"M1 Abrams" (Centurion)
During World War II, Western Allied tank development tended to lag behind their German enemies and Soviet counterparts: the British split their armored forces into infantry support tanks like the Matilda and Churchill, and exploitation tanks such as the Cruiser series. The former were tough but very slow; the latter were fast but thinly armored. None of them carried a large gun, as they were not meant to duel other tanks.
Experience in North Africa, where the British tanks were regularly outgunned by German Panzers and blown apart by 88mm antitank guns, led to a major change in British tank design. The success of the Germans with the Panther and the Russians with the T-34/85 led the British to begin designing a new main battle tank, the Comet--the Comet combined the speed of a Cruiser tank with the superb 17 pounder (76mm) gun of the Sherman Firefly. The Comet's armor was still considered to be too thin to resist a direct hit from an 88, so a heavier tank was ordered. This would become the Centurion.
Whereas the Comet was the answer to the Panther, the Centurion was meant to take on the German heavies: the Tiger and King Tiger. The design specification called for armor thick enough to take multiple 88mm hits, yet retain the mobility (if not the top speed) of the Comet. It would also be equipped with the 17 pounder main gun. The designers were able to meet these requirements by using sloped armor: though the Centurion's armor was actually thinner than that of the Churchill, the sloped design made it more resistant to hits. Although the Centurion was larger than the Comet, it was just as mobile. Design changes (such as dropping the 17 pounder in favor of a more powerful 20 pounder main gun) meant that the first Centurions did not reach the British Armoured Corps until after the end of World War II, but crews were enthusiastic about the design all the same: the Centurion was a winner.
They were right. The Centurion might not have ever dueled a Tiger, but it would prove to be one of the most successful postwar tank designs, equal to (and in some cases superior to) the American M48 Patton series and the Soviet T-55. Centurions quickly replaced all other British tank designs, and was heavily exported.
It would also be combat proven. The British used their Centurions to superb effect in Korea, where Centurion regiments reinvented tank doctrine in mountainous terrain; the Australians would use them in Vietnam, where only six out of 58 were lost. India used Centurions against Pakistan, while South Africa used theirs in Angola. By far, however, the most experienced Centurion users were the Israelis. The IDF Armored Corps began to receive ex-British and Canadian Centurions just before the Six-Day War of 1968; during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, about 80 IDF Centurions destroyed 500 Syrian T-55s in the Battle of the Valley of Tears. In Israeli service, the Centurion was known as the Sho't (Scourge), and most were upgunned with American 105mm main guns.
Centurions would be replaced by the Chieftain in British Army units, but hundreds of Centurions would persist in service well into the 1990s; South Africa still uses heavily modified Centurions as the Olifant. The Centurion also underwent several dozen variants as engineering vehicles, self-propelled artillery, and even heavily modified in Israeli as turretless armored personnel carriers.
One would be forgiven for thinking that I've put the wrong description on this page, as the tank in the picture looks very much like a M1 Abrams. It is, however, a Centurion. During the production of the 1996 movie Courage Under Fire, the producers of the film did not have the assistance of the US Department of Defense. This was a problem, as Denzel Washington's character is a former M1 Abrams tank commander and a scene in the movie is based roughly on the Battle of 73 Easting. With no privately-owned M1s to draw on, the producers needed to find another solution, and did: they bought a few former Australian Army Centurions and heavily modified them to resemble the M1. To the casual moviegoer, they looked just like the real thing.
After Courage Under Fire was completed, the Centurions were sold to a private firm in California, ArmyTrucks, which rents out "vismods" and military surplus to Hollywood for film production. Since 1996, the modified Centurions have been used in movies and TV shows such as Cloverfield, Iron Man and The Walking Dead. The way to differentiate the modded Centurion from an actual Abrams is to count the road wheels between the tracks: if it has seven wheels, it is an Abrams; if it has six, it's a Centurion. The hull is also slightly narrower and the fake turret longer, though this is very difficult to see in a movie. (In Walking Dead, the character Rick Grimes actually gave away the tank's identity: he climbs through a bottom escape hatch to escape the zombies in downtown Atlanta. The Abrams does not have a bottom escape hatch.)
The Russell Military Museum acquired this "M1 Abrams" Centurion vismod from Army Trucks; it is the only one of the Centurion vismods on public display. It has seen better days: rust has broken out over most of the tank, marring its desert tan paint job. (The water around the tank is due to two days of heavy rain just before the day I was there in May 2018.) Though fake, the gun shows the larger bore evacuator of the M1A1 series, with the 120mm main gun instead of the earlier 105mm. Though not in great shape, it was still interesting seeing one of these vismods.
"M1 Abrams" (Centurion)
During World War II, Western Allied tank development tended to lag behind their German enemies and Soviet counterparts: the British split their armored forces into infantry support tanks like the Matilda and Churchill, and exploitation tanks such as the Cruiser series. The former were tough but very slow; the latter were fast but thinly armored. None of them carried a large gun, as they were not meant to duel other tanks.
Experience in North Africa, where the British tanks were regularly outgunned by German Panzers and blown apart by 88mm antitank guns, led to a major change in British tank design. The success of the Germans with the Panther and the Russians with the T-34/85 led the British to begin designing a new main battle tank, the Comet--the Comet combined the speed of a Cruiser tank with the superb 17 pounder (76mm) gun of the Sherman Firefly. The Comet's armor was still considered to be too thin to resist a direct hit from an 88, so a heavier tank was ordered. This would become the Centurion.
Whereas the Comet was the answer to the Panther, the Centurion was meant to take on the German heavies: the Tiger and King Tiger. The design specification called for armor thick enough to take multiple 88mm hits, yet retain the mobility (if not the top speed) of the Comet. It would also be equipped with the 17 pounder main gun. The designers were able to meet these requirements by using sloped armor: though the Centurion's armor was actually thinner than that of the Churchill, the sloped design made it more resistant to hits. Although the Centurion was larger than the Comet, it was just as mobile. Design changes (such as dropping the 17 pounder in favor of a more powerful 20 pounder main gun) meant that the first Centurions did not reach the British Armoured Corps until after the end of World War II, but crews were enthusiastic about the design all the same: the Centurion was a winner.
They were right. The Centurion might not have ever dueled a Tiger, but it would prove to be one of the most successful postwar tank designs, equal to (and in some cases superior to) the American M48 Patton series and the Soviet T-55. Centurions quickly replaced all other British tank designs, and was heavily exported.
It would also be combat proven. The British used their Centurions to superb effect in Korea, where Centurion regiments reinvented tank doctrine in mountainous terrain; the Australians would use them in Vietnam, where only six out of 58 were lost. India used Centurions against Pakistan, while South Africa used theirs in Angola. By far, however, the most experienced Centurion users were the Israelis. The IDF Armored Corps began to receive ex-British and Canadian Centurions just before the Six-Day War of 1968; during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, about 80 IDF Centurions destroyed 500 Syrian T-55s in the Battle of the Valley of Tears. In Israeli service, the Centurion was known as the Sho't (Scourge), and most were upgunned with American 105mm main guns.
Centurions would be replaced by the Chieftain in British Army units, but hundreds of Centurions would persist in service well into the 1990s; South Africa still uses heavily modified Centurions as the Olifant. The Centurion also underwent several dozen variants as engineering vehicles, self-propelled artillery, and even heavily modified in Israeli as turretless armored personnel carriers.
One would be forgiven for thinking that I've put the wrong description on this page, as the tank in the picture looks very much like a M1 Abrams. It is, however, a Centurion. During the production of the 1996 movie Courage Under Fire, the producers of the film did not have the assistance of the US Department of Defense. This was a problem, as Denzel Washington's character is a former M1 Abrams tank commander and a scene in the movie is based roughly on the Battle of 73 Easting. With no privately-owned M1s to draw on, the producers needed to find another solution, and did: they bought a few former Australian Army Centurions and heavily modified them to resemble the M1. To the casual moviegoer, they looked just like the real thing.
After Courage Under Fire was completed, the Centurions were sold to a private firm in California, ArmyTrucks, which rents out "vismods" and military surplus to Hollywood for film production. Since 1996, the modified Centurions have been used in movies and TV shows such as Cloverfield, Iron Man and The Walking Dead. The way to differentiate the modded Centurion from an actual Abrams is to count the road wheels between the tracks: if it has seven wheels, it is an Abrams; if it has six, it's a Centurion. The hull is also slightly narrower and the fake turret longer, though this is very difficult to see in a movie. (In Walking Dead, the character Rick Grimes actually gave away the tank's identity: he climbs through a bottom escape hatch to escape the zombies in downtown Atlanta. The Abrams does not have a bottom escape hatch.)
The Russell Military Museum acquired this "M1 Abrams" Centurion vismod from Army Trucks; it is the only one of the Centurion vismods on public display. It has seen better days: rust has broken out over most of the tank, marring its desert tan paint job. (The water around the tank is due to two days of heavy rain just before the day I was there in May 2018.) Though fake, the gun shows the larger bore evacuator of the M1A1 series, with the 120mm main gun instead of the earlier 105mm. Though not in great shape, it was still interesting seeing one of these vismods.