The British Super Cromwells That Served Into The 1990s - Challenger, Avenger and Charioteer

While Charioteer's 20 pounder might have struggled to deal with T-54s, not every Warsaw Pact tank regiment of the day had T-54s. It would have had no issue taking on a B formation's T-34s, and when Charioteer first went into service, there were still 40,000 of those in existence.

4:47 "A gang of rogue engineers..." How can one join this gang?

"But somehow they only discovered very late on that the gun wouldn't fit in the Cromwell" Hey, could be worse. They could've built an entire Battleship reusing old unused guns, just to realize they designed the turrets too small and have to design an entirely new gun anyways...

A30 challenger was probably one of the underated tank designs in WW2. If they could fill more scout regiments with them big cats would've been a non issue.

0:41 Matilda tank spotted in Ukraine?1?!!?1! Amazing video!

Remember, kids: the Cromwells served in the recce regiments (except for Guards Armoured Div during WW2), not the tank regiments and the Challengers were issued to the Cromwell regiments. Fireflys served in the tank regiments, as did the Comets. Avenger & Charioteer served with the Royal Artillery.

An interesting modification I saw done to the cromwell was the installation of applique armor that boosted the effective frontal thickness to over 101mm. Also, I once saw a finnish comet that had been refitted with a 20pdr gun.

Some of you might not know this but the first 17 pounder to be fitted into a turret was into an Australian Cruiser 4 turret, before the Brit’s!

In Ireland we fitted them with 20mm from a fighter plane rather than buying ammo for the gun! 😅

You know something I read about recently is that to this day Myanmar apparently still has a batch of Comets that were sold to them. Not sure if they're still in active service or would really be any good if used but it still interesting just how long they seem to have lasted for.

Finally an unbiased, short, concise, and informative tank video that focuses solely upon production and history. You’re producing quality content far beyond that of many main stream channels. Keep up the good work… and hit me up if you want any tank parts or military souvenirs!

Keep the videos coming... You cover the different and odd. That's what keeps me coming back

Great vid! Good balance and research. Please keep it up!

Absolutely brilliant! Thank you for posting this.

A most interesting, fascinating and enjoyable series of movies. Not too long, not too short and most of it I had never heard, or read of before. Top work!

Been playing War Thunder recently so really came here to learn. I was not disappointed.

Tiny note (not really relevant to the Cromwell line); "Achilles" was the name given to both kinds of M10 in British service, with 3 inch armed vehicles named Achilles I or Achilles II, and 17 pdr armed vehicles named Achilles Ic or Achilles IIc. The Achilles name wasn't much used in the war though (it was supposed to be the name, but even in official reports it didn't gain much traction) - the most common name was 3 inch M10 or 17 pdr M10 (sometimes with "SP" between the gun name and "M10"); informally the 17 pdr armed vehicles would occasionally be called Firefly, due to the association between the gun and the name.

That was interesting. I've seen videos about these vehicles individualy, but this one links up the development thought process and joins the dots.

17 pounder needs a big turret! Firefly hold my beer!

The Challenger used the same engine as the Cromwell (RR Meteor). The Challenger weighed more than the Cromwell. The power/weight for the two tanks is 18.8hp/tonne vs 21.4hp/tonne. The Challenger only had a top speed of 32 mph vs 40 mph for the Cromwell, not the same speed, but still faster than the Firefly. The Challenger, due to the lengthened hull wasn't as maneuverable as the Cromwell.