In the mid-1950s, the Soviets were developing an amphibious light tank and US Army planners wanted to have one that was better. It was planned to have a replacement for the current M 41 light tank that was not only amphibious but also air droppable. That design became the M551 Sheridan, the US Army's only air droppable tank. To be honest, the Sheridan was a pretty buggy tank, but eventually those bugs were worked out of it and it served for 35 years.

Deployed to Vietnam, the experience there helped to improve the design of the tank. Though I am not sure it was ever dropped into combat, it was used during the Panama invasion as well as during Desert Storm in 1991. Eventually, it was removed from active service in 1996, but was tricked out to look like Russian tanks and used in that role until 2003 when it was deemed to be too expensive to maintain and retired completely.

Thanks to it being in rather recent service, complete vehicles have been placed in museums just as they were and so it makes it a perfect subject for a walk-around book. The author pretty much used a single machine to do this book, though there are photos of other display tanks and a few operational images.

Since this series is generally a photo book, we get a superb collection of clear, crisp images of all aspects of the Sheridan. Each part of the vehicle is covered in the sort of detail beloved by modelers, making this not only an interesting book for the enthusiast, but a great reference for the modeler.  Most highly recommended.

July 2012

My thanks to Squadron Products for the review copy. Get yours today at your favorite shop or on-line retailer.

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