Black Prince tank A43

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Tank, Infantry, Black Prince (A43) was the name given to a tentative development of the Churchill tank with a better, wider hull and a QF 17-pounder (76 mm) gun. It was named after Edward, the Black Prince who was a famous 14th century military leader.

As an improvement from the Churchill, the Black Prince was a prolongation of the line of Infantry tanks, that is slower, heavier tanks planned to maneuver in close hold up of infantry. The similar improvement in British tank design was the Cruiser tanks, which were planned for additional mobile operations. A43 was the General Staff Specification number issued in 1943, for a temporary tank that would ultimately be superseded by a “Universal tank” that would replace both Infantry and Cruiser tanks.

The cruiser line led to the Cromwell tank (and the 17 pounder armed Challenger variant) and then the Comet tank, (which had a variant of the 17 pounder gun) entering service during the war. While not as heavily cosseted as the Churchill, the Comet showed the way tank development was going. This led to the last of the cruiser line and the first of the Universal tanks, the very flourishing Centurion tank.

A larger gun than a usual Churchill required a larger turret on a wider turret ring and therefore a widening of the tank hull to carry this. The Black Prince weighed around ten tons more than the Churchill so the suspension was modified and the tracks widened by 10 inches to carry the extra load. However, the Churchill’s 350-horsepower (260 kW) engine was preserved, leading to the tank being underpowered and slow, with utmost speeds of 10.5 mph (16.9 km/h) on roads and 7.5 mph (12.1 km/h) cross country. This was so slow that the tank’s tactical worth would have been restricted. Consideration was given to the use of the Rolls-Royce Meteor engine; this would have increased the available power to 600 hp (450 kW), but the idea never left the drawing–board. Likewise, plans to fit the Black Prince with the turret from the Centurion were never carried out.

By the time the Black Prince prototypes had appeared in May 1945, the Sherman Firefly had attained an established combat record, the Comet tank was in service and the beginning of Centurion was about to happen. All these tanks carried the QF 17-pounder or a derivative; all had better mobility than the Black Prince and the Centurion had frontal armor of comparable effectiveness. The Black Prince had become superfluous and the project was dumped.

The Black Prince marked the end of the development of the Churchill tank, and the end of the Infantry tank concept in British tank design. The only surviving Black Prince tank is held by the Bovington Tank Museum in Bovington, UK; it is the fourth of the six prototypes that were built. It has recently been restored to running condition.

Get more insight into this tank from Mark Bannerman’s book, Modelling the Churchill Tank. Mark Bannerman is a finance manager with the Department of Education, Canada, and lives with his wife Elizabeth in Halifax. He has been modelling for over ten years, with a special interest in modelling

armour and painting figures. He also enjoys the theatre, sailing, and travelling, and is an avid collector of music and antiques. Get the book here!

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Specifications

Place of origin: United Kingdom
Designer: Vauxhall Motors
Numbers built: 6 prototypes
Weight: 50 long tons (51 t)
Length: 28 ft 11 in (8.81 m)
Width: 11 ft 3.5 in (3.442 m)
Height: 9 ft (2.7 m)
Crew: 5 (Commander, gunner, loader, driver, co-driver/hull gunner)
Armor: 152 mm (6.0 in)
Main armament: QF 17 pdr with 89 rounds
Secondary armament: 2 x 7.92 mm Besa machine guns
Engine: Bedford Type 120 horizontally opposed 12-cylinder
350 hp (260 kW)
Power: 7 hp/ton
Suspension: sprung bogie
Operational range: ~ 100 miles (160 km)
Speed: 10.5 mph (16.9 km/h) on road; 7.5 mph (12.1 km/h) off road