Churchill.page

A22 Churchill

FACT BOX:
Country: UK
Crew: 5
Weight: 87360 lb
Class: Heavy Infantry Tank
Dimensions: width, 10'8" length, 24'5" height, 8'2"
Armament: 40, 75 or 95mm Hwitzer main gun with two 7.92mm machine guns or one 7.92mm machine gun and hull mounted 3 in. Howitzer
Armour: 16-102mm (Churchills I-VI) 25-150mm (Churchills VII and VIII)
Engine: Two Bedford 6 cylinder petrol engines developing 350 hp
Performance:
Top Speed: 15.5 mph
Range: 90 miles
Vert. Ob.: 2'6"

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	Just after Dunkirk, the British Army gave the car company Vauxhaul Motors the task of designing and building a replacement for the Matilda II heavy tank. Not that hard of a task; except the British army only gave them a one year maximum until they had to be in production. Within seven months a prototype had been created and after 11 months 14 A22 Churchills had been built. However, the rush to get the tank into production had left serious quality and reliability problems that gave the Churchill a reputation it never completely outlived. Still, these things were quickly corrected. The Churchills were noted, however, for their extremely thick armour. It was 6 inches thick on the front of the later models. Also useful was the spacious hull, which could store lots of ammunition. One drawback was the in adequate armament. Earlier models carried only a 40 mm gun. Later the Churchills were equipped with 75mm guns and some models even carried the 105 mm Howitzer. The Churchill hull was also well suited to many special tasks including tank recovery, bridge laying and carpet laying. It was also extremely successful as a flamethrower. The flamethrowing Churchill Crocodile used pressurized nitrogen to shoot a jet of flaming liquid up to 80 yards. It was fueled by a 480 gallon armored trailer that the tank pulled behind it.

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