T-34 CONVERSION - JT-34 CRANE

JT-34 (another designation: SPK-10) is a Czechoslovakian mobile repair crane from the post-war period. The drive was provided by a single 500 HP W-2-34 engine. The maximum speed was around 55 km / h. The cart was 8.4 meters long and 3 meters wide. The curb weight of the vehicle is 34 tons. The armament consisted of a single 7.62 mm machine gun. A few years after the end of World War II, the production of the T-34 85 tanks began in Czechoslovakia. Their appearance in the Czechoslovak armed forces meant the need to create a family of specialized vehicles that would be able to provide them with logistical and technical support. The Czechoslovak army, in order to unify spare parts and speed up the work, decided to create this family based on the chassis of the T-34 tank. One of the vehicles thus created was the JT-34, which had the same engine, chassis and hull as the T-34, but instead of a turret with a cannon, it received a tower with a crane with a lifting capacity of up to 5 tons. The later version, SPK-10, already had a crane with a lifting capacity of 10 tons. Interestingly, when the JT-34 cars were withdrawn from the line, a number of them were taken over by Czechoslovakian railways!