T30 Armored Chemical Car
The T30 Armored Chemical Car would have been a rocket launcher based on the M8 light armored car, but it never got beyond the design stage.
In 1943 the Armored Force requested a rocket launcher version of the M8 to be used by Chemical units attached at corps level. The Ordnance Committed recommended accepting this request on 3 June 1943 and approved it on 21 June. The new vehicle was to be designated as the Car, Armored, Chemical, T30.
On 28 August 1943 a contract was issued to Ford to build six prototypes of the T30. Three of them would be the rocket launching vehicles, which would carry five 7in rocket rackets on either side of the turret, for a total of ten. The turret itself would have 20 degrees of elevation and the racks 55 degrees, for a total of 75 degrees. There was also to be space for another fifteen 7in rockets. The other three vehicles were to carry Chemical Corps equipment.
Very little work had been completed by 18 November 1943 when the Ordnance Committee recommended dropping the project as this type of vehicle was no longer needed. The project was cancelled on 2 December 1943 and none of the vehicles were ever built.
Ford M8 and M20 – The US Army’s Standard Armoured Car of WWII, David Doyle.
A pictorial history of the M8 armoured car and M20 utility vehicle, both of which saw service in Italy, Normandy and north-western Europe and to a lesser extent in the Pacific. Very good material on the development of the vehicle, and close up pictures of development and test vehicles as well as modern survivors, along with a useful chapter of pictures of the vehicle in service. Probably aimed more at the modeller than the historian, and will provide many useful details of otherwise hard to examine areas
(Read Full Review)
How to cite this article:
Rickard, J (2 January 2023), T30 Armored Chemical Car , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_T30_armored_chemical_car.html
