>commander >gunner >loader >driver >co driver

>>2627845
idiot

>>2627845
t. Gamelin

>>2627845
5 crew members was like the perfect amount for tanks in WW2

>>2627847
Well gunner and commander were sometimes combined, and a lot of the time the second driver was done away with too, I was just wondering.

>>2627845
During the Soviet war in Afghanistan, it was quickly founded that 3-men tanks (t-72) were understaffed in case of any sort of serious problems so that they brought back older 4-men tanks into play (t-55). Well this and other things but they realized that a fourth man could drastically enhance the response abilities when shit started to fly, instead of the 3-men crew permitted by the autoloaders.

4-men crew really are the perfect size as it is. 5-men were absolutely standard and normal in WW2, for every armies. Some tanks even had like 7 crewmembers after all...

>>2627845
Yes, real tank crew should be 4 men and dog

>>2627871
>Well gunner and commander were sometimes combined
And it was shit every time.

I'd never be a tank crew member. You are essentially inside of a death trap perfectly visible on the battlefield, everyone's just waiting for you to become a wrecked piece of burning steel and to die an agonizing death.

Plus it's fucking claustrophobic inside. I can't imagine how they felt inside those little light tanks like Pz II or M3 Stuart. I'd rather be a regular infantryman, at least i'd have somewhere to hide if someone shot at me.

>>2628865
I'm waiting for your justification of why any other front line role is better

The more hands the better for the most part. The only real drawback is size and mobility.

>>2627845
i loved these cross-section books when i was a kid

>>2628883
Do air force/navy pilots count?

>>2628865
you're probably a lot safer in a modern 1st world tank than you are as infantry on the ground, they're pretty tough.

This wasn't always the case though. Sucks to be a Russian tank crew for instance in WW2 for the majority of the war.

>>2629448
depends where in the fulda gap during the cold war expected life spam of an a-10 pilot was several minutes

>>2629571
that's because the A-10 is a slow ass CAS plane with all the stealth characteristics of a barn. it's not where, its more the type of aircraft you're flying.

>>2629586
in the fulda gap i dont think f-15s and f-16s would be more survivable along with the rest of the forces

>>2628865
American tank crews had better survival rates than infantry. It only really sucked if you were a jap or a russian.

File: Ben-Rich-F-117A.jpg (54KB, 600x449px) Image search: [Google]

54KB, 600x449px

>>2629629
the US did have F-117's in operation during the latter half of the 80's.

>>2628865
I once had a dream where I was a tank crewman but the hatch to get out had disappeared

>>2630363
Really want to do some cold war gone hot tabletop wargaming...

>>2628865
>Plus it's fucking claustrophobic inside. I can't imagine how they felt inside those little light tanks like Pz II or M3 Stuart

It's actually painful/dangerous if you're a 6', average build man.

We are bigger today in most senses than our grandfather's in the 40s and no, I don't just mean we're obese.

>>2630363

Yes. But not in numbers significant enough to influence the armour battle on the central plain.