Inside the Chieftain's Hatch: IS-3M, Part 2

The IS-3, when it first appeared on the scene, was a shock to the West and created a "Tank Panic". Lean, mean... and with a number of flaws not immediately evident, it was a tank which had a psychological and cultural effect far in excess of its numbers built. This vehicle is located in Bastogne Barracks, Belgium.

This is the first batch of videos where I have invested in bringing along a cameraman/editor, goes by FixItInPost, and as you can imagine, he doesn't work for free. Any financial support you can throw in below would be greatly appreciated. This was a test case to see if it's economically viable.

Belgian Linkies:

Financial donations:
Or just use the Youtube Thanks feature.

Merchandise (The carousel below seems dodgy)

[EnSayne]

Batteries to the left of me, batteries to the right. Here I am, stuck in an IS-3 with you

[crichtonbruce]

Something the Chieftain has consistently proved with the "Inside" series is: Those with any degree of claustrophobia, or taller than 5'6", need not apply to be a tanker. Thank you Sir for putting your body at such risk for us!

[henryturnerjr]

No Files or Grinding wheels were harmed in the construction of this tank.

[Marcus-kien]

Of all the great things you are, one of the things you are not, is the right size for a Soviet/Russian Tanker. Thanks for the sacrifice, pants and otherwise.

[chrishanson]

Seems like the position of the loader was designed for a left handed, powerlifting dwarf. Population of which certainly was huge in Soviet Russia.

[kristiangoransson]

“I can easily slide into the drivers position…” proceeds to make sounds as if the Chieftain was a significantly older man than he is…

[yeoldenewbie]

I find it hilarious that I had to wait for Irish American to come to Belgium to watch a thorough review of a Soviet made tank because I can get nothing from Russian speaking folks with comparable quality.

Thank you Chief once again =)

[VekhGaming]

"I kinda like it"
The Chieftain after not having to get back in the damn thing again.

[inertrhombus]

24:18

To answer the question about the radio, at 4:07 there's a plaque near the top of the radio saying R-113 (P-113 in Cyrillic)

[genericpersonx]

It is somewhat easier to work inside a Soviet tank if you have the Soviet tanker cap on because you can focus on squeezing through spaces rather than worrying about your unprotected head grinding and bashing on things. I am not arguing the tanks become ergonomic dreams by wearing the protective padding, but it does remove a lot of the literal pain and danger that amplify the discomfort caused by the lack of space.

[ctid]

I was under a sink, most of today, twisted to get at a pipe I feel your pain !

[lukedogwalker]

About when we got to the driver's position, I began to have visions of Oddball's gunner/mechanic, Moriarty, from Kelly's Heroes when he yelled "It's a piece 'a junk!"

[animal]

I'd be interested in a video discussing ergonomics of tanks from the Soviet Union, America, Britian and so on

[SuiLagadema]

I have to ask: Have you ever gotten stuck inside a tank to the point they've had to call technicians to disassemble a portion to extricate you?

[rdfox]

Your comment about hoping the gun isn't trained directly forward brought back memories of the one time I got into the driver's hole on a Marine A1 Abrams at the Miramar Air Show. (I don't think I was supposed to, but they left the hatch open, so...) Specifically, it reminded me of the sound of me trying to get my 300-pound ass *out* of there without knowing the trick to getting out with the gun trained directly forward. Imagine the following series of sounds:

[bonk] "Ow." [ *bonk* ] "Ow!" [pause, "...I think I'm stuck..." [sound of maniacal cackling from PFC in the turret there to keep the civvies touring it from breaking anything]

I'm... pretty sure I ended up being a meme in that unit for a week or so...

[whyjnot]

That is actually far far far quieter than I thought it would be. I worked for an excavation company and moving at around 1/3 the speed you see this tank move at, our largest excavator must have been at least twice as loud.

Granted the style of track for our excavators was more akin to what you see with stuff like the Mark IV along the bottom, with return rollers more like this.

For context, you can barely talk to someone next to you, if you were walking near it. Even shouting at the top of your lungs. I doubt the mic would have picked up anything more than the track noise if we did something like that part at around 27:45.

addendum: My boss refused to ever say "Run the excavator over to..." he had us all say "walk" instead. Because of how slow they are. At most, they could get to a brisk walking pace. Maybe 4-5 mph on firm, flat ground.

addendum 2: By no means do I call this tank quiet. I was only speaking in relative terms. It is obviously loud as F.

[falcovg]

'I know the T-34 didn't have a turret basket, but I'm sure they got to that at this point'
3 minutes later:
"While the gun is trying to kill the loader, it also has no turret basket"

[Alex_Shishkin_]

Having been in front of a moving ISU-152 SPG as a kid, the noise and ground vibration comments brought up some fond memories. For values of 'fond'...🙂

[nixosianarrt]

"A Tiger will notice if you hit it with a 122 HE", one of the most dramatic understatements I ever heard...

[LeftToWrite]

Thank you for your sacrifice in climbing around inside that... thing.