Coventry armoured car

Coventry Armoured Car

Type	Armoured car
Production history
Manufacturer	Rootes Group
No. built	220
Specifications
Mass	10.35 tonnes (11.41 short tons; 10.19 long tons)
Length	4.71 m (15 ft 5 in)
Width	2.64 m (8 ft 8 in)
Height	2.35 m (7 ft 9 in)
Crew	Mk I: 4, Mk II: 3

Armour	up 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)
Engine	Hercules RXLD 6-cylinder petrol engine 175 hp (130 kW)
Power/weight	16.9 hp/tonne
Suspension	Wheeled 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.

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Development

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

^ ^a ^b Fletcher 1989, p. 40
^ 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

External links

(in French) Photo gallery at chars-francais.net

British Commonwealth armoured fighting vehicles of the Second World War

Tanks

Light tanks	Light tank Mk I, Mk II, Mk III, Mk IV and Mk V Light tank Mk VI Light tank Mk VII Tetrarch Light tank Mk VIII 'Harry Hopkins' Vickers 6-ton M3/M5 Stuart * M22 Locust * M24 Chaffee *
Cruiser tanks	Cruiser Mk I Cruiser Mk II Cruiser Mk III Cruiser Mk IV Covenanter Crusader Cavalier Centaur and Cromwell Challenger Comet Ram ‡ Sentinel †
Infantry tanks	Matilda I Matilda II Valentine Churchill
Medium tanks	Grant/Lee * Grizzly I ‡ Sherman * Sherman Firefly Vickers Medium Mark II

Self-propelled
artillery

field	Bishop Priest* Sexton ‡
anti-tank	Deacon 17pdr SP Achilles Archer M10 tank destroyer *

Armoured personnel
carriers

Scout cars and
armoured cars

Scout cars	Daimler Dingo Dingo Scout Car † Humber Scout Car Lynx Scout Car ‡ S1 Scout Car †
Armoured cars	AEC Armoured Car Boarhound Armoured Car * Coventry Armoured Car Daimler Armoured Car Fox Armoured Car ‡ Greyhound Armoured Car * Guy Armoured Car Humber Armoured Car Indian Pattern Carrier § Lanchester 6×4 armoured car Marmon-Herrington Armoured Cars ^SA Morris CS9 Rhino Heavy Armoured Car † Rolls-Royce Armoured Car Rover Light Armoured Car † Staghound Armoured Car * Standard Beaverette
Reconnaissance cars	Humber Light Reconnaissance Car Morris Light Reconnaissance Car Otter Light Reconnaissance Car ‡

Armoured command
vehicles

Armoured trucks

Experimental vehicles

Key: * American lend-lease, † Australian, ‡ Canadian, § Indian, SA South African, ¶ New Zealand, ^v field conversions of vehicles of various origins

Background: British armoured fighting vehicle production during World War II, Tanks in the British Army

This page was last edited on 27 March 2024, at 09:43

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