M22 Locust

Light Tank (Airborne), M22
Light Tank (Airborne), M22 "Locust" at the Bovington Tank Museum in the UK
Type	Airborne light tank
Place of origin	United States
Service history
Wars	World War II 1948 Arab–Israeli War
Production history
Designer	Marmon-Herrington
Manufacturer	Marmon-Herrington
Produced	1942–1945
No. built	830[1]
Specifications
Mass	7.4 tonnes (16,400 lb)[2]
Length	12 feet 11 inches (3.94 m)[3]
Width	7 feet 1 inch (2.16 m)[3]
Height	6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m)[3]
Crew	3 (Commander/loader, gunner, driver)
Armor	9.5 millimeters (0.37 in)–12.5 millimeters (0.49 in)[3]
Main armament	1 × 37 mm Gun M6 50 rounds[2]
Secondary armament	1 × .30-06 (7.62 mm) Browning M1919A4 machine gun 2,500 rounds[2]
Engine	Lycoming O-435T 6-cylinder horizontally opposed gasoline[2] 165-horsepower (123 kW)[2]
Power/weight	25.81 hp/tonne
Suspension	Vertical volute spring suspension (VVSS)
Operational range	135 miles (217 km)[3]
Maximum speed	40 miles per hour (64 km/h)[3]

The M22 Locust, officially Light Tank (Airborne), M22, was an American-designed airborne light tank which was produced during World War II. The Locust began development in 1941 after the British War Office requested that the American government design a purpose-built airborne light tank which could be transported by glider into battle to support British airborne forces. The War Office had originally selected the Light Tank Mark VII Tetrarch light tank for use by the airborne forces, but it had not been designed with that exact purpose in mind so the War Office believed that a purpose-built tank would be required to replace it. The United States Army Ordnance Department was asked to produce this replacement, which in turn selected Marmon-Herrington to design and build a prototype airborne tank in May 1941. The prototype was designated the Light Tank T9 (Airborne), and was designed so that it could be transported underneath a Douglas C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft, although its dimensions also allowed it to fit inside a General Aircraft Hamilcar glider.^[4]

After a series of modifications were made to the initial prototype, production of the T9 began in April 1943. It was significantly delayed, however, when several faults were found with the tank's design. Marmon-Herrington only began to produce significant numbers of the T9 in late 1943 and early 1944, and by then the design was considered to be obsolete; only 830 were built by the time production ended in February 1945. As a result, the Ordnance Department gave the tank the specification number M22 but no combat units were equipped with it. However, the War Office believed that the tank would perform adequately despite its faults, so the tank was given the title of "Locust" and 260 were shipped to Great Britain under the Lend-Lease Act. Seventeen Locusts were received by the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment in late 1943, but mechanical problems led to the tanks being withdrawn in favor of the Tetrarchs previously used by the regiment.

In October 1944 however, the remaining Tetrarchs of the regiment were replaced by Locusts and eight were used during Operation Varsity in March 1945. The tanks did not perform well in action; several were damaged during the landing process and one was knocked out by a German self-propelled gun. Only two Locusts were able to reach their planned rendezvous point and go into action, occupying a piece of high ground along with an infantry company. The tanks were forced to withdraw from the position after several hours however, because they attracted artillery fire that caused the infantry to suffer heavy casualties. The Locust never saw active service with the British Army again and was classified as obsolete in 1946. A number of Locusts were used by foreign militaries in the post-war period; the Belgian Army used Locusts as command tanks for their M4 Sherman tank regiments, and the Egyptian Army used several company-sized units of Locusts during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.