From the autumn of 2018 for almost half one and half year the entrance of the Military Museum was guarded by a T-34/85 medium tank, however the time and also the weather had started consuming this iconic WW2-era soviet military equipment therefore she had to be restored.
February 26-27, 2020 at night she was replaced with an also legendary armored vehicle a PT-76 amphibious light tank. This reconnaissance vehicle was originally designed for the needs of the Soviet Red Army and the Soviet Naval Infantry and it entered in service in 1952. Later on the Warsaw Pact armies and other friendly states (like India, Iraq, North-Vietnam, Cuba etc.) started using the PT-76 by the second half of the 1950’s. The former Hungarian People’s Army had nearly 100 of them in total and it was mainly used by the reconnaissance troops. The amphibious vehicle was only see once action in the ranks of the Hungarian People’s Army, during the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The tank was withdrawn from service in 1983 because it was rendered obsolete.
Details:
Designer: N. Shashmurin and Zh.Y. Kotin
Designed: 1949–1951
Manufacturer: VTZ, Kirov Factory
Produced: 1951–1969
No. built: Around 12,000
Mass:14.6 tonnes
Length 7.63 m; 25 ft (gun forward) 6.91 m; 22.7 ft (hull)
Width 3.15 m (10.3 ft)
Height 2.325 m (7.6 ft)
Crew 3 (driver, commander/gunner,loader)
Armour (RHA): 25 mm (turret front); 20 mm (turret sides); 13 mm (turret rear); 8 mm (turret top)
14mm (hull sides); 7 mm (hull rear)
Main armament: 76.2 mm D-56T rifled tank gun (40 rds.) or AU-220M Baikal turret with 57 mm BM-57 autocannon
Secondary armament: 7.62 mm SGMT coax machine gun (1,000 rds.). 7.62 mm PKT machine gun coax machine gun (1,000 rds) since 1967
Engine: V-6 Type diesel, straight-six engine 240 hp (176 kW)
Power/weight: 16.4 hp (12.1 kW) / tonne
Suspension: torsion-bar
Ground clearance: 370 mm (14.6 in)
Fuel capacity: 250 l (66 gal)
Operational range: 370–400 km (230–249 mi), 480–510 km (298–317 mi) with external fuel
Maximum speed: 44 km/h (27 mph) on road, 10.2 km/h (6.3 mph) swimming