Inside the Chieftain's Hatch: T28 Part 2 

"You think if you were going to get lost, someone would notice before you got too lost." Said of the hide and seek champion, 26 years running.

Seems the last person who drove this tank before it got lost understood bush camo mechanics at an epic level

"Self propelled weight" I can identify with that.

Wow, that looked a lot better inside than I feared. If the museum ever gets around to restoring it, I think it would be glorious if the Chieftain was given the opportunity to take it for a spin

You are asking how someone can loose a 95t tank. Well the swiss army managed to loose a bunch of m113, and by a bunch i mean nearly 400. That is not a typo, when they were declared obsolete all 550 the swiss army had were supposed to be destroyed and the material recycled. And they somehow managed to not notice that the majority never got sent to the scrappers. Years later when they decommissioned an old bunker someone finally noticed the giant fleet of armoured vehicles parked in the back of it.

Driver has a compass to navigate so they don't get lost at 8mp/h. I guess then it's reasonable to assume they thought they'd use commissioned officers as crew commanders for these things. 🙂

27 years have passed since part 1. Finally he found the tank again. Maybe it was camouflaged.

I love the sheer W I D T H of the interior

lol…”this gun would make problems go away”…classic

that little bush and WoT spotting mechanics XD

I saw this vehicle at the US Armor School at Fort Knox in the mid-90s, but only from the outside. Great to be able to see what it looks like inside!

You can find a lot of lost things hunting on military bases. Camp Lejeune is a treasure trove of lost things. 🤠

Look at all the sleeping space. Spoken like a true tanker.

One of the odd things about life is that your connection to a recounted event is limited by your own experience, which is why the most frightening piece of war footage, for me, is that clip from the Battle of the Bulge, when a group of soldiers caught in the middle of an ice covered road must get out of the way of a Sherman that is completely out of control and sliding backwards down the hill that they were about to march up. However, I have driven an old mid-seventies land yacht through a snow storm, in stop and go, near bumper to bumper traffic. The rear drums completely faded out, so tapping the brake would lock up the front wheels and the driven rear wheels would continue to push the car forward, in an out of control manner. I spent the next two hours bumping the transmission from drive to neutral if I was gaining on the car in front of me and bumping it back from neutral to drive, once the car in front of me started pulling away. As a result, your description of driving the T28 down a slope is butt clenching horror. On a similar note, I heard a story that a British Centurion crew had a harrowing experience when they drove straight down a steep slope and had their brakes fail. Down slopes and heavy armor do not mix well.

Engine swap and add a quad turbo and all 60mph of the speedometer will finally be used.

Given the cramped conditions of the crew stations, that spacious interior is a pretty good optical illusion.

Went to the open house last year and this thing was impressive!

They really didn’t know how long it was going to take to get through the Westwall until they got there. On top of that, in March of ‘44, they didn’t know that the invasion of Normandy would succeed. If it failed, it would likely be years before they could try, again. Meanwhile, the Westwall might come to be further reinforced if the resources were available. So, a heavy bunker buster like this could be one way to hedge their bets.

My family saw it back when the T-28 was on display at the Patton Museum years ago. I didn't even know it existed until that visit. I can remember my girls trying to climb on it. Thanks for showing the inside.

Hey Chieftain, quick note on the driver's compass, the last crew thought like you, they tossed it overboard, and that's how it played the best game of hide and seek in the tiniest bush for all those years. The more you know! 🌠🤣P.S. It's great to see her put into good shape again, inside and comfy. Somewhere I have a pic of me standing next to her in my dress greens in 1997 during family day.

As the mighty Jingles would say, the tank was kemping bush.

How would have these operated? As a platoon within a company attached to a..corps? Army? What would the othet platoons be? Support, engineer, 2x security (1 armor platoon and 1 mech infantry)?

Can you plz do a video on the T29 and T30. That would be a treat for sure.

Very interesting to see the inside of this monster. Thanks 👍

You could teach an aerobics class inside that thing! 😁

I love how cheif can be so effortlessly humorous.

This would have been the easiest "Oh darn, the tank is on fire" segment.

Wonder if put out for a planed training lane that never happened? Always interesting to find old training sites on army bases Too bad didn’t have time to explore

The truly massive T28 with it's formidabile cannon must have been a sight to behold built but was powered by the same engine to move the Pershing and the late Sherman but it was barely capable to move a 86.2 metric ton beast. Inside seems very spacious devoid of big ammo and radio set but nevertheless I like it! Good job again as always 👏 👍

This was great to see. Thank you for making this video. Well done.

Another Chieftain video with the Doom Turtle.

Great video. Thank you for taking the time to make such great content

Love the mud dauber nest in the ammo box @ 4:56. 🙂

That the Army "lost" this does not surprise me. You`d be amazed at what it sitting off in the woods at military installations. At Camp Lejeune, as of the early 2000`s, there was an M4 Sherman equipped with a flamethrower in one of the training areas. Had probably been there since the 40`s, and everyone knew about it, but no one seemed to have any authority to do anything about it.

Just finished part 1 what great timing for part 2

One of my favorite tanks!

I would bet that the low-range was calculated and designed for buddy recovery. The compass was for submarine warfare to bring the body of the vehicle within the firing solution of the torpedoes.... er, to turn the vehicle to bring the gunner's traverse range within solution. A fully enclosed SPG is often like a submarine, especially the slower they get.

Nice to see you back doing tanks and AFV..

0:08 yessss. Merry Christmas!

Wish I could visit all these tanks up close.

Very entertaining as usual.

Actually the steering controls are not bad. I have an old dozer that has a very similar set up with the brakes and pedals. Hopefully in the future the T28 could be fully restored to running condition as it would be great for such a one of kind machine but that is not likely for obvious reasons

i have been waiting for this for an entire decade

from quebec cnanada ......love thos vidéo infos tanks so mutch MERCI BEAUCOUP

Always wanted to see inside this tank

Still the best damn show on RU-vid.

Interesting fact, the T182 round developed for the 105mm family among others like T279 APDS for the T140/T5E1 were all part of the same series of ammo development programs for the 105 family. the T140 being a more refined T5E1 more or less. So anything the 105mm T140 gun could fire, so could the T5E1. They were still using T182 AP rounds for testing of armor plate well into the 90's.

Fort Moore? Can'tget used to the new PC names. Gimme Rock Benning back!

I got to see the beast at Knox twice before they closed down the Patton Museum and moved it to Benning/Moore. When it was outside on the slab, I could swear I remember it being painted in a darker color of green, almost an enamel, as though they had to coat it in something to protect it from the weather, and then stripped the dark coat off and added an olive drab before putting it on the floor in its new home. I took a photo, but I don't think I have it anymore.

doom turtle has the urban mech's speedo...

I would love to hear what Patton thought of an 8 mph tracked assault gun. Actually, it would be interesting to know what he thought of it before and then after Metz.

I was thinking: Could it be that it was "lost" because it's such a rare and unusual design? Once the people who know what it is and where they left it get distracted or move on to other things, that knowledge base goes out the window. And then, anyone who happens upon it while they're doing other things might think that it's so bizarre--it doesn't look like your usual US tank or self-propelled gun--that maybe they wrote it off as some strange target vehicle or mishmash of parts left out in the field, so they just go on with whatever they're doing and don't think about that chunk of metal they saw behind that bush.

I would love to see the T29E3 next!

@Chieftain It was probably on the Edgewood Proving Grounds which were adjacent to Fort Belvoir. I personally discovered one very, very delapidated bridge that I wasn't sure my vehicle was going to be able to get across without the bridge collapsing. In the years after that, Edgewood was absorbed into Fort Belvoir proper as has been noticeably improved. I wonder if they found and fixed that one bridge. I stumbled across it entirely by accident.

yay part 2

Holy crap the inside of the t28 is like the size my first studio apartment

The best. Thanks Chieftain.

4:55 man those mud dobbers just get everyware

it might be slow, it might be wide , it might not even be a tank but its still my 2nd or 3rd favorite next to the sherman and abrams lol

What a monster!

This tank probably inspired wargaming's Camo mechanic in game. Huge tank disappears in a bush lol

Wow… the interior of this thing is massive..

Great vid. Is there any chance you could review the Tortoise?

Wow. Reverse gear for going down hills. That's whacky. Very interesting. Thanks Chieftain.

I thought that those pods on the engine deck were supposed to be additional armored fuel tanks. Thanks, man

It's in an amazing shape, even if it held up well in that field, there must have been a major restoration effort.

I'm still AMAZED that You, crawl into Tank innards, With-Out a Helmet on!? At least, in a US Tank, you kinda 'fit' in them, but Italian ones... Um... Anyhow, nice 'crawl' thru a mis-understood, but Awesome WW-2 Super-Heavy! Thankx!

What an impractical beast!

A 105mm round going 4,700fps is absolutely mental, .30-06 sabot rounds go 4,080fps and they're asbolutely screaming and will sometimes disintegrate upon exiting a barrel.

The ALMIGHTY T-28 Doom Turtle 🐢, very interesting vehicle

I like to imagine that the two T28's were actually lost to time travel shenanigans and that one was only "found" in a field after 27 years because it had served it purpose and was put back. Why? because that's more fun.

Assuming it's still an M-26 Pershing powertrain, it's not a Hydramatic nor is it automatic. It would be aTorqmatic 900 Series - a 3F+R planetary 'powershift' box in modern terminology. Manual selection and shifting under full continuous power at any appropriate time. It was a step on the way from conventional transmission/steering units towards the widespread + still current Allison 'cross-drive' series - when combined with a version of Merrit super-imposed steering.

always wanted to know what one of these looked like on the insides

The T-28 is almost like cruiser turret on tracks

The T-28 hid behind the bush to avoid being scrapped like its brother. After 27 years it was already a safe to leave, since its historical value was greater than the value of its steel.

Honestly the inside looks pretty spacious with all the ammo and stowage removed. İ could live in that thing

Just for reference, modern m182 5.56 travels at about 3200ft/sec out of a 20 inch barrel.... That is an object that is roughly 18 fold larger than the aforementioned bullet traveling THE SAME SPEED. That is terrifying.

With the T-28 being that big, each member of the 4-man crew could have his own room...😉

Comedy gold with the words "push start."

The only problem wwith putting it reverse and going down hill, burning up the clutchs

I wonder if this contraption was ever at Fort Knox and if they tried to stuff it into the LST building that's just off Eisenhower Avenue. Now that would have been interesting. Take the tracks off - assemble the "trailer" - drive or back into the LST building - come back out - put the tracks back on. 😄

The interior looks amazingly spacious despite your comments

have you found anything on the land side like the mk 14 torpedo [ tested] was junk and brass swore it was good?

I'm still convinced that when they were told to destroy it the crew drove it into the woods and went "yup...it's gone..." but never bothered to figure out the part about how they were going to come back later and make off with a 90-ton tank.

Tutel 🐢!!

14:15 I will not let the irony of that statement be lost...

No problem with "Oh bugger, the tank's on fire".

hope they do the t30 next vid😢

"Mild violence" indeed.

The "Reverse and accelerate" method is STILL a current thing in the M88.

WG should make the camo rating on this one 90%. How else could this beast be lost for 27 years???

The army transporter tipped over with the tank

The T-28 has achieved true mastery of the Art Of Not Being Seen. It's hidden behind a bush, where it Cannot Be Seen.

I assume it could reach 60mph on a freefall, maybe if the wind is favorable

It's pretty easy to loose a vehicle, especially when no one is looking for it. You park it somewhere on one of your hundred bases and leave no record of where it is parked, so even if someone wonders where it is, they won't be able to find it without spending weeks scouring obscure corners of various bases. This is why good records keeping is so important, and even then, someone woke have to care enough to go and dig the file up to find out what the final disposition was it the equipment. There are those who saw the machine, some of them maybe even knew what it was, but if no one asked them, they have no reason to mention it to anyone.

I wonder if it would have been standard practice to fire it from an incline, natural or one built by engineers to get more than 19 degrees of elevation

Looking at the photo of it found I can't help thinking of the Monty Python hiding sketch 😂😂

For the Doom Turtle the war is never over.... Pushes the Battle button...

So you know how you have that 15 minute explanation of taking the outer tracks off? When will that be posted?

What an amazing vehicle, so unique. I love the fact the speedo goes to 60...........was someone having a laugh?