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The Sherman Firefly was a medium tank used by the United Kingdom and some armoured formations of other Allies in the Second World War.It was based on the US M4 Sherman but was fitted with the more powerful British 76.2 mm (3.00 in) calibre 17-pounder anti-tank gun as its main weapon.
A Sherman Firefly with the 17-pounder, South African National Museum of Military History, 2014. The 17-pounder outperformed all other Allied armour-piercing guns, and was quickly adapted for use on various tank chassis. However, few tanks were capable of carrying such a large gun due to the size limitations of their turret rings.
In the lead up to D-Day, Sherman tanks were fitted with the 17 pounder, creating the interim 17 pounder Sherman Firefly. Converting Sherman tanks was simpler than producing Challengers, so it was decided in November 1943 to terminate the A30 production run after the two hundred vehicles had been built, allowing BRC&W to concentrate on the Cromwell.
Sherman IC and VC – Sherman I and Sherman V medium tank chassis adapted by the British with a redesigned turret to mount a British 17-pounder gun. The 17-pounder could knock out any German tank. Often referred to by the post-war nickname "Firefly", but during WWII this nickname was also used for the 17pdr M10. Lee and Grant – M3 Lee medium tank
M4A3 (76) Sherman – medium tank armed with an 76 mm anti-tank gun, entered US service in 1944; Panther – medium tank, entered German service in 1943. Sherman Firefly – US-built M4/M4A4 Sherman re-armed with a 17-pdr anti-tank gun at a UK Royal Ordinance Factory, entered service in 1944. T-34-85 – medium tank, entered Soviet service in 1944.
The Firefly thus remained a British variant of the Sherman. The M10 tank destroyer was also up-gunned with the 17-pounder, creating the M10C tank destroyer, sometimes known as "Achilles". This was used in accordance with British tactical doctrine for tank destroyers, in that they were considered self-propelled anti-tank guns rather than ...
The Sexton Mk II used the Grizzly chassis, with the upper hull modified to carry the Commonwealth standard QF 25 pounder gun. The Sexton was the Commonwealth counterpart to the US 105 mm self-propelled howitzer M7 Priest. Some Grizzly medium tanks were fitted with an Ordnance QF 17-pounder (as per the Sherman Firefly) and used for training in ...
The 2 Pounder anti-tank gun was made at Nottingham from 1937 to 1939. The BL 5.5-inch Medium Gun (1940–42) and the 17 pounder gun, including conversions of the Sherman tank into the 17 pdr armed Sherman Firefly. The hull and suspension units for the first prototype A41 tank, later to be named as the Centurion tank, were built at Nottingham.