A bit of info if your interested.
If you type "T34 Calliope" or "Sherman Calliope" in Google, you get a lot of references that are mostly incorrect translations
In 1943, and as a result of the success harvested in the P47 airplanes with the triple assemblies of the 4.5-inch rocket projectile, the United States Army developed a series of terrestrial systems for the use of such projectiles (models mate, M8A1, A2 and A3), which contained 6.8 kg of HE, had a range of 3800 meters and were stabilized by fins.
The projectile was electrically fired from 90-inch long launch tubes (M10 plastic fiber, M14 steel and M15 magnesium alloy).
THe tubes, at the rear part, had rocket fastening devices and terminals with contacts (brackets) for igniting them.
Among the systems designed, those mounted on "tripods" (M12), on Jeep vehicles, on trailers type Nebelwerfer (T66) and Sherman tanks: The Calliope.
The Department of Army Equipment developed the Calliope at the end of 1943, sending the first models to England immediately before D-Day, although they did not see their first action until "Operation Cobra" firing at St. Lò.
They were initial models with the T34 launcher, consisting of 60 M10 tubes arranged in three groups: a first group with two upper rows of 18 tubes and two lower groups with twelve tubes in two rows of six, each.
The launcher was supported by two arms located on both sides of the tower, fixed to it by an upper bracket and a lower stump or stump.
The elevation of the set was made joint with the elevation of the barrel, by using a bar that joined the launcher with a ring and an articulated ring that surrounded the 75 mm barrel.
This provision made it impossible to fire the main gun, since the recoil would be transmitted to the launcher .
In addition, the use of plastic fiber M10 tubes, it was necessary to replace them after a few shots, for which the entire system, the wiring, the arms and the subjection to the barrel had to be disassembled, which made it a slow and cumbersome procedure for crew.
The solution for these problems was brought by the imagination of the maintenance steps and later the first improved version: the T34E1.
The first consisted of the placement of a welded plate or shelf over the lugs of the gun guard mantlet. On the shelf was screwed the ring that previously surrounded the barrel, making solid the system with mantlet but without touching the tube, allowing its recoil in case of being fired the barrel.
The only problem was that this improvisation limited the elevation of the whole, being necessary to place the Calliope in embankments to achieve the maximum range of the rockets.
The official solution (T34E1) came with the standardization of new components that corrected the Calliope defects:
An extension of the mantlet was available in line with the barrel, which also allowed firing, and achieve the highest elevation of the system, in parallel with the design adopted for the Calliope relative, the M17 (T40).
A hydraulic ejector was available that allowed to uncouple the launcher from the arms of the tower and the lifting arm of the mantlet / barrel, making it easier to change tubes. For the case of the arm of the barrel, there were at least two versions of the ejector, the most seen being the one that I intend to represent in the model, which also shares with the M17 (T40)
A contact box located in the periscope was available of the loader, which allowed the dismantling of the launchers without dismantling all the wiring.
The M10 tubes (plastic and 6.35 mm thick) and M14 (steel and 3.1 mm thick) were replaced by M15 magnesium alloy tubes (4.8 mm thick), with more life Useful.
The use of deflectors of the rocket gases was popularized to avoid their incidence in the covers and vents of the engine. (The manual of the "
animal " advised the crew not approach within 75 feet of the hole rockets); as well as the transfer of the radio antenna outside the "dangerous" zone
Many of the modifications standardized in the E1 version were adopted on the existing models, in particular, the hydraulic system freeing mechanisms, the material change of the tubes and the "perisopio" contact boxes.
There are several web pages that claim that the T34E1 version differed from the T34, in incorporating 64 launchers instead of 60. Obviously these statements are incorrect, and are based on an experimental spawn that until a few years ago was in the Fort Lee museum in Virginia after being brought from Aberdeen, and riding a T72 launcher for M16 rockets stabilized by self-rotation, with the shorter tubes; and that incorporated some of the improvements of the T34E1 and the M17 WB as the new lifting mechanism with the prolongation of the mantlet.
The origin of the confusion is probably that the lower groups are two rows of seven rockets instead of six.
Some sources claim that at the end of the war, an E2 version appeared that used sixty tubes with 7.2-inch rockets (if true, it must be huge, the M17 had 20 and occupied "a whole Sherman") but I have not seen any photo of it, nor have I found any technical reference, nor do the "serious" authors cite it or figure in any official publication of the time that I have consulted.
Pete.
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