Hello warriors,
Yuri Pasholok has a new article, but before will leave this photo here:
SilentStalker has convinced me to share this photo with the world... I was so shy and overwhelmed by Tanks and Yuri P. that I look like a little "special" person. *giggles*
Yuri Pasholok will explain some of the history behind the Action X turret. The history of the Centurion Action X started in 1955 - as a part of the development work on the vehicle a new turret was proposed. The main difference between the old Centurion turret and this new one was the absence of gun mantlet (that on the Centurion covered most of the frontal turret area). This solution allowed the frontal turret part to have much more sloping, which significantly improved the shell protection. This turret was proposed to be equipped with the 105mm L7 gun.
The Action X program assumed only the development of a new turret, the hull was supposed to be the same as the one of the contemporary Centurions. Two turrets were made as a part of the program: one, fully equipped, was put on a Centurion Mk.7 hull and underwent series of complete mobility trials. As far as we know, this vehicle didn't survive to this day. The second turret however did - this one was use for firing trials (shells were fired at it to determine how resistant it is). It suffered only minimal damage and currently sits at Bovington.
There was no more development of the Action X program after the trials but it was not all in vain. The turret design was slightly reworked and then used on the FV4202. If someone tells you those turrets are significantly different - you can laugh at him. The changes are in fact limited to the removal of one hatch on the left side of the turret, a new box for spare parts was installed on the left side and the rear area was slightly reworked (it became a bit roomier). And that's all, the frontal part and the equipment was completely taken over from the Action X Centurion.
The Mantlet area:
Sloped turret front:
Side mini-hatch, a typical element for the Centurion vehicle family:
The rear of the turret is mostly the same as the one of the regular Centurion turret:
The roof - the commander cupola is missing but based on the photographs it is identical to FV4202
And this is how it looks inside. It's in really poor shape unfortunately.
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