TANKFEST: The Centaur variation of the Cromwell

            File: 2023007-0738

Kuwait Arena, at The Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset, England, United Kingdom, on Friday 23rd June 2023.
 
About the photograph.

The photo shows that the Centaur III tank, bearing the number T184509, is actually a visiting guest tank, and not belonging to the Tank Museum.

The Centaur III tank, is officially known as the Tank, Cruiser, Mk VIII, Centaur (A27L).

It is a variation of the Cromwell family of tanks. While from the outside, both the Cromwell and the Centaur looks so much alike, as if they’re twins, but it is inside, like having different engines, etc, that is a big difference, like each twins having their own different personality.

The development of the Cromwell tank started in 1940, when the British Army generals were aware that other tanks, like the Crusader tank would become obsolete in later years, and set out a requirement for a replacement tank.

Nuffield proposed the A24 project, heavily based on the Crusader design, with a V12 Nuffield Liberty engine, and 6 prototypes were built, but they were believed to be outdated and underpowered, so only a small numbers were built.

Leyland Motors came up with the idea of replacing the aging Liberty engines with Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 petrol engine giving a 600hp output.

The tank design board decided to split the project into three different vehicles, including the A27L Cromwell II which was later known as the Centaur tank.

The Centaur tank could reach a speed of up to approximately 40 mph, an operational range of up to about 170 miles on roads or 80 miles on cross country, using a fuel capacity of about 530 litres, and had a crew of 5.

The main armament was the Ordnance QF 75mm Mk V gun.

The Centaur tank is a cruiser tank type, where armour is lighter, thus valuable to anti-tank fire, but the purpose was to lighten the weight of the tank, in order to make them faster. Such tanks were designed to move as fast as they could, in order to attack behind the lines.

(As opposite to infantry tanks, which have thicker armour, therefore heavier, but end up moving too slow, thus is suitable for acting as close support for foot soldiers.)

They entered service in 1944 mainly from after D-Day onwards, and were also used in the Korean War.

The photo was converted into black and white by using Adobe Lightroom.
 
About TANKFEST and The Tank Museum.

The Tank Museum is found next to the British Army military base, simply called Bovington Camp, and is used by various tank regiments.

The writer Rudyard Kipling once visited Bovington in 1923, and saw some damaged tanks left from the First World War. He recommended that a museum should be set up.

However the museum was simply a shed, and was not open to the public until about 1947, when the museum was finally set up.

By about 1982, the museum was expanded and modernized, it housed many various different tanks in the Exhibition halls, along with working tanks which are often show in the live action arena.

The museum also has the only working German Tiger I tank, known as Tiger 131.

TANKFEST is an annual live action re-enactment event showing off various working tanks in staged display, in the museum’s showground known as Kuwait Arena.

For more information, just Google “TANKFEST, The Tank Museum, Bovington.”
 
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Taken in: UK / England / Purbeck District / Bovington Camp (show map)

Taken on: June 23, 2023

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