Horstman history uncovered

A nice blast from the past – with help from my colleagues at Horstman Inc we tracked down a “missing link” in the Horstman design series. Pictured is a US manufactured Sherman V on trials in the UK circa 1943 and fitted with a Horstman bogie. Our source (Hunnicut) indicates that this single prototype delivered superior mobility and stability – however it was not adopted as it was less robust than the Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension (HVSS) emerging at around the same time from the  powerful arsenal of democracy that was the US auto industry. Notably though, the UK successor in 1945 was the Horstmann bogie fitted to the Centurion tank which went on to become arguably the best tank of the 1950s