editor486650

I am concerned that the National Army Museum have not properly looked after the interests of this tank, merely offloading it to the East England Tank Museum, which may or may not be a museum. I negotiated for the tank to be released from Shoeburyness to the RCT Historic Trust, then as "Donor" provided the parts for its repair to running order. I believe that my name went down as donation organiser in the accession book at Beverley, where the RCT Historic Trust displayed it. When the MAT closed I contacted the National Army Museum asking for the tank to go to the Friends of the Tank Museum, to serve alongside the M4A2 and Comet. All I got was a short reply from the NAM saying that the Charioteer was not a viable runner as it lacked a steering assermbly (it had been borrowed to keep the Comet going in the MAT). Perhaps Wally can advise me as to the legal status of such a verhicle which was in his care years ago as part of the RCT Historic Trust. Did someone conveniently lose the accession register? John

Please keep the final build standard with the 105mm gun, as it represents the final development of the A24, A27 Cruiser tank series. Yes there is always the temptation to make it a Cromwell, but 00SP36 is unique and should be preserved as such. In 1943 the tank designers said that you could not fit a big 17 pounder gun into a Cromwell, so embarked on Challenger A30 and then Centurion. But they were wrong, as Charioteer showed. When I worked on the tank the suspensions were in good order and shockers held their oil, so there should be no need to strip off the side armour. The suspension greasing/oiling needed to be arranged, but that is fiddly but simple. If in doubt fit piped grease nipples to improve nipple access. Make sure the correct oils are used - the gearbox was filled with OC600 and the hydraulics OM13. I suggest that you do not initially need power traverse, a Tiny Tim or a working generator. The vehicle batteries are only used for starting, after which I turned off the master switch to preserve them. The Meteor 4 I fitted started OK without the need for the booster coil. Make sure both the magstop circuits are working. Make suree the coolant has some antifreeze in it to stop disimilar metal corrosion. You might want to run it without a thermostat, as they can cause a lot of damage if they jam shut. Watch out for asbestos in the exhaust shields and exhaust pipe padding, where the pipes go over the fan assembly - I would fit non-asbestos pads. If there is no petrol tank close to the manifold, then do not fit the asbestos heat shield that side. One possible problem was with the track as the circlips were very rusty. Inside the circlips were grooved spacers which get lost if the circlip fails. You need to fit new circlips and make sure the spacers are fitted - you may need to make some more on a lathe. As with any Cromwell you need to give the driver a good set of mirrors. The driver's vision porthole also has a sliding internal perspex window which needs to be in good condition if you want to drive on grass or in dusty conditions. I checked all the wheels for rimrock, tightened a few wheel bearings, but that will need doing again after this amount of time. The track tension adjusters were seized, but doubtless will move once "persuaded"! If the engine is out then I would fit new hydraulic pipes throughout for the cluch, brakes and steering systems. John

Yes Wally, I can come and have a look at the tank. The main decision needs to be to define what build standard do you want. Do you want a reliable runner externally perfect, or do you want all the internal stowage found and fitted. The stowage bins in the turret had all been taken away by RO Nottingham, but do not despair, as there are a number of Finnish Charioteers being converted back to Cromwell and their stowage bins for the 84mm gun will probably be being scrapped. Dont forget that the 105mm gun used the same stowage bins as the 20 pounder as the case was essentially the same. I would recommend using the full-flow Centurion oil filter, but retaining the existing oil piping for cooling. It only surely needs a single fuel tank, but with proper and safe piping. But where is the vehicle now?

This tank was in my trials section at Chertsey in 1975 as 00SP36. The tank had been fitted with a 105mm gun for a sales demo in Lebanon, but the Lebonese stuck with 20 pounders, probably as they had ammunition for 84mm. The gun was removed to RO Nottingham and used in a gunboat demo turret for Hong Kong, returning later to Nottingham. The gunless tank went as a target tug to Shoeburyness. Meanwhile I was busy at Chertsey restoring the Comet for the Army Transport Museum which went on the Dyson trailer behind the Diamond T. But Beverley ended up with more tank transporters, so I got the Cusader 1 for the RECTANK and the 105 Charioteer to go on an Antar. The tank was recovered to Beverley from Shoeburyness and RO Nottingham kindly refitted the gun. (I forced their hands a little over this as I had found the original loan letter in MOD which promised to return the gun as found to the tank). I then helped Wally with the restoration of the tank, providing a new engine, radiators, radiator mountings. The aim was to make it able to get onto the transdporter under its own power, no more. So yes, the fuel lines were as used on motorcars but for a 5 minute task they worked. This is an important tank with its 105mm gun. It represents the last in the line of the A24/27 Cruiser tank series. It really did have that gun fitted and it was demonstrated firing in Lebanon in about 1974 - I spoke to the demo officer who took it there. So please do not revert back to a 84mm tube. And please leave its number plate alone - it was 00SP36 at Chertsey. John

I am sure it will involve rivetting and bending rusty metal as usual. Incidentally is there any news on any progress on the Covenanter recovered from Imber about 20 years ago, along with an extra half hull and some turrets? John

Bob, I am afraid that attitudes do not change. The Cavalier for example remains unrestored and would have been better off being buried in chalk. It is in the mainstream of British tank development, part of the Covenanter/Crusader/Cavalier/Centaur/Cromwell/Comet cruiser tank series. And they did see combat as OP tanks, as I often see the distinctive louvred back end of a Cavalier advancing into the Bocage battles. But they are not crowd pullers like the German tanks, so at Bovington you see a collection of all the German tanks but not the A24 Cavalier or A30 Challenger. So I still say a WW1 tank buried in chalk is safer left where it is. John

Hi! I am finally joining after a few years peering in from the outside. I now live in Stanford in the Vale and have gone way from doing up Comet tanks to concentrate on Canadian RAMs. My first Comet restoration was 21ZR21 which ended up at Beverley, where I re-engined it with a Meteor 4. I then put the Crusader1 and Charioteer into Beverley and prepared the Churchill 2 as a playground tank pretending to be a Mark 1. The 3 inch hull gun in the Churchill (now at Bovington) enabled school kids to swing up onto the tank safely, part of a giant climbing frame. The hull gun barrel actually came off a Comet on Larkhill ranges, but at least is the correct calibre. I then took Friends of the Tank Museum to Parola in Finland to repair a Comet and a Charioteer, followed by a bigger trip to Munsterlager to get a Comet running for the Panzermuseum and another as a static display at Dresden. More recently I recovered the Grant from Pirbright and helped Carl Brown to get it running. During that Pirbright range work I realised that there were no running RAM tanks anywhere, so have ended up with the remains of 4, the first of which is now nearing the end of its restoration by Carl. I hope to get a second running as a Kangaroo before the Dutch anniversary season in autumn next year, with the first probably as 49RTR and the second later mark vehicle as 1CACR. Mention is occasionally made of buried tanks, perhaps on Salisbury Plain. When I was very young my father was the Master of the Salisbury Plain Hunt and we ran a fox to ground in an OP. Bdr Lloyd dug after it and found it had gone into an old tank. Being small I was pushed inside and found it was a WW1 type tank which was being used as an OP with the fox underneath. It was perfectly preserved in chalk and deep buried from shellfire, so was well preserved. I mentioned it at Bovington a few years back but the Director just said he could swap it for something important. Seeing the fate of the rusting A24 Cavalier at Bovington I thought the WW1 tank was safer off staying buried, away from acid rain and foreign museums. If the Tank Museum changes its attitude then I might look again for it, as would like to get back inside it if only to relive the smell of it's rancid castor oil.... Meanwhile I am deliighted to see the Sherman M4A2 I recovered from Shrivenham is still running at Bovington along with Comet 17ZR35 which I spent a year working on when at ATDU. John