ebay auction

[R MICHAEL]

Hello all. I was just cruising the sales and came accross this auction. Question I have is what is it? either it is rare or just the regular silly bidding on ebay. Mike
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...504218475&rd=1

[John T]

That is very interesting. Does anybody recognize this tank?

[Akira Takiguchi]

Japanese Type 5.

[blinky]

It's a Japanese Type 5 CHI-RI medium tank.

(whoops...overpost)

eric

[John T]

Thanks for the replies..is this a late war Japanese tank..or something still being developed when the war ended?

[tom!]

Hi.

The type 5 tank was in an early development stage at the end of the war. It was the heaviest tanks the japanese built until 1945 and so they had to develop a new chassis. The good experiences they made with the expanded type 97 chassis used for the type 4 Chi-To leads to the decision to expand it again. To test this chassis a lighter version (75 mm maximum) of the planned armour was installed and tested succesfully.

The production model was planned with a type 5 88 mm gun and a maximum armour of 105 mm. There were plans for a heavier type 6 tank with 105 mm gun and 130 mm maximum armour and the 105 mm tankhunter Ri-Ki on the same chassis.

Yours

tom!

[John T]

HI Tom:


Thanks for the info. It seems the tank would have been a decent heavy tank..the suspension configuration reminds me of US tanks.

John

[kennethc]

Consider rare

HI Tom:


Thanks for the info. It seems the tank would have been a decent heavy tank..the suspension configuration reminds me of US tanks.

John

[Mian_Tang]

Hi.

The type 5 tank was in an early development stage at the end of the war. It was the heaviest tanks the japanese built until 1945 and so they had to develop a new chassis. The good experiences they made with the expanded type 97 chassis used for the type 4 Chi-To leads to the decision to expand it again. To test this chassis a lighter version (75 mm maximum) of the planned armour was installed and tested succesfully.

The production model was planned with a type 5 88 mm gun and a maximum armour of 105 mm. There were plans for a heavier type 6 tank with 105 mm gun and 130 mm maximum armour and the 105 mm tankhunter Ri-Ki on the same chassis.

Yours

tom!

Strangely,from what do I know about the type 5 tank is it just a late war prototype,had never got a chance to enter the war.