Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Tanker's Tuesday: Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger

The Tank, Cruiser, Challenger (A30) was a British tank of
World War II. It mounted the 17 Pounder gun on a chassis
derived from the Cromwell tank to add heavier anti-tank
firepower to the cruiser tank units.

The design compromises made in fitting the large gun onto
the Cromwell chassis resulted in a tank with a powerful
weapon, but with less armour. The extemporised Sherman
Firefly conversion of the US-supplied Sherman to take the
17 pounder was easier to produce and, combined with delays
in production, meant that only 200 Challengers were built.
However, it was able to keep up with the fast Cromwell tank
and was used alongside them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruiser_Mk_VIII_Challenger





6 comments:

Tim Gow said...

You'd never call it elegant!

Don M said...

Like a hunk of cheese on a plate

Bill said...

To be fair to our British cousins
no one in the west learned to do sloped armor until the 1970s.

Don M said...

That from an old M60/M48 jock, guess you'd know Bill....)

Joe said...

Have to agree with Tim on this one,
but it will serve it's purpose.

Bill said...

Yes I would Don!