Hello, welcome to The
Tank Museum here in Dorset for another episode
of Inside the Tanks. Today, we're going to take a
closer look at a tank that incorporated a host of
revolutionary design features. A tank that went to service in the British Army
in the late '60s. A tank that those of us that served on it
absolutely loved, but also drove us to despair. I'll give you the FV4201
Chieftain main battle tank. The Chieftain was
the successor to the very popular Centurion tank. Arguably, at the time, the best all-round
tank in the world. But it was fast becoming dated, especially in terms
of firepower. The worry was with the tank it might have to face
on the battlefield such as the heavily armoured
Soviet T-10 and JS-3s. The concern was such
that from 1955, the British felt it
necessary to put nine heavy conqueror tanks
into each Centurion regiment. With the 120-millimetre gun, they could deal with the
heavily armoured Soviet tanks leaving the Centurions to deal with the less armoured
medium tanks, such as the T-34s and T-55s. But this mix of tanks was a
less-than-ideal situation. What was really needed was a single design combining
the firepower of the conqueror's
120-millimetre gun with the mobility and general
usefulness of the Centurion. Enter the Chieftain. On the development road to
the finalised Chieftain, there were several
prototypes. Come with me. The museum believes that
this is the Chieftain P6, one of the prototypes for our finalised version
of the Chieftain. It's the oldest existing
Chieftain in the world and was rescued from a
scrap heap back in 2011. Chieftain was an extremely
well-protected tank, especially after the
Stillbrew upgrade which came in 1986. The project was named after the military
lead, Colonel Still and the lead project
engineer, John Brewer. The rhyme was certainly
an improvement over the Centurion, utilising
horseman's suspension units. The horseman's
suspension system was effective and straightforward, utilising these coiled springs. The whole system was
self-contained within this bogie, meaning that if there
was any damage to it, it could relatively easily
be removed and replaced. The Chieftain was the last tank to utilise this basic system. A new track consisted of 96 links and track maintenance
was a never-ending task. At every available opportunity, the driver would have
to jump out of the cab, come and check the
track for its tension, and also for any damage. Running down the entire
length of the tank of these, the skirting plates, sometimes referred to
as bazooka plates. Now when we were in
long-term high positions, what we could do
is undo the bolts at the top here and
the whole thing would actually fold down and it would
make a table. Very civil. Up here, you can
see one of our tomb banks of multi-barrelled
smoke grenades discharges. That means to give
a rapid defensive smoke screen around the vehicle. The firing controls are between the gunner and the
commander in the turret. Just a few of the
things that we find on the back of the tank. We've got a stowage
bin located here. On top of that, we've
got our first aid kit. We can see one of our exhausts. Next to the exhaust is
the tank telephone. Now, the tank telephone
was just a means whereby the infantry on the ground could communicate with
the turret crew. Next to that, we've got the
gun crutch or the gun clamp. As the name suggests, if there was a problem
with the main armament, we could traverse the gun over the back decks and
secure it in this clamp. Underneath the clamp, we
can see the convoy light. The final thing really to mention is the
spare track leads. You can see we've
got one fitted here, but usually, we carry
two on board Chieftain. At the rear of the
turret is the NBC pack. Nuclear, biological,
and chemical warfare was much trained for and this four-stage
filtration system with theoretically
purify air for the crew. That being said, there
was still, however, a need for the crew to don for protection equipment
which included the respirator if needs be, a training task we all hated. Here we are now on
top of the turret. Just a few of the major
things that you can see, just to my right close
at the moment is the NBC pack directly beneath my feet we've got
an access hatch and underneath here you'd find
two turret batteries. You can see access
to the turret there. On the right, we've got
the commander's hatch to the left, we've got
the loader's hatch. For the commander's hatch,
this is where the gunner and the commander would
enter the turret. On the vision cupola
for the commander, he's got a GPMG mount fitted and the GPMG in
place at the moment. On the left-hand side, this is an older variant of Chieftains. We haven't got thermal imaging, we've actually got the
searchlight fitted. If we move further forwards,
we've got the MRS, the muzzle reference system
light source located there, and just to the right of
that, we can see the mount, the armoured cover
for the gunner sight. If we now go all
the way forward, we can see a small
groove and aperture and underneath, that's
where we'd find our auxiliary sight
for the gunner. The main armament
was formidable. With its rifled
120-millimetre gun its long-range accuracy and penetration at the time
was top of its game. In fact, records show that a well-trained crew could
achieve in the region of 98 percent first-round hits around to about 1.5 kilometres. In the design phase, one of the most important
considerations was choosing the
optimum calibre. It had to be capable
of defeating the Soviet heavy tanks
at, and I quote, "As long a range as possible." Also needed to have
the potential for improvement mainly in
terms of new ammunition. The gun could fire a wide
range of ammunition, but the most commonly
loaded types were HESH, high explosive squash
head, and APDS, armour-piercing
discarding sabot or practise rounds equivalents
for both types. The gun was fully
stabilised with a fully computerised integrated
fire control system. On the barrel, we have a
two-part thermal sleeve. Its primary purpose
is to provide a more consistent
temperature to the barrel. Preventive distortions due to thermal expansion caused by the temperature differences around the barrel when firing. Holding the sleeve in
place a several clamps. At the module end, we
have a rubber shroud with a polished steel
mirror underneath. On the turret roof
is a light source, which when switched on, shines a red light into this mirror. This thing gets reflected
back into the gunner sight. It was a quick and
accurate way to ensure what the gunner
was aiming at was aligned with the muzzle of
the gun and played a key part in the remarkable
accuracy of this gun. Let's take a closer look inside. Here we are now in the
commander's position. Now, the commander
is the man with overall responsibility
for the entire crew. Some of the things
in the commander's position that you can see, well, all the way
around me, I've got episcopes or periscopes. So the commander has
actually got a pretty good 360-degree field of view. Directly to my front, I've got this binocular-type sight
and to the left of that, you've got the commander's
firing control handle. As the name suggests, this is the ability where he
can actually fire the main armament and select between coax and main
armament on there as well. Also located on here,
we've got a rocker switch. Now, this rocker
switch actually does the lays and auto
procedure for the tank. Across to the right, we've got a map light and just to the
right of the map light, we've got the CCMU or the commander's control
and monitoring unit. Now, the CCMU is really a ballistic computer
or calculator. It's a means whereby
the commander can enter information
that's deemed via the metro located
on the outside of the turret concerning the
ambient weather conditions. Now, of course, all of this
information is critical to accurately lay
and fire the gun. Just to the left of the CCMU,
we've got this dog clutch. If I push this dog clutch in, it enables me to traverse
the cupola left and right, just to the right on my knee, we've got the grip switch
and the thumb controller. Now, this just
enables the commander by power traverse to traverse left or right and
also elevate or depress. The interesting thing about
the commander's control is, although it's duplicated or replicated down in the
gunner's position, this one actually overrides
anything the gunner does. Really, the final thing to mention whilst we're in
the commander's position, is the commander's seat itself. This can be elevated
or depressed so that you can actually
put your head outside, and this is just done by
this hydraulic pump here. That's the commander's position. Now, we're going to look at an incredibly
uncomfortable position, that of the gunner. So the gunner's
position. This really takes me back because this was the very first position
and job I had when I joined the Royal Tank
Regiment all those years ago. It's a terrible position,
incredibly uncomfortable, unless you can imagine with
the commander sat behind you, kicking you in the back all
the time, not great at all. Some of the main controls
that we find down here. Well, just to my left, we've
got the auxiliary sight. Directly to my front, I've got the sight
laser range finder. Underneath that, we've got
the elevation hand wheel. All the elevation hand
wheel does is enables us to elevate or depress the
main armament manually. Between my legs, we've got the gunner's fire control handle, which is exactly the same as the commander's fire control handle that we saw earlier on. To the right of that, you've got the grip switch
and thumb controller. Again, exactly the same
as the commander's one, so just enables the gunner
to traverse and elevate the main armament by powered traverse or
powered elevation. To my right, we've got
the travers hand wheel. You'll see over on the
right hand side here, numerous amounts of
buttons and switches. We've got the
controls for actually starting the gun
control equipment. We've got numerous amounts of
circuit breakers and fuses. We've got lighting controls,
and just to the right here, you can see where the key is, we needed the key to put in there and actually
activate the laser. The final thing, we looked
at it on the outside, but here are the controls
where you could actually fire our multi barrelled
smoke grenades discharges. Let's now look at our final
turret crew position, and that's the loader. Here we are now in the
loader's position. Best position in the turret, purely because
you've got more room than any other
member of the crew. Some of the things you
can see around me. Well, let's start with the
singly most important thing that any tank ever have, and that is the BV, or
the boiling vessel. Now, the boiling vessel, as the name perhaps suggest, is just the means
where you can boil up water and the crew can
have a cup of tea, cup of coffee, and also heat up some of their
boil in the bag rations. It is absolutely fantastic. It wouldn't actually
be kept here, there is actually a bracket just down here where it sits on. The important thing to remember,
for loader, of course, is that when this is being
used and on this bracket, he has to remove
it before firing. Because if he doesn't, the
breach of the main armament is actually going to
crash through here and destroy the boiling vessel. Some of the other
things you can see. We've got numerous amounts of ammunition located on
board of the vehicle. Sixty four rounds
in total could be carried within the turret,
but to be perfectly honest, many times we had
more than that, purely because you can actually stack them up on
the turret floor. Now, as well as loading
the main armament, the operator is also in charge of the radio communications. Just to my right here, we can
see we've got two VRC353s, which are very good radios. Ammunition wise, you can
see at the moment, we've got a dummy bag charge here. The bag charges are
actually kept to these containers just
to my right knee, and these are located
around the turret seal. Inside those containers
are meant for cooling so it can actually
keep the bag charge cool when it gets hot outside and also
pretty safe as well. The idea was if the
turret is penetrated, it actually prevents
the bag charges from cooking off and exploding. Final thing really
to mention over this side at the moment
is the safety switch. Now, the safety switch
is pretty important. The reason being, of course, if it's in the same
position where it is now, the gun can't fire and also it means that the
turret can't traverse. Now the reason that's so
important for the operator is, is because where I'm standing at the moment on the
turret turntable, there are so many places where you could actually
get your legs, your feet, your arms, your hands trapped when you're actually doing powered travers. When it's to live, everything,
as the name suggests, is live and power travers is enabled and also the
gun can actually fire. Moving our way
around the turret, we've got the NBC control panel. This controls the fan
speeds of the NBC pipe we saw earlier on on the
outside of the turret. Across to the front
left here, again, more stowage positions
for main armament rounds. Down here, we would
have found 6,000 rounds of 7.62
millimetre ammunition all linked together
and then fed up via the feed tray into our
co-actually mounted machine gun located on
the top of the breach. Just a few of the major
components that you can see perhaps on
the breach ring area, we've got the remote
cocking handle for the co-actually
mounted machine gun. This item here is called
the stop running back. Now the stop running
back is fitted on there really to prevent, as
the name suggests, the breach in the
event of a loss of hydraulic pressure from actually falling back or retreating
back on its own. Of course, this would
be pretty dramatic if you were the pour a loader
and stuck behind it. Recuperator, replenisher, all part of the
hydraulic system as far as the main
armament is concerned. On my side, we've got the
breach mechanism lever, which is this lever here, and that's just to means
wherever I squeeze this in, push forward so I
can actually open the breach located
down the sensor here. The breach closing lever, a sharp tug towards me and that would just
actually slam the breach back up in position after the loading sequences
can be completed. Some of the other
things and probably an incredibly important
thing for the loader, is the loader's
firing guard itself. If I pull this forward, that's the firing
guard now made. What that means is
the gun will be completely loaded
at that stage and the firing circuit is actually completed and the main armament
is enabled to be fired. The final thing
really down on there, we've got the vent tube loader located right down
at the bottom, and that's the means
where we actually load those vent tubes into the main armament to initiate the whole of the
firing sequence. This was the Achilles
heel for the Chieftain, the Leyland L60
multi-fuel engine. It was incredibly
underpowered and its reliability was
absolutely atrocious. In fact, it was estimated that before upgrades
were carried out, it had a 90 percent breakdown
rate. Why multi-fuel? Well, in 1955, the
NATO policymakers recommended the use of multi-fuel engines as there were concerns that diesel might
become scarce during war. Sensibly, all nations ignored
this except for Britain. It might be wrong to
blame all on the engine. After all, by this stage, the tank was weighing in around 55 tonnes with
all the add-ons, a far cry from the
initial planned 45. For us crews, it meant
we had an unreliable, underpowered engine
that required constant maintenance and repair. Oil and coolant
leaks were common. In fact, anything that
could leak would. As well, amongst a
host of other things, regular fan belt
changes were needed as they would simply get
shredded on a regular basis. The TN12 gearbox wasn't all bad. It offers six forward
gears and two reverse, and also incorporates a triple differential
steering system. Let's now take a closer
look in the driver's cab. Here we are now in
the driver's cab. Without any shadow of a doubt, it was certainly the
most comfiest position to be in there. The seat was fantastic, it could be up as
is in the moment, in the upright position, or
it could be fully reclined. I've certainly spent many
nights sleeping in this seat. Some of the main things
you can see in here. To the left and right, we've got the hull batteries
underneath these covers. Some of the pedals,
the controls, again, are quite simple. Straight ahead of me, we've
got the largest foot brakes you've ever seen in your life. On the right hand side, we've got the accelerator,
and to the left, we've got the kick lever, actually to select the gears. Driving tillers left and right, instrument panel
directly to my front. On the instrument panel, it's pretty straightforward, we've got a speedo, we've got
a gun position indicator. Very important for the
driver to be aware of where the main armament is in relation to the hull of the vehicle. We've got an indicator
that actually shows which gear you selected, a coolant gauge, and finally,
we've got a rev counter. Another critical component
in here is this switch. Now, this switch is
the safe live switch. Very important that
when the driver was entering or accessing
the driver's cab, that's in the safe position. All this does is it
prevents the turret crew from traversing
the main armament left or right under power. The final thing really
to mention on here, now, Chieftain had two engines. They had the generate unit
engine and the main engine, and these are the control panels to operate both of those. As I said before, being a driver on Chieftain, it was certainly the
best seats in the house. There was a lot of work
with the maintenance, with the constant servicing, but it was a very rewarding job. There is no doubt
that the Chieftain was a force to be reckoned with. Firepower and protection
were first rate. Reliability was
certainly its downfall. It was in many ways ahead of its time when it
entered service. Despite a lengthy service life, it never fired a shot in
anger with the British, but did see operational
service in the export market. Firstly, with Iran during
the Iran-Iraq War, where it performed
with mixed results. But the most notable was during The Battle of the Bridges
on August the 2nd, 19 90. During the invasion of Kuwait, three companies of
Kuwaiti Army Chieftains faced Iraqi forces. By the end of the
battle, the only losses to the Chieftains were two tanks that were abandoned
in the scuffle due to mechanical breakdowns.
What a surprise. Iraq, however, lost some
200 armoured vehicles, including at least 30 tanks. That's it from myself
and the Chieftain. Thank you so much
for joining us. Until next time, take care.
