Coventry Armoured Car
TypeArmoured car
Production history
ManufacturerRootes Group
No. built220
Specifications
Mass10.35 tonnes (11.41 short tons; 10.19 long tons)
Length4.71 m (15 ft 5 in)
Width2.64 m (8 ft 8 in)
Height2.35 m (7 ft 9 in)
CrewMk I: 4, Mk II: 3
Armourup to 14 mm (0.55 in)
Main
armament
Mk I: 2 pounder QF
Mk II: 75 mm QF
Secondary
armament
1 BESA machine gun (coaxial)
EngineHercules RXLD 6-cylinder petrol engine
175 hp (130 kW)
Power/weight16.9 hp/tonne
SuspensionWheeled 4 × 4
Operational
range
250 mi (400 km)
Maximum speed 42 mph (68 km/h)

The Coventry armoured car (AFVW19) was a British four wheel drive (4 × 4) armoured fighting vehicle developed at the end of the Second World War as a potential replacement for the lighter Humber and Daimler armoured cars.

Development

A Coventry in The Tank Museum, Bovington
A Coventry in action.

The Coventry was a combined effort between Daimler Company and the Rootes Group to produce a standard armoured car design.

The Coventry was an advanced design and featured a similar layout to the more compact Daimler, but with a more conventional suspension and drive system. It included duplicate driving controls to allow rapid disengagement in combat. There were two production versions. The Mark 1 employed a three-man turret with a 40mm QF 2-pounder gun and a 7.92 mm coaxial Besa machine gun.

The prototypes from Daimler and Humber were produced with a 2-pounder gun. In 1943, orders were placed for 1,700 vehicles that were to be able to carry the 57mm QF 6-pounder gun. A version - AFVW90 - with a larger turret with a 75 mm gun but one fewer crewman was planned and 900 of these ordered.[1]

Deliveries of the Coventry Mk 1, from the Humber assembly line, began in June 1944 and 63 vehicles had been produced by the end of the year. It was decided, in 1943, that production of the Daimler would be continued instead of the Coventry armoured car replacing it. As a result, the order for the 2-pounder Coventry was reduced to 300 that would be sent to India. The 75 mm armed Mark II did not enter production.[1]

Output concluded with a further 220 vehicles in 1945. The Coventry was deployed by the British Army, but they arrived too late for wartime service. Some of these units were sold to France and later saw action against the Viet Minh during the Indochina War.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Fletcher 1989, p. 40
  2. ↑ Dutrône, Christophe (October 2009). "Le salaire de la peur: convois en Indochine". Batailles & Blindés Magazine (in French). No. 33. p. 16. ISSN 1765-0828.

Sources

  • Fletcher, David (1989). Universal Tank: British Armour in the Second World War - Part 2. HMSO. ISBN 0-11-290534-X.
  • Leland Ness (2002) Jane's World War II Tanks and Fighting Vehicles: The Complete Guide, HarperCollins, London and New York, ISBN 0-00-711228-9
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.