bovington tank museum Archives - Page 8 of 14

Guy Armoured Car

This Guy Armoured Car was at Bovington.

The Guy Armoured Car was a British armoured car produced in limited numbers during Second World War. The car saw limited action during the Battle of France.

The manufacturer had insufficient capacity for production of the armoured car alongside their artillery tractors, so the design and construction techniques were passed to Rootes and used as a basis for the Humber Armoured Car.

Six cars were sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), but were lost when France fell to the Germans. Four cars, two each with the 12th Lancers and 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry, had their guns removed and additional seats fitted in 1940 for use in the Coats Mission to evacuate King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in the event of German invasion.

The Coats Mission was a special British army unit established in 1940 for the purpose of evacuating the Royal family in the event of a German invasion of Britain during the Second World War.

I have been thinking about creating a game based on the Coats Mission with an assault by German Paratroopers in an attempt to capture the Royal Family.

Cruiser, Mk I (A9)

The Tank, Cruiser, Mk I (A9) was a British cruiser tank of the interwar period. It was the first cruiser tank: a fast tank designed to bypass the main enemy lines and engage the enemy’s lines of communication, along with enemy tanks.

Designed by Sir John Carden of Vickers-Armstrongs the prototype of this tank appeared in 1936. It was designed originally as a Medium Tank with the official designation A9 but was described as a Cruiser Tank when it entered production in 1937. In addition to light tanks for reconnaissance the idea was to build infantry tanks for infantry support and cruisers to fulfil the cavalry role. A cruiser tank was therefore intended to be fast and lightly armoured.

SdKfz 251/8 half track

The Sd.Kfz. 251 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251) half-track was a World War II German armored fighting vehicle designed by the Hanomag company, based on its earlier, unarmored Sd.Kfz. 11 vehicle. The Sd.Kfz. 251 was designed to transport the Panzergrenadier (German mechanized infantry) into battle. Sd.Kfz. 251s were the most widely produced German half-tracks of the war, with at least 15,252 vehicles and variants produced by seven manufacturers.

This Sd.Kfz. 251 was on display at Bovington. It was captured by British forces in the desert. One of the pictures taken after its capture shows a barrel strapped to its right exterior. It has a special step near the rear doors that identifies it as an ambulance.

I previously published on the blog a photo of the OT-810 at Duxford. The OT-810 is a post war production copy of the German World War Two Sd.Kfz 251 half track.

I have a 15mm Flames of War versions on my workbench:

- - Panzergrenadier Headquarters
  - Panzergrenadier Platoon

In addition I have an old SDD one that was on the workbench too:

- - SdKfz 251 Armoured Half Track

SdKfz 251 Miniatures Gallery

Cruiser Tank Mk IIA CS (A10)

The Tank, Cruiser, Mk II (A10), was a cruiser tank developed alongside the A9 cruiser tank, and was intended to be a heavier, infantry tank version of that type. In practice, it was not deemed suitable for the infantry tank role and was classified as a “heavy cruiser”.

This A10 Close Support version was on display at the Tank Museum in Bovington.

The CS (Close Support) version of the Mark II had a 3.7 in (94 mm) howitzer in the turret instead of the 2-pdr.

Rolls Royce Armoured Car

The Rolls-Royce Armoured Car was a British armoured car developed in 1914 and used during the First World War, Irish Civil War, the inter-war period in Imperial Air Control in Transjordan, Israel and Mesopotamia, and in the early stages of the Second World War in the Middle East and North Africa. The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) raised the first British armoured car squadron during the First World War.

This Rolls Royce Armoured Car is the oldest vehicle at the Tank Museum still in running order.

It is a hundred years old, built at Rolls Royce’s Derby Works in 1920 and first saw service in Ireland the next year.

It’s painted as it was with the 5th ACC in Shanghai.

Spent time in Scarborough between 1922 and 1927, it was then shipped to Shanghai for 2 years before spending 1929 to 1938 in Egypt with the 5th Armoured Car Company, Royal Tank Corps, 12th Royal Lancers and 11th Hussars. After taking part in anti-invasion patrols with the 1st Derbyshire Yeomanry the car came to Bovington in 1940 and joined The Tank Museum collection in 1946.

See the workbench feature on the Tally Ho Rolls Royce Armoured Car.

See the workbench feature on my 15mm Flames of War Rolls Royce Armoured Car.

Black Prince

The Infantry Tank, Black Prince (A43) was an experimental development of the Churchill tank with a larger, wider hull and a QF 17-pounder (76 mm) gun. This is one of the six prototypes made and is on display at the Tank Museum at Bovington.

As a development from the Churchill, the Black Prince was a continuation of the line of Infantry tanks, that is slower, heavier tanks intended to operate in close support of infantry. It also was able to work closely with other tanks. The parallel development in British tank design were the Cruiser tanks, which were intended for more mobile operations.

By the time the Black Prince prototypes had appeared in May 1945, the Sherman Firefly had proved itself in combat, the Comet tank was in service and the introduction of Centurion was imminent. All these tanks carried the QF 17-pounder or a derivative; all had better mobility than the Black Prince and the Centurion had frontal armour of comparable effectiveness. The Black Prince had become redundant and the project was abandoned

The Black Prince marked the end of the development of the A22F Churchill Mk VII, and the end of the Infantry tank concept in British tank design.

At the Tank Museum wargames show was an alternate history 1946 game which included 15mm Black Prince models.

If Battlefront had ever gone down the road of Late-War Monsters to complement their Mid-War Monsters range, the Black Prince would have been an ideal candidate for a model.

M46 Patton

The M46 Patton was an American medium tank designed to replace the M26 Pershing and M4 Sherman. It was one of the U.S Army’s principal medium tanks of the early Cold War, with models in service from 1949 until the mid-1950s.

Reading the Hot War books from Harry Turtledove has inspired me to think about gaming some scenarios from the books. British Comets and Centurions versus Russians T34-85 and T54 Soviet tanks with American M26 Pershing and M48 Patton tanks. In the book there are also Sherman manned by (West) German forces.

Alvis Saladin

The FV601 Saladin is a six-wheeled armoured car developed by Crossley Motors and later manufactured by Alvis. Designed in 1954, it replaced the AEC Armoured Car in service with the British Army from 1958 onward. The vehicle weighed 11 tonnes, offered a top speed of 72 km/h, and had a crew of three. Saladins were noted for their excellent performance in desert conditions, and found favour with a number of Middle Eastern armies accordingly. They were armed with a 76 mm low-pressure rifled (spin-stabilised) gun which fired the same ammunition as that mounted on the FV101 Scorpion.

The Saladin also spawned an armoured personnel carrier counterpart, the Alvis Saracen.

Despite the vehicle’s age and dated design, it is still in use in a number of countries in secondary roles.

There are three surviving Saladins in The Tank Museum. One, in all over green, is displayed in the exhibition and is shown above. The second, in all over tan, is in operational condition and used in events.

The third, in a tan and green camouflage pattern, is part of the museum’s reserve collection and is stored in the vehicle conservation centre.

This Alvis Saladin was on display at RAF Cosford.

It was part of their huge Cold War display.

Churchill Crocodile

The Tank Museum at Bovington’s British Churchill Crocodile Flame Thrower Tank is unusual from other Museums Churchill Crocodile tanks as it still has its fuel trailer. You can see the trailer tyres on the right behind the tank.

The tank on display was the last Churchill Mark VII to be produced by Vauxhall, in October 1945. It was sent directly to the School of Tank Technology, which transferred it to the Tank Museum in 1949, with practically no mileage beyond its acceptance test. The Mark VII was the first of the factory-assembled marks with thicker armour in fulfilment of the “heavy Churchill” requirement of May 1943.

Three brigades of Churchills landed in Normandy in 1944, most with 75 mm guns, some with 6-pounders, a few with 95 mm howitzers.

15mm Flames of War Churchill Crocodile.

Ferret MkII Scout Car

The Ferret armoured car, also commonly called the Ferret scout car, is a British armoured fighting vehicle designed and built for reconnaissance purposes. The Ferret was produced between 1952 and 1971 by the UK company Daimler. It was widely adopted by regiments in the British Army, as well as the RAF Regiment and Commonwealth countries.

This one was at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.