Churchill tank question

[Wm Blecky]

Turret differences aside, did the body of the Churchill tank remain externally unchanged from the early Mk.I to the later Mk.III or Mk.IV?  Is anyone aware of any online sources illustrating any differences?

 

Thank you!

[Centaur95]

Fundamentally, the basic hull it didn't change. However, there were changes. The Churchill Mk I had a 3 inch gun mounted beside the driver and a 2 pdr in the turret. The Mark II swapped this arrangement I believe. Early Churchills also lacked a full run of track shrouds along the upper hull so the upper track run was exposed. Also, the exhaust louvres on the hull sides differed on the early Marks and were a more complex shape.

 

Most Mk Is and Mk IIs were rebuilt to Mk IV standards under the Churchill Rework programme carried out by MG (the car manufacturer) at Abingdon, so tracking down every little change is probably an exercise in futility because the reworked vehicles probably retained small details from their earlier lives. In theory you can tell a reworked Churchill because its census number acquired an 'r' suffix.

 

Cheers,

Centaur

[Seahawk]

Like Centaur95 said, but other things to look out for are the shape of the side escape doors (rectangular except for Mark VII and VIII and derivatives), the shape of the mud chutes just behind the drive sprocket (angular except for Mark VII and VIII and derivatives where they are curved along the upper edge).  Also a lot of earlier Mk IIIs and IVs were up-armoured with bolted-on armour on the flanks into other marks, which makes the pannier sides look different. 

 

HTH

[Wm Blecky]

Thank you gentlemen.  Are either of you aware of any online sources for pictures of such rebuilt Churchill tanks?

[Seahawk]

Suggest you do Google image searches on Churchill IX, X and XI, which were reworked III/IV, VI and V respectively.

[sanguin]

This is a very useful site:   http://www.armourinfocus.co.uk/a22/index.htm

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wm Blecky]

Thanks all!