What does t 26 look like. Add to favorites. New trends in tank building

We continue the series of materials from the museum military history in Padikovo. Today our hero will be Soviet light tank T-26. The car is original and controversial, but nevertheless, the tank went through more than one war and is worthy of the most detailed disassembly, both outside and inside.

The combat path of the T-26 was very long and difficult. The Spanish Civil War, Khasan, Khalkhin Gol, the war with Finland, the Great Patriotic War. last place the use of the T-26 became the field of defeat of the Japanese Kwantung Army in the Far East.

The predecessor of the T-26 was the T-18 tank, which was a copy of the French Renault FT-17. By 1929, there was an understanding of the need to create a more modern machine and the general backlog of Soviet tank building.

In 1930, a procurement commission was created under the leadership of I. Khalepsky and the head of the engineering design bureau for tanks S. Ginzburg, whose task was to select and purchase samples of tanks, tractors and vehicles suitable for adoption by the Red Army.

In the spring of 1930, the commission visited Great Britain, which in those years was considered the world leader in the production of armored vehicles. The commission's attention was attracted by the light tank Mk.E, created by Vickers-Armstrong in 1928-1929 and offered for export.

Vickers-Armstrong offered several versions of the tank, in particular the "Model A" with two single turrets with 7.7 mm Vickers machine guns and the "Model B" with a two-man turret with a 37 mm short-barreled gun and a 7.7 mm machine gun. Only a double-turreted tank was purchased, which received the designation B-26.

For the production of the T-26, due to the lack of alternatives, the Leningrad plant "Bolshevik" was chosen, which had previously been engaged in the production of the T-18. In the spring of 1931, the factory department, which consisted of only 5 people, prepared for production and produced two reference copies of the tank. By May 1, working drawings were completed, and on June 16 approved technological process and started manufacturing equipment for mass production.

The design of the tank was constantly improved during production. In addition to the introduction of new towers, in 1931 the engine was moved aft to provide it with Better conditions work, and from the beginning of 1932, new fuel and oil tanks were introduced, and from March 1 of the same year, a box was installed on the T-26 above the air outlet grille, which protected the engine from precipitation.

In parallel, two variants of tanks were produced - with machine gun armament and with machine gun and cannon armament, which consisted of a DT-29 machine gun in the left turret and a 37 mm cannon in the right. At the end of 1932, machine-gun tanks began to be produced with ball mounts for the new DTU machine guns, but since the latter were soon taken out of production, the tanks of these series turned out to be unarmed and later had to be replaced with turret front plates suitable for installing the old DT-29.

Cannon tanks were equipped with a 37-mm Hotchkiss cannon or its modified Soviet version "Hotchkiss-PS".

In reality, work on the single-turret T-26 began only in 1932. Mastering the assembly of a conical turret from curvilinear armor plates was difficult for the Soviet industry, so the first turret of this type, created by the Izhora plant by the spring of 1932 and intended for the BT-2 tank, had a cylindrical shape. During tests of the riveted and welded versions of the turret, preference was given to the first one, which was recommended for adoption after the identified deficiencies were corrected and a niche for the installation of a radio station was added to the rear.

While work was underway on the turret, the issue of arming the tank was also being decided. In May 1932, to replace the 37 mm anti-tank guns 45 mm cannon mod. 1932, which also became a candidate for armament of tanks. Compared to the 37 mm gun, the 45 mm gun had about the same armor penetration, but fragmentation projectile was more effective, as it was equipped with a large explosive charge.

At the beginning of 1933 design bureau Plant No. 174 developed a twin mount for a 45-mm cannon and a machine gun, which successfully passed factory tests in March 1933. At the same time, it was decided to adopt a single-turret T-26 with a 45-mm gun.

It is this tank that we are considering today.

The main armament of the single-turret modifications was a 45-mm rifled semi-automatic gun mod. 1932 (20-K), and since 1934 - its modified version of the 1932/34 model. Semi-automatic gun model 1932/34 only worked when shooting armor-piercing shells, while when firing fragmentation, due to the shorter recoil length, it worked, providing only automatic closing of the shutter when a cartridge was inserted into it, while the opening of the shutter and extraction of the sleeve were carried out manually. The practical rate of fire of the gun was 7-12 rounds per minute.

The gun was placed in a coaxial installation with a machine gun, on trunnions in the frontal part of the turret. Guidance in the horizontal plane was carried out by turning the tower using a screw rotary mechanism. The mechanism had two gears, the speed of rotation of the tower in which for one revolution of the gunner's flywheel was 2 or 4 °. Guidance in the vertical plane, with maximum angles from -6 to +22 °, was carried out using a sector mechanism.

Guidance of the twin installation was carried out using a panoramic periscope optical sight PT-1 arr. 1932 and telescopic TOP arr. 1930 PT-1 had a magnification of x2.5 and a field of view of 26 °, and its aiming grid was designed for firing at a distance of up to 3.6 km with armor-piercing shells, 2.7 km with fragmentation and up to 1.6 km with coaxial machine gun.

For shooting at night and in low light conditions, the sight was equipped with illuminated scales and crosshairs of the sight. The TOP had an increase of x2.5, a field of view of 15 °, and an aiming grid designed for firing at a distance of up to 6, 4, 3 and 1 km, respectively. Since 1938, a TOP-1 (TOS-1) telescopic sight, stabilized in a vertical plane, with similar optical characteristics to the TOP, was installed on part of the tanks. The sight was equipped with a collimator device, which, when the gun oscillated in a vertical plane, automatically fired a shot when the position of the gun coincided with the aiming line. Cannon arr. 1934, adapted for use with a stabilized sight, was designated as mod. 1938 Due to the difficulty of using and training gunners, by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War the stabilized sight was withdrawn from service.

Tower T-26 from the inside:

Flag signaling served as the basic means of external communication on the T-26, and all double-turret tanks had only it. On the part of the produced single-turret tanks, which received the designation T-26RT, a radio station of the model 71-TK-1 was installed from the autumn of 1933. The share of the RT-26 was determined only by the volume of deliveries of radio stations, which were primarily equipped with the vehicles of unit commanders, as well as part linear tanks. Maximum range communication in the telephone mode was 15-18 km in motion and 25-30 km from a place, in the telegraph - up to 40 km; in the presence of interference from the simultaneous operation of many radio stations, the communication range could be halved.

For internal communication between the tank commander and the driver on tanks of early releases, a speaking tube was used, later replaced by a light signaling device. Since 1937, on tanks equipped with a radio station, a TPU-3 tank intercom was installed for all crew members.

On the basis of the T-26, a large number of vehicles for various purposes and self-propelled guns were developed.

76.2 mm escort cannon, intended for artillery preparation and support of tanks and as an anti-tank weapon.

76 mm (pictured) and 37 mm anti-aircraft automatic gun to provide air defense mechanized units on the march.

TR-4 - armored personnel carriers TR-4 and TR-26, ammunition transporters TR-4-1 and TR-26, fuel transporter ТЦ-26.

T-26-T - armored artillery tractor based on the T-26 chassis. The early version had an unprotected turret, the late T-26-T2 was fully armored. A small number of tanks were produced in 1933 for the motorized artillery battery, for towing divisional 76.2 mm guns. Some of them remained until 1945.

ST-26 - sapper tank (bridge layer). Produced from 1933 to 1935. A total of 65 cars were assembled.

Along with the BT, the T-26 tanks formed the basis of the Soviet tank fleet before and during the Great Patriotic War. initial period.

It should be noted that tanks of the T-26 type were popular at one time, but the lack of coordination in tank units (lack of a walkie-talkie) and the low-speed nature of the T-26 made it easy prey for enemy tanks. But a light tank does not fight tanks according to military doctrine that time.

Complete set according to the principle "I carry everything with me."

A light tank supports infantry, destroys enemy guns and machine guns, these are its main objectives. Although the armor of the main German tanks T-1 and T-2 and Czech T-38.

Yes, the armor of the tank was bulletproof. Despite the weak armor protection, the tank was tenacious due to the fact that the engine and tanks were located in the aft compartment behind the partition.

The armor protection of the T-26 was designed for maximum resistance to rifle bullets and shell fragments. At the same time, the armor of the T-26 was easily penetrated by armor-piercing rifle bullets from a distance of 50-100 m.

On June 22, 1941, there were about 10 thousand T-26s in the Red Army. But bulletproof armor and the low mobility of the tank were among the factors that led to the low efficiency of the use of these tanks in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War. Armoring most German tanks and self-propelled guns of that time was not invulnerable to 45-mm T-26 guns. Most of the T-26 tanks were lost by the Soviet side in the first six months of the war, far from clashes with German tanks.

Today it is known that a significant part of the losses tank troops The Red Army in the summer of 1941 was of a non-combat nature. Due to the suddenness of the start of the war, the service engineering personnel were not called up to the unit material support tank units. Also, tractors for the evacuation of equipment and tankers were not transferred to the Red Army. Tanks during forced marches broke down and rushed, left due to lack of fuel.

The main reason for the losses for the T-26 was the lack of proper leadership and supply. Where there were no supply issues, the T-26 proved to be quite a worthy rival to German light tanks. The T-1 and T-2 were not much superior to the T-26 in terms of armor and speed, and in terms of armament, the T-26 was clearly superior to them.

Alas, but the reason big losses this tank was the human factor.

The T-26 is a Soviet light tank based on English tank"Vickers Mk.E", purchased by the USSR in 1930.

The history of the creation of the T-26

In the early 1930s, the USSR was armed mainly massive light tank T-18 (aka MS-1) and different types of British cars of the times. But already in 1929, the characteristics of the T-18 were very unsatisfactory, and when getting acquainted with the tanks of other countries, it was concluded that there was a serious lag Soviet tanks.

In 1929, it was decided to start production of a new tank, which was supposed to be light, easy to maintain and fairly cheap to manufacture. The basis for this new Soviet tank was the Vickers Mk E, which was purchased along with a production license. The British did not sell the production technology itself, so they had to develop it themselves. This was done in a year, and in February 1931 the T-26 was put into service, even before the production of the first prototype.

Tank modifications

The T-26 was created on the basis of another tank, and changed and modified many times in accordance with increasing requirements and according to the results of field tests. As a result, several variants of the T-26 tank were created:

• Sample 1931 - a linear two-tower tank with machine guns;
• Model 1932 - linear double-turret tank, one of the towers has a 37-mm gun;
• Model 1933 - linear single-turret tank with a 45-mm cannon and a cylindrical mass. This modification of the T-26 produced the most copies;
• Model 1938, linear single-turret tank with a welded hull and a conical turret;
• Model 1939 - Model 1938 tank with additionally reinforced armor and an improved conical turret.

Also, on the basis of the T-26, many tanks were created with various features:

• T-26RT - single-turret T-26 with radio station 71-TK-1;
• T-26 TT - teletank (a tank controlled by radio) as part of a telemechanical group;
• T-26 TU - control tank in the same group;
• The T-26A is an artillery support tank with a spacious turret and a 76mm short-barreled gun. Released 5 prototypes;
• XT-26 - a tank with flamethrower weapons in a small turret. Independently produced 552, another 52 converted from two-tower serial T-26s;
• KhT-130 - a single-turret fire tank, a flamethrower was placed instead of a gun in the T-26 of the 1933 model;
• KhT-133 - flamethrower tank model 1938;
• KhT-134 - flamethrower tank of the 1939 model;
• ST - chemical tank for the supply of smoke screens, flame throwing, degassing of the area and the use of toxic substances. The project remained unrealized;
• OU-T-26 - implemented chemical tank with an installed flamethrower.

Also, on the basis of the T-26, the T-26T was released - an artillery tractor with an armored or canvas top. In addition, the T-26 served as the basis for many samples Soviet technology, such as the SU-1, SU-5, SU-6 and many armored personnel carriers.

TTX T-26 model 1933

basic information

• Classification - light infantry tank;
• Combat weight- 8 tons;
• Crew - 3 people;
• Years of production - 1931-1941;
• Years of operation - 1931-1960;
• The number of issued - 11 218 pieces.

Dimensions

• Case length - 4620 mm;
• Hull width - 2440 mm;
• Height - 2190 mm;
• Clearance - 380 mm.

Booking

• Type of armor - steel rolled homogeneous;
• Forehead of the hull - 15 mm;
• Hull board - 15 mm;
• Hull feed - 15 mm;
• Bottom - 6 mm;
• Hull roof - 10 mm;
• Tower forehead - 15 mm;
• Gun mask - 15 mm;
• The side of the tower - 15 mm;
• Tower feed - 15 mm;
• Tower roof - 6 mm.

Armament

• Caliber and brand of gun - 45 mm 20K;
• Barrel length - 46 calibers;
• Ammunition - 203 shells;
• Machine guns - 2 × 7.62 mm DT.

Mobility

• Engine type - in-line 4-cylinder air-cooled carburetor;
• Engine power - 90-91 hp;
• Highway speed - 30 km / h;
• Power reserve on the highway - 120 km;
• Suspension type - interlocked by four, on leaf springs;
• Climbability — 40°;
• Overcoming wall - 0.75 m;
• Crossable moat - 2.0 m;
• Crossable ford - 0.8 m.

Application

T-26, along with various modifications of the BT, were the main Soviet tanks before the start of World War II. At one time, the T-26 was very popular, although due to its low speed and the lack of a walkie-talkie, it was fairly easy prey for the enemy. However, there were a number of tricks that made the T-26 really effective on the front line.

When the T-26 was still double-turret, gunners from the left and right turrets often prevented each other from firing, which is why single-turret modifications appeared in the future. Also, when anti-tank guns appeared, the thin armor of the T-26 turned out to be very vulnerable to them. This eventually led to a gradual improvement in booking. But even despite the rather thin armor, the T-26 was quite tenacious due to the fact that the tanks and the tank engine were located in its stern behind a partition. Also, the T-26 had a very large ammunition by those standards. All this eventually made the T-26 very good easy infantry support tank for that time.

Between 1936 and 1938, 281 T-26 tanks were sent to Spain for civil war where he took an active part in the battles. He participated in the battles near Lake Khasan and Khalkhin Gol.

However, the most intensive use of the T-26 was in the Winter War, as well as at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, when the T-26 was the most numerous Soviet tank.

Already in the first months of the war, a lot of tanks were lost - by October 28, 1941, only 50 T-26s remained. Gradually it became clear that the T-26 was not effective enough against modern machines, and its use has almost disappeared. AT last time this tank was used in 1945, in Manchuria, against the Kwantung Army.

Tank in culture

The T-26 tank is widely represented in various computer games, such as:

• "Blitzkrieg";
• Sudden Strike;
• "Steel Panthers";
• "Flashpoint: Resistance", in the modification "Liberation 1941-45";
• "The Second World War";
• "Behind Enemy Lines"
• Multiplayer games "World of Tanks" and "".

Often TTX of the tank in games do not correspond to reality.

To the cinema

Genuine T-26s can be seen in the film Tankers (1939, USSR).

tank memory

The T-26 tank is widely represented in various museums around the world, for example, in:

• Bovington Tank Museum;
• Museum of the breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad (sample 1933);
• Finland in the barracks in the Karkialampi area;
• Military Historical Museum of Lenino-Snegiri (sample 1933);
• Moscow Museum of the Great Patriotic War (sample 1931);
• Tank Museum of Parola;
• Kubinka Museum;

There are also several T-26 monuments. One of them is installed in Pitkyaranta as a monument to the "Glory to the Heroes". Local historians claim that this T-26 participated in the Soviet-Finnish war and was raised from the bottom of Lake Ladoga in 1998.

The T-26 tanks of the 1933 model had one cylindrical turret, and the armament was the same as on the BT-5 tank - a 45-mm cannon and two DT machine guns. The combat weight of such tanks was 9.4 tons, the height of the T-26 increased by 110 mm. The gun ammunition consisted of 130 shells. Such tanks were produced in 2127 units.
In addition, the so-called "radio" T-26RT tanks with a cylindrical turret were produced, characteristic feature which was the presence of a handrail antenna and a radio station installed in the niche of the tower. The ammunition load of the guns of these tanks was less than that of other T-26 tanks - only 96 shells. Such tanks were made 3938 pieces.

During the fighting in Spain and near Lake Hassan, it turned out that handrail antennas serve as a guide for enemy fire, so in the future they abandoned such antennas, replacing them with whip antennas.
An interesting feature T-26 model 1933 was the presence of two searchlights located above the gun. Thanks to their illumination, the tank could fire at enemy positions at night.
Starting from 1935, the armor plates from which the body of the T-26 tanks was made began to be connected by welding (previously they were connected with riveting). The ammunition load was somewhat reduced - up to 122 rounds for the T-26 and up to 82 for the T-26RT. But the capacity of the fuel tanks was increased. As a result of modifications, the mass of the tank increased to 9.6 tons.
In 1937, the T-26 appeared, there was an anti-aircraft machine gun on the roof of the tank turret. Also, these tanks were equipped with an internal intercom. The power of the engine used on the T-26 was increased, and the mass of the T-26 began to be 9.75 tons.

Tanks of the 1937 model had welded turrets that had a conical shape, which increased their bulletproof protection. The capacity of the fuel tanks was again increased and the ammunition load was reduced (to 107 shells on the T-26). Accordingly, the mass of the tank continued to grow - now it was 10.75 tons. Since 1938, the T-26 was equipped with a stabilizer for the aiming line of the gun in the vertical plane.
The armor plates of the turret boxes of the T-26 tanks of the 1939 model were located obliquely. In 1939, the rear turret machine gun was no longer installed. The ammunition load of the tank has increased significantly: T-26 - 205 rounds, T-26RT - 165 rounds. The engine power has also been increased.

During Soviet-Finnish war about 100 T-26s were equipped with hinged armored screens, as a result of which the thickness of the frontal armor reached 60 mm. In 1941, the release of the T-26 was discontinued.
It should be noted that, in addition to the conventional T-26, chemical, or flamethrower, tanks were also produced in significant numbers. In addition to the flamethrower, these tanks also had the usual machine-gun and cannon armament.
The OT-130 was created in 1936 on the basis of the single-turret T-26. Instead of a cannon, a flamethrower was installed on the tank, the flame throwing range of which reached 50 m. The stock of fire mixture was 400 liters. The crew of the OT-130 consisted of 2 people, the weight of the car reached 10 tons.

	A - engine compartment; B - fighting compartment; B - department of management; 1 - armored body; 2 - tower; 3 - engine; 4 - gearbox; 5 - side clutch; 6 - brakes; 7 - final drive (behind the armor plate); eight - chassis; 9 - partition separating the fighting compartment from the engine compartment; 10- armored shutters above the oil cooler; 11 - air cap; 12-45 mm gun 20K; thirteen - accumulator battery; 14 - folding frontal shield of the driver; 15- track rollers; 16 - suspension trolley; 17- muffler.

Similar varieties of combat vehicles equipped with flamethrowers and large stocks of fire mixture were OT-131, OT-132 and OT-133, which also had machine guns. On the OT-133, in addition to the flamethrower, there were two machine guns, on the previous versions - a flamethrower and one machine gun. In 1940, the OT-134 was created on the basis of the T-26. The conical turret of this tank was equipped with a 45 mm caliber gun and a machine gun, and a flamethrower, whose flame throwing range reached 50 m, was located in the front upper hull plate. The combat weight of the OT-134 was 10.8 tons, the crew consisted of 2 people.
In 1933, on the basis of the T-26, a bridge tank was designed with a carrying capacity of 14 tons. transportation of infantry soldiers, and TR-4-1, which was intended for the transport of ammunition to tank units. In 1935-1936. on the basis of the T-26, two T-26Ts tankers were made for transporting fuel.

The T-26 tank with a single turret was born from the concept of a "tank fighter", a tank armed with a powerful 37 mm gun in a single conical turret. According to the blueprints, the T-19 tower could be used as such. S. Ginzburg advocated such a design as the main vehicle, while Tukhachevsky considered the two-tower scheme to be more preferable for clearing trenches from enemy infantry.

The original design of the tank.

It was only in the thirty-second year that it was possible to break the practical implementation of the tank destroyer project. Due to technological difficulties, the conical tower had to be temporarily abandoned. In early March, the Izhora plant presented its own project for discussion by the UMM of the Red Army. cylindrical tower oversized, with cannon and machine gun armament, unified for BT and T-26 tanks.

The project was accepted favorably and soon the Izhora plant produced two towers of its own design. Both turrets are armed with a twin mount of a 37 mm cannon and a machine gun. The main differences are mainly technological:

• welded tower with a double hatch;
• riveted with a single hatch;

Riveted construction was preferred. When fired from easel machine gun she showed the best resistance, while the welds cracked when hit by bullets next to them, the sheets of the bottom and the roof turned out to be deformed. Of course, everyone understood that the point here was the imperfection of the technology, but nevertheless they decided to stop at the riveted connection.

During the first two autumn months of 1932, a 37-mm cannon was installed in the riveted turret and tested, which it was generally successful and was recommended for production to complete the T-26 tanks. The only military insisted on installing an armor box in the rear of the turret, in which it would be possible to place either additional ammunition or a radio station.

By the time they started learning big tower»in production, 45-mm tank gun arr. 1932 (20K). Design tool Design Bureau of the plant. Kalinin, in which the 37-mm Renmetall gun was taken as the basis.

Slightly gaining in armor penetration over the 37 mm gun, however, the 45 mm gun promised a significant gain in the fragmentation action of the projectile. So it was decided to test it with the T-26 turret and put it into service, with the condition that the identified shortcomings be eliminated later.

Some changes had to be made to the design of the T-26 turret to install the 45 mm gun, since the turret of the existing design turned out to be cramped. Design Bureau 174 of the plant promptly developed several projects, of which the UMM of the Red Army chose a project with a more developed niche in the stern. The tower itself repeated the previous one in design, differing in that the niche was a continuation of the side sheets. The joints of the armor plates are welded, although riveting was used in some places.

In publications on tank topics, the single-turret version of the T-26 tank is usually called the Model 33 variant, although this designation is absent in the papers of that time.

According to the initial plans, the production of the T-26 with a 45-mm cannon was to begin in the spring of 1933, but due to the lack of both the cannons themselves and the optics, their production was only in the summer. Except for the tower new car at first it did not differ from the two-tower version. A year later, some changes were made to the design of the T-26, a fan was installed in the tower, and it itself was slightly shifted to the left.

At first, 20K brought a lot of problems. As with a semi-automatic that did not throw spent cartridge case, and with the very release of these guns. Semi-handicraft production did not provide interchangeability of parts, and the guns themselves constantly failed.

Since December of the thirty-third year, a strangled gun, which is now called arr. 34g., or as before arr. 32/34g. The design of the gun has been significantly improved, as well as its reliability. It was this gun that became the most massive in the domestic tank building before the war. For this gun, at first thirty fourth year developed the "heavy grenade" O-240, which was used in Soviet tanks until the very end of the war.

In the autumn of 1933, the T-26 tanks were equipped with the r / s 71-TK-1 complete with a handrail antenna. This modification was not a command one, as is commonly believed, all tanks were divided into radium and linear ones and were produced in certain proportions.

At the end of the thirty-fifth year, the aft niche began to be equipped with a ball mount with a DT machine gun. Around the same time, part of the machine guns began to be equipped with double optics and an increased capacity tank was introduced, which doubled the cruising range.

Tank T-26 with a riveted hull, 1933

Tank T-26 mod. 1933 in section.

Booking scheme.

Radiation tank produced in 1935.

In the thirty-seventh year, to protect against attacking aircraft, the T-26 was equipped with a P-40 turret with an anti-aircraft machine gun, a year later it was replaced by its modified model.

To simplify production in 1935, the welded mask of the gun was replaced by a stamped one, and for some time they were produced simultaneously. In the same year, headlights for night shooting began to be installed on the T-26. Headlights were attached to the mask of the female gun, based on every fifth T-26, until the end of autumn 1939.

New trends in tank building.

If at the time of its birth in the USSR, the T-26 tank was actually the most powerful tank in its weight class, then starting from the second half of the thirties, the situation changed dramatically. Foreign tank building was able to master the production of tanks in terms of armament power comparable to the T-26 tank and surpassing it in mobility and armor. The most interesting results were achieved by the designers of Czechoslovakia, Japan and France.

The assessment of foreign tanks brought a generally disappointing result - the development of Soviet tanks took place mainly along the path of increasing armor and did not affect such important components as the engine and transmission. Which led to the fact that the T-26 tanks became overloaded and prone to frequent breakdowns.

According to Soviet designers, the T-26 tank had completely exhausted itself by the beginning of 1937. So S. Ginzburg, back in the early autumn of 1936, suggested new project infantry escort tank, which for a number of reasons did not find support from the military.

Plans for the modernization of the T-26 for the thirty-seventh year, still did not differ in originality. They provided:

• increase in engine power of the T-26 tank to 105-107 horsepower;
• increase in b / c to 204 artillery rounds and 58 disks for machine guns;
• improved armor protection, for which it was necessary to switch to 20-22 mm armor plates for the T-26 hull and turret and place them at an angle;
• suspension reinforcement;
• improve the possibility of evacuation from the tank in combat conditions.

Power was increased thanks to a new carburetor and an increase in engine speed. However, this decision led to a massive valve failure during the operation of the tank. Which, under the conditions of that time, inevitably led to accusations of sabotage and the subsequent arrest of the specialists involved. The production and acceptance of the T-26 was stopped until the causes were identified and eliminated. As a result, the production plan for the thirty-seventh year was thwarted, and repression put an end to further modernization.

But all the same, some changes were introduced, so the installation of a new carburetor and the transfer of the engine to the supply of first-class gasoline made it possible to slightly increase the power.

Modernization of the T-26 tank in 1938.

The release of a new modification of the T-26 began in 1938. The car received a motor with a capacity of 100 l / s, and a domestic more powerful starter. The hull, with a rational slope of the armor plates, was not ready on time. The tank hulls were similar to the welded hulls of previous years of production. An escape hatch was added in the thirty-eighth year. The conical turret was ready on time, and as a result, the T-26 with a new turret, the same hull, uprated engine, and reinforced suspension springs went into testing.

Tests in the spring of 1938 revealed the fact that the T-26 is still overloaded, and its patency is insufficient. The armament is still relevant, but the armor does not match current trends, and there is no possibility of its amplification. Tank testers emphasized that the T-26 is an outdated vehicle and the need to urgently develop a replacement for it.

Modernization of the tank in 1939

The next stage of modernization, the T-26-1 model or model 1939, incorporated those technical solutions who were prevented by the repressions of 1937. This modernization included a turret box with inclined armor plates, as well as reinforced springs. The thickness of the side plates was increased to twenty millimeters, but in fact the armor protection remained the same, since the cemented armor plates were replaced with homogeneous armor. The frontal shield of the tower, the shield of the driver began to be made by stamping.

The ammunition load could only be raised to 186 rounds in a linear tank, or up to 165 rounds in a radio tank. This was achieved by abandoning the stern and spare machine guns. Conventional fuel tanks were replaced by bakelite ones, which suffered less from lumbago. Additional protection of the radiator was introduced, the antenna was replaced with a whip and so on.

The layout of the T-26 tank, 1938/39 release.

General view of the T-26 tank, 1939 release

Radiation tank T-26, 1936/37 release.

Radiation tank T-26 release 1938

View of the hull and bottom of the T-26 tank.

Radiation tank produced in 1940

The changes made to the design of the T-26 led to the fact that its mass increased to 10.3 tons. Despite the fact that the chassis design was strengthened, it still worked to the limit. Caterpillars often flew off while cornering, and the smoothness of the T-26 significantly decreased.

Cross section of the conical turret of a 1939 tank.

Section of the cylindrical turret of the T-26 tank

Section of the tank's conical turret

Armor scheme of the T-26 tank with a conical turret

TTX of the T-26 tank of all years of production.

At the beginning of the forty-first year, the production of the T-26 by plant No. 147 was discontinued. Production was supposed to be reoriented to the production of the T-50, but for a variety of reasons this never happened. With the outbreak of the war, the release of the T-26 resumed, since there was a large backlog of towers, hulls and various kinds of catch and units. Data on the number of cars produced in the forty-first year vary greatly.

From the archive.

entrance. No. 516 from April 4, 1939
REMARKS
about the defects and shortcomings of our tanks known to me to recommendations for their elimination / from experience tank battles in the area of ​​lake KHASAN/.

Machine T - 26.

• The oil cooler has access to itself, through which the enemy is free to pierce his coins with a bayonet.
  Place reverse blinds on top, which should consist of rotating plates. The plates must be one under the other.
• In older tanks, the driver's hatch did not close tightly. There were cases when the enemy opened it and destroyed the crew.
  We have a lot of such T-26 tanks.
• Ventilation in combat cannot be used, as there is a danger of bullets and lead splashes entering the vehicle. Ventilation should be done like in a BT machine.
• During the battle, a lot of powder gases accumulate at the top of the tower, which adversely affects the health of the crew, there were cases of intoxication. It is necessary to make a fan at the top of the tower, where the hatch for installing the periscope is located.
• The air in the tank during the battle, due to the presence a large number powder gases, high air temperature from the engine installation, sweat and other reasons, adversely affects the breathing of the crew. Breathe outside air through a special tube, sealed with a chemical filter.
• The undercarriage is not protected from the outside.
• Very frequent cases of hits in the tank. Make streamlined armor for the hull and turret.
• The tower mount is not strong enough, as evidenced by several cases of dropping the tower to the ground.
• Dropping caterpillars. The caterpillars were dropped because the existing caterpillar track does not meet the conditions of the tank's mobility at all. So when turning, not to mention sharp, the caterpillar is dropped, and you cannot do without sharp turns on the battlefield.
• There were frequent cases when rubber bandages flew off the rollers.
• There were cases when the exit hatches were jammed by the projectile, and the tank caught fire. The crew could not get out of the tank and burned down along with the tank.
• Poor visibility from the tank during the battle, and in a number of tanks, especially the old ones, there are no viewing slots in the towers at all, and the existing ones are clearly not enough to view the area.
• Tanks burn very badly due to the presence of gasoline, rubber bandages and very frequent painting on the occasion of holidays and the arrival of big bosses.
  When repainting, do not lay down a new layer on the old one, but remove the old paint first.
• Large dead space. When the enemy found himself in a dead space, he became invulnerable to the fire weapons of the T-26 tank.

Tank T-26 on video.

• Tank T-26 video
• Gunsmith. Light tank T-26. Video