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M26 Dragon – Army Armored Tank Recovery
[Extracted from
Armour modeling & preservation society, Allied-Axis;The Photo
Journal of the Second World War No.3, Tank Transporters of World War II part 1,
Personal Files]
Revised 20 June 2001c
The North American observers who accompanied the British troops in their campaign in North Africa noticed the lack of a specialized vehicle able to recover and transport combat vehicles immobilized, either in combat, or by mechanical problems, which in turn had the unfortunate consequence of leading to the loss of numerous tanks that had to be unnecessarily left behind and/or destroyed. From this, there arose the requirement for an all-terrain vehicle, able to transport and recover all US vehicles then in service, in particular the M4 Sherman.
The M26 first saw action on the Italian Front of 1943, and
was later extensively used in the inland advancement of the Allies following
the Invasion at Normandy. In all kinds of weather, in the middle of the night,
or under a barrage of enemy fire, the repair crews continually fulfilled their
duty to recover and repair damaged tanks.
Several companies, some of whom specialized in the manufacture of heavy machinery for mining and quarry work, presented and displayed their submissions. The design that was finally accepted, and that entered service in the middle of 1943, was baptized the "M25". It consisted of a tractor - M26, constructed by the Pacific Car and Foundry Company, Renton (Washington), and a trailer - M15, constructed by the Fruehauf Company. Due to its purpose and its imposing size (17.48 meters in length), the total assembly received the nickname of the "Dragon Wagon".
. Designed by the Knuckey Truck Company of San Francisco (specializing in
mining and quarry truck designs), the first tractors were armored for
battlefield recoveries and were turned over to the Army in late 1943. But
because Knuckey could not produce the vehicles in sufficient numbers, Pacific
Car and Foundry Company, of Renton Washington, was brought into the contract
and ended up manufacturing most of the Dragon Wagons over its 5-year production
period. By 1944, a second unarmored model with a canvas cab roof (M26A1) took
the place of the original armored model on the production lines and by the end
of the run there were over 1,270 of both models completed. Accounts vary as
to exactly how many were actually manufactured, and none of the available
sources agree. Billings was selected as one of the
assembly sites during WWII, and the facilities at the Fairgrounds were adapted
to facilitate construction. About 100 Dragons were assembled in the Exhibition
Building and tested on Alkali Creek Road in Billings.
The 6x6 M26 tractor had an armored cab that protected the crew of 7 from
small arms fire, and artillery fragments. The engine was a 6 cylinder
Hall-Scott 440, capable of delivering 240bhp, powering the vehicle by way of a
drive shaft and a patented chain drive to the rear bogie assembly. There had a
four-speed transmission and a three-speed transfer box, allowing a total mix of
12 speeds, generally enough for both on or off road driving. Speed
controllers were installed to limit the speed to 45 mph. The chain drive at
the rear wheels proved to be one of the more noticeable characteristics of the
M26 as the chain was a continual self-lubricating type and constantly threw oil
along the road wherever the vehicle traveled. The weight of the M26 tractor was
21 tons, and its fuel consumption astronomical at more than a litre per
kilometre, even on good roads. The M15 trailer could take a load of up to 40
tons. This was sufficient to support to the Sherman, the main
"client" of the Dragon Wagons. The weight of the trailer was 17.5
tons, and relied on two folding ramps to load the vehicles. The rear wheels
could be moved horizontally (by increasing the length of the axles), to
facilitate the loading of vehicles with different widths as well as the use of
steel ramps fitted over the rear tires preventing damage.
It possessed three winches, one
at the front that could drag 18 tons, and two behind the cabin, each with a
capacity of 30 tons. In the cab roof there was a slide ring installed on which a
.50 cal. HMG could be fitted. In addition, the crew had personal armament like
Thompson machine guns, M1 carbines, sidearms, hand grenades and flares.
The crew also had tools to carry out their recovery work: Complete welding equipment, an air compressor, chains, tow ropes, 10 and 20 ton hydraulic pulleys... etc. A small crane could be installed behind the cabin to lift light loads, or to change a wheel. In addition, at the rear of the prime mover was a folding A-Frame structure that could be erected and locked in different positions to facilitate dragging recovered vehicles.
After 30 years of looking, a Dragon driver was located and he relayed his experiences with one of the vehicles presumably built in Billings:
“When I was selected to drive the Dragon, it
became obvious that I would be in the battle zones for much of the time. First
thing that I did was to remove the speed controls, and tune the engine to gain
maximum speed. I could flat-line the speedometer at 80 mph with a fully loaded
tank. There wasn’t a thing on the roads in Italy or France that could stop me
because of its huge size. We could stop, load or drag a tank out of the combat
zone within minutes after arrival.”
“My best recollection was when I ran across a Sherman tank stuck in a bog in southern France. The tank was about 300 yards into the bog, and sunk up to the turret. There were three other tanks connected to it, and they were unable to budge it one-inch! I said: “you fellows need a hand?” and they took one look at my rig and laughed. If our tanks can’t pull it out, your truck certainly can’t. They removed the cables, and I drove the rig through the bog, and backed up to the tank. I hooked both winches on, and pulled it onto the flatbed and drove out within minutes. They couldn’t believe their eyes.”
By the end of the war the need for a wheeled battlefield
recovery vehicle was re-examined and found unnecessary and the M26 production
ended abruptly. Tracked vehicles seemed to do a better job according to the
Army, although they were more complicated and harder to maintain. The M26
vehicles still in the US Army inventory were put on surplus and sold to other
countries, or used by the Army for heavy hauling duties only. As newly designed
and fielded tanks increased in weight (M26 Pershing for instance) it became
apparent that a recovery vehicle with attached trailer was no longer needed,
particularly as commercially available trucks and trailers were available for
road marches and tracked recovery vehicles were better suited for off-road retrievals.
There are few intact M26/M26A1 tractors surviving today, but the Dragon Wagon's
huge size and interesting shape guaranteed it a place in the AFV (Armored
Fighting Vehicles) hall of fame as a very unique design that was fielded to
accomplish a unique and dangerous task. [Source: Army Vehicle Literature].
The operational life of the Dragon Wagons extended to the Korean War, and
even during the '60s, the US army still had them in its inventory. In addition,
a certain number of them were sold to diverse countries like Japan, Belgium,
Austria, Italy, France, Spain and Turkey. Also, a number of Dragon Wagons had
use in civilian life with their armor and military modifications removed,
transporting 'special' merchandise.
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M26 in
process of recovering a tank in Italy [Army photo] |
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Chris
Mysko provided M26 picture on internet. |
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Typical
WWII operation to retrieve a battle damaged tank. [Army photo] |
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M26
Operational Handbook (1944) describing performance characteristics extracted
for this article. |
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M26A1 –
Believed to be the version manufactured in Billings. |
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M26
carrying a tank. Army Photo |
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Major publication
that presents articles about te various types of military vehicles and
armament. Has stories about the M26. |
