A detailed review of the Spanish M-48 Patton tank on display in an Australian museum

Australia is a country located a huge distance from Spain, but in the northeast of that country there is a good piece of Spain's military history.

The new life of an old M-48 Patton main battle tank of the Spanish Army in Australia
The old Spanish battle tank that will be exhibited in a museum in Australia

In the last two years, I have already told you here about the restoration process of an old M-48A5E2 main battle tank of the Spanish Army, a process carried out in Spain, and its transfer to The Australian Armour & Artillery Museum in Cairns, Queensland, a city of about 160,000 inhabitants in northeastern Australia. An excellent military museum that I first told you about in an article published in January 2024.

Let us recall that Spain acquired 181 M-48 Patton main battle tanks from the United States to replace its M-47s. Of that fleet, 164 went to the Army and 17 M-48A3s to the Marines. The Spanish Army's M-48s were upgraded to the M-48A5E2 version. The first 54 M-48s of that batch of 164 arrived in 1965, being assigned to the Armored Infantry Regiment "Alcázar de Toledo" No. 61. In the 1990s, all Spanish M-48s were replaced by M-60s, a model based on the same chassis (with some improvements) and a completely redesigned turret.

The restoration process was carried out by the Spearhead Historical Reenactment Association, and all indications are that it began at least in 2020. The final restoration of the M-48A5E2 was announced in March 2024. As I mentioned at the time, unlike the vehicles used by the Army and Marine Infantry in Spain, this example has been fitted with aluminum wheels from an M-60, instead of the original steel wheels used by the M-48, most likely due to a lack of spare parts. This 49-ton tank was armed with a 105mm M-68 main gun, a 7.62mm MG-42 coaxial machine gun, a 12.7mm Browning M-2 machine gun on top of the turret and eight smoke grenade launchers, four on each side of the turret.

This old Spanish tank arrived in Australia in June 2024. The museum rightly praised the excellent restoration of this vehicle. The tank has been decorated with the insignia of the Cavalry Regiment "Montesa" No. 3, a unit based in Ceuta, and with the nickname "Babieca" (the famous horse of El Cid) and the number 110.

On Friday, January 23, The Australian Armour & Artillery Museum YouTube channel published a detailed video about this tank, in which Jason Belgrave, the museum's deputy manager, explains in detail which unit it belonged to and some of the characteristics of this armored vehicle, showing its exterior and interior:

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Main image: The Australian Armour & Artillery Museum.