they did not want to assassinate him.

fast boi yee haw!

David: Slaps Hellcat


"This baby can fit so much Cold War history"

Battle damage on the front ... it looks like a grenade went through without much resistance.

My daddy was a Hell Cat ! 654th tank destroyer battalion Company B headquarters. France Belgium and Luxembourg. Lied about his age , and went in at 15 .

One of my fav WoT vehicles, gets in position quick and able to deliver a surprise, lethal first hit.

I can see the viability of this tank, modernized of course, on a 21 century battlefield

I have an Uncle I never met who served with the 603rd Tank Destroyers but died shorty after the breakout from Normandy during Operation Cobra. On August 8th, 1944, the 603rd was outside of Gousenou, France, when they received "considerable
heavy fire" from the German held town that had been converted into a military fortress during 4 years of German occupation. Approximately 30 men were killed, wounded, or missing, that day and among them the Battalion Commander of the 603, Lt. Col. John G. Minniiece, was among the dead. On August 9th, after a buildup of more American forces outside of Gousenou over 900 Germans surrendered without a fight.
HOWEVER - On August 7th, 1944, a day before the American forces first arrived outside of town, Germans forced 44 men, women, and children into the center of town and massacred them. I respect my Uncle for standing up to fight those types of people and I try to honor his memory.
The sacrifice of my Uncle, Ernest J. Galles, and those like him, is not forgotten.

Arrancourt and Bastogne we're both fairly critical engagements. A few tank destroyers at a critical point can make a big difference in the success of a campaign and the duration of the war. The 101st was hanging on by the skin of its teeth at Bastogne, a few German Panzers could have wreaked havoc!

The Hellcat is probably the best representation of the Iron Triangle – firepower, protection and mobility. In a perfect world, you could have all three of those traits in an armored vehicle, but in reality, you can only pick two of the traits to have a working vehicle.

I love the talk and seeing the Tank from the side, but why do we have to look at the Presenter from the side? Looking into his ear while he's talking is not good camera work.

snazzy shades mr Willey

M18 Hellcat is sleek and sexy.

My dad was a tank mechanic, among other things, with the 903rd Heavy Ordnance Battalion during WW2 from the Normandy Invasion all the way through to the end of the war. His unit was attached to the 3rd Armored Division and fought in almost all of the major battles the 3rd Armor was engaged in. He hated the Shermans, but liked the M18 Hellcats.

Broke: Dodge Hellcat
WOKE: M18 Hellcat

And War Thunder change it from Tank Destroyer to Light Tank. Unbelievable, this thing is great with daily and special task and they ruined it. Still great to play but annoying to fight with

...What Had Better Armament & Protection? The 'M41 Walker Bulldog' Or The 'M18 Hellcat?'...They Had Some Similarities Like The 'M24 Chaffee' Too.

One of the best looking American AFVs of the war. Sexy stuff.

Even though it sacrifices armor for speed and firepower I think Id rather be in one of those than a Sherman. The Sherman might have twice as thick as armor but it didn't help it much in Europe, not to mention it's underpowered gun. But I would take a Sherman Firefly over either.

Love the narrator. Great video.

I tell ya one thing, it's a beautiful tank.

metric?

Great video and presentation - Thank You!