Obviously it must be possible otherwise the filmmakers had made a massive goof, but is it ever done, or was it?
From what I know of Main Battle Tanks they generaly have a commander, a gunner and a driver and in the past some would even have had a loader until autoloaders were added. But what the hell was the muslim guy's role?
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground, try this sig with spinach!
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As far as I'm aware you're both right. T-55s were not deployed to Afghanistan but the film was made using T-55s that were available in Israel as they looked similar. Remember the film was made in the 80s and as such the filmakers couldn't really borrow the correct gear from the Soviet Union to make a film that was critical of their ongoing war.
shareOnce upon a time, many tanks had 5 man crews, up until the US M47 Patton tank (a post-Korean War tank), which may have been the last of the 5-man tank crews. The 5th crewman was the bow machine gun operator and in WW2 usually operated the radio. Sherman tanks, M26 Persion, M46 & M47 Patton tanks all had 5 man crews. Germans used 5 man tank crews in WW2 as well.
In the modern tank era, tanks like the M48, M60, T-55, T-62, T-72, Abrams, trying to get an extra man in the turret would be next to impossible. The only "open" space for him to stand would be behind the main gun. It would crush him if it ever fired and the loader would not be able to load a round with someone standing there.
Short answer: No. You cannot get five men in a T-62. They took quite a few liberties with the internal volume of the tank and it's layout for the sake of the story. Soviet tanks are TINY. I was a US army tanker for 12 years, and in some deployments I went on got to see and inspect Soviet-made tanks, or export models of those tanks like the Yugoslav M-84 (the export model of the T-72) and the T-55. Tiny, tiny, tiny.
shareNO, No, No!
The wagon in the movie is either an Israeli up-gunned T-54/55 (Tiran series of mods) or a Chinese made T-54/55 clone (Type 59II or 69/79) due to it clearly being fitted with an L7 series 105mm rifled gun instead of the original 100mm D10 series rifled gun . Note the postition of the fume extractor (bore evacuator to Yanks) on the main gun barrel, standard T-55 is centrally located on the business end of the gun and on the T-62 about a third of the way down the barrel. Here it is eccentrically mounted approx half way down - obvious L7 (M68 to Yanks) ID feature (See Leo 1, late Centurion and early M1's for e.g's of the gun). Main ID feature of this MBT type however is the position of the road wheels, large gap between 1st and 2nd wheels SCREAMS T-55 family, for the visually similar T-62 family there are large gaps between the 3rd, 4th and 5th road wheels).
Anyone who has ever stuck their head into a T-55 knows just how cramped they are, Soviet crews must have been midgets (especially drivers and gunners!) so the 5th crewman would simply not be practical, purely used in the movie as a plot device to get a Muslim onboard and build the drama.
Also a previous poster said that no T-55's were used in Afgan, this is incorrect - they were the main Soviet MBT on the ground and hundreds are still in use there today, used by both the Afgan army and insurgent forces, many as dug in emplacements now too however.
I was an AFV Recognition instructor in the British Army - hope this helps.
N.B. The 5th crewman on earlier medium and heavy tanks, tended to sit to the side of the driver and would man the bow machine gun in the tanks glacis and use additonal radio equipment in some vehicles. Also if you want to see completely rediculous use of this type of tank (firing the main gun with a single crewman whilst driving, see the James Bond movie Goldeneye - pure and utter crap!)
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Mal: "Define, interesting?"
Wash: "Oh God, oh God, we're all gonna die!"
Yeah, I feel daft defending realism in a Bond film but I have to point out that Bond doesn't actually fire the gun while simultaneously driving the tank. The only time he fires it is after it has stopped for some time (I assume giving him time to swap positions to load and fire).
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