RB-Model 72B59 Lufa 90 mm M3 L/ 53 M26 Pershing & 90 mm

The 90 mm M3 (other designation: 90 mm L / 53) is an American anti-tank gun and a 90 mm tank gun from the Second World War and the Cold War period. The gun was the primary armament of the M26 Pershing tank and the M36 Jackson tank destroyer. The presented gun was a development of the 90 mm M1 / M2 anti-aircraft gun, which was adapted for use in armored vehicles. Thus, its genesis is almost identical to the genesis of the German 88mm KwK36 gun. The gun was mounted for the first time on an armored car in the prototype T7 tank, and its further trials took place in 1943 on the M10 Wolverine tank destroyer. The gun was designed to fire various types of anti-tank ammunition, including APC (M82), APCBC and HVAP missiles. When firing the latter type of projectile (exactly: the HVAP T30E16 missile), the initial velocity of the projectile reached approx. 1020 m / s, and the gun was theoretically able to penetrate an armor plate inclined at an angle of 90 degrees, 278 mm thick from a distance of 500 meters, 246 mm at 1000 meters and 218 mm at 1500 meters.