.: Pat McCumisky's AFV Club 1/35th Centurion
In 1943, after a succession of unfortunate tank designs the British War Office commissioned a new specification calling for a tank with durability, reliability, a weight of 40 tons and the ability to withstand a direct hit from the German 88mm gun. Six prototypes were developed before the end of World War 2, but arrived to late to take part in the war on German soil.
It was soon recognised that the weight restrictions had to be lifted as the original specification could not be achieved within the 40 ton weight limitation.
The early vehicles were equipped with a 17 pounder main gun and a 20mm Polsten cannon. They also featured frontal, glacis plate armour to deflect shot, a partially cast turret and Horstmann suspension.
However, modifications to the original design were quickly made and the changes resulted in the adoption of a 20 pounder, fully stabilised, main gun and the replacement of the 20 mm cannon by a Besa mg (thus allowing the turret to be fully cast). These changes resulted in the Mk 3 version of the vehicle. NB: It was reputed that the performance of the 20 pounder gun (when firing APDS) was twice that of the 88mm gun of the German, Royal Tiger Tank.
In order to maintain its combat effectiveness, continuing modifications have led to numerous changes to main gun armament (e.g. 105 mm), fire control equipment, infra-red driving aids, engines (particularly diesels) and semi-automatic transmissions.
The Centurion was Britain's first attempt to produce a universal tank and do away with divisions between Infantry Tanks (e.g. Matilda) and Cruiser Tanks (e.g. Covenanter). The original design was rapidly changed in the light of performance reports and led to the production of the Mk 2.
Further modifications resulted in the production of the Mk 3. This mark introduced the 20 pounder gun and the fully cast turret, plus a number of engine modifications. In this form, the Centurion first saw action in Korea in 1951 and soon proved itself to be the best performing tank in this theatre of operations. Particularly notable was its excellent cross country performance.
In operations around the Imjin River in Korea, two Centurions had to be hastily abandoned and to prevent them from falling into enemy hands it became necessary to destroy them. Despite being pounded by armour-piercing shot from a range of 50 m. neither tank caught fire and both were subsequently recovered and repaired.
Constant modifications and upgradings enabled the Centurion to remain at the fore-front of tank technology. The design of the vehicle was such that it could easily be up-gunned and re-engined and it was to later prove itself in numerous tank engagements in the Middle-East and India.
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