Russell Wallace wrote:


What I can never figure out is why nobody copied the T-34, not only
the best tank of World War 2 but a relatively simple design that
wouldn't have been that hard to copy.


Actually, the T-34 had some drawbacks- for one thing, its periscopes and
gun sighting systems sucked- but it was pretty good and you could make
it in huge numbers using fairly low-tech production techniques.
The best WW II tank? Probably the Panther, although it was prone to
mechanical problems.
When the Germans ran into the T-34, they did give thought to making a
copy of it. They couldn't handle armor castings of the size used for its
turret though, and its aluminum block engine (based on an Italian
aircraft engine design) was beyond their engineering abilities. So they
built the Panther instead.

Pat