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Many Stuart tanks were relocated to the Far East, India, largely employed in the Pacific in which they were effectively used in the jungles against the Japanese tanks, and also in the European theater alongside the larger U.S. M4 and M4A1 Sherman medium tanks as screening and scouting armored wings. Most U.S. tank battalions had three companies of Sherman tanks and one company of Stuarts. Towards the later part of the war, the U.S. intended to replace the Stuarts then in service with the M24 Chaffee light tank introduced at the end of 1944, although the Stuart ended up remaining
in active service through the end of World War II. After World War II, some countries equipped their armies with surplus Stuarts, in which they continued to see later use.
The M3A1 Stuart light tank, as offered here, is an improvement on the M3 before it, now featuring an internal “turret basket” in which the crew rotates with the turret, removal of a cupola, removal of sponson machine guns on either side of the hull, a taller mounting point up top for use with a M1919A4 Browning Machine
Gun on a M20 anti-aircraft mount (not included), and
a new main gun vertical stabilizer. Power is supplied
by a Continental W-670-A9 radial 7-cylinder air-cooled gasoline engine outputting approximately 250 hp. The M3A1 features three mounting points for Browning Machine Guns (not included). This example is green in color and has a hand painted “3” in a style used by the Marine Corps in World War II in a white box on both front sides of the turret.
This military vehicle will be off-site for preview. Please contact RIAC to schedule your slot for our special open house day in Virginia, May 8th, 2024.
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