T28 Accident

I’ve been sick so too much time to trawl the net between sleeping.

Tank and AFV News.

The T28 in a ditch.

The photo shows the T28 prototype heavy tank after it fell off a transporter this weekend.  Apparently, the brakes on the HET which was moving the T28 suffered a failure, resulting in the tank coming loose.  Fortunately, no one was hurt although the tank reportedly suffered some damage to a few bogies. Updated Due to Facebook links changing.

The tank was being transported to a restoration center, so whatever damage was incurred in this incident will be repaired as part of the restoration of the vehicle.  To see images of the vehicle loaded on the HET. Here we have the pictures of it being loaded onto the HET.

Statement from the National Armor and Cavalry Museum on the T28 accident.

Friends of the National Armor and Cavalry Museum,

Last Thursday we were very excited to show off the T28 leaving the yard. It was on its way to begin the first part of a clean-up, re-paint, and partial restoration. Unfortunately things do not always go as planned. During the journey across post to where it was to be painted, the contracted Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET) was traveling down a hill when it suffered an unexpected and massive brake failure. In order to keep the HET on the road, the contractor crew was forced to make an extremely sharp turn. This forcefully shifted the T28 (currently weighing about the same as an M1A2 Abrams as it is without its outer track set or engine installed) around the trailer. Despite the large amounts of chain used, the T28 broke completely free. In hindsight, this probably prevented a worse accident since the T28 was not left partially chained, which could have caused the tank to roll over and off. Instead the T28 slid off the trailer and hit the ground with both tracks. It then rolled rear first, into a ditch before stopping.

First and foremost, we are extremely thankful no one was injured in the incident. As for the accident itself, the appropriate departments are conducting their investigations. As for the T28, we are very lucky that it was built very tough! Considering the U.S. Super Heavy was definitely not designed to fly short distances, it landed in the best manner imaginable. The impact of the landing and subsequent stop in the ditch did cause some damage to the suspension, specifically two bogie stations. The good news is everything is repairable and will be incorporated into the painting and cleanup. While she spent a night in the ditch, she was recovered the next day with no issues by two M88A1 Hercules Recovery Vehicles. During this time, we did not put out information until all chains of command could be informed and a proper damage assessment could be completed. While this is an unfortunate setback, it is minor in the long run and the T28 will be back. In closing we’d like to thank everyone for their support during this process and hope you continue to follow our work in preserving and restoring the U.S. Army’s armor collection. Thank you!

Sincerly,

The NACM Staff and Volunteers

16177683_1419707518093515_9051849803821822730_o

Liked it? Take a second to support jerryatrick53 on Patreon!
T28 Accident

33 thoughts on “T28 Accident

  1. Richard Pike says:

    I saw that tank sitting out in their yard with all their other vehicles awaiting restoration several years ago when I visited that museum. I have pictures of it, but apparently no way to post them here. If you get the chance, it is worth the visit @ Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia.

  2. Bob says:

    I find these photos very interesting. With so many people stating that the T28 in the game was never a real tank and only the T95 with the double-tracks was ever built, this pretty much proves that wrong.

    1. Rob from NACM says:

      Actually it doesn’t prove that wrong. The T28/T95/T28 was designed from the get go so that the outer tracks could be removed so that it could be transported via train and trailer. Once it got to near the frontlines, it would take about 4-6 hours to reattach the outer track sections. The vehicle was NEVER intended to go into combat on only 2 sets of track. In the case of the accident, the outer tracks were removed so the vehicle would fit both width-wise and weight-wise on the HET.

    2. skaianDestiny says:

      What? No, that’s not what they mean. The T28 you see in the game is a complete fabrication; there was nothing that had its lower hull nor VVSS suspension nor the frontal drive train. The T95 is the actual tank. During its development in WWII, it was called the T28. It was renamed the T95 Gun Motorized Carrier in 1945, and then rerenamed the T28 Super Heavy Tank in 1946.

      There was a Chieftain’s Hatch on this very subject: http://worldoftanks.com/en/news/chieftain/t28_and_t95/

  3. Herman Klein Nagelvoort says:

    Is this really a T28? What are those tracks next to it? Look the the marks on the side of the “T28” The tracks next to it fits to it…. I say it is a T95, Doomturtle

  4. Anonymous says:

    “Considering the U.S. Super Heavy was definitely not designed to fly short distances, it landed in the best manner imaginable. ” – facebook page

    I lol’d hard. In the wot version, i had the t95 breeze off some surprisingly sharp drops too and move on unharmed. haha

  5. wolvenworks says:

    personally, i’m kinda triggered. then i remembered that “USA” and “Tanks” make the worst couple. americans just don’t know how to make good tanks and take care of em…(yes the Abrams is overrated. it’s the pinnacle of American budget tanking that started all the way from the Shermans)

    1. Americans are the democratic equivalent of the USSR. No need to build something that would last more than a short while if it was going to break or become out dated. Granted, there have been a lot of questionable tank designs for every nation *glares at the british.* Amen to the abrams being overated, just wait until a trump line of tanks are created. Like the world didn’t hate the U.S. enough already.

      1. wolvenworks says:

        diffrence is, the Russians actually LOVE their tanks, while americans don’t, despite their love of BIG GUNS. seems that love is only limited to what you can carry with your hands, but not a 50-ton tank

      2. I will have to admit I’ve never lived in Russia to experience the original Russian armor love that inspired world of tanks but perspective is always a finicky manner especially when you play with opinions. For example, I can disagree with you because of the wide variety of American tank experimental projects, the quality of tanks despite their mass production, and the allocation of massive amounts of funding to develop tanks is more of physical proof for the fondness Americans have for mechanized force. It probably sounds respectively similar to the Russians who also have these trademarks in history and present day. It is also important to note that gun laws in Russia are more strict than the U.S. so it’s more of a matter that Russians quite literally cannot love firearms as much as Americans.

        I’m definatly not saying Americans love tanks more, World of Tanks and War Thunder are physical proof how much more Russians love tanks. Just opening pandora’s box out of curiosity because it sounds silly that you’re saying Americans don’t like things that go boom 😛

      3. wolvenworks says:

        not disagreeing that yankees love their BOOM, but i’m saying they really underlove their tanks compared to the ruskies. maybe because a gun is way more affordable than a M4 Sherman

  6. A Dude says:

    I still wonder why WG added a superstructure to the front of the tank, decreased the armor, increased the speed and took off the second pair of tracks and now considers the T28 to be different from the T95 while in fact those were two designations for the same vehicle.

    1. Xavier says:

      That’s the thing you don’t like? What about the T28 Prototype… They basically took the concept art for the T28, which had a “turret” that barely raised above the superstructure and made it into a huge ass turret. They literally made up the T28 Prototype, the T25/2, the T25 AT, etc.

  7. I like these images. Sure, in real life the T28 and T95 were both designations for the same vehicle, but seeing it like this (extra tracks removed and actually stacked next to the tank) is all I needed to say to myself, “Okay, I can accept these being two separate TDs in World of Tanks.” Still doesn’t explain the T28 Prototype, though. 😛

  8. SMGJohn says:

    Its funny how solid tanks are, its like a massive piece of metal brick, must been some damn serious velocity on that thing when it fell off.

  9. warishell23 says:

    I live in Columbus and I have actually taken a private tour years ago when the tanks first arrived. I have seen this thing up close and touched it. Its actually pretty dang big.

    http://imgur.com/a/69JBO

    Here is a link to some of the pictures I took. Can’t wait to see this thing painted.

Leave a Reply