The popular Tank Craft series is aimed primarily at the modeller and model engineer but its subject coverage has been making it very popular with military history enthusiasts also. This new addition to the series covers the British Chieftain Main Battle Tank – Very Highly Recommended
NAME: Chieftain, British Cold War Main Battle Tank FILE: R2917 AUTHOR: Robert Jackson PUBLISHER: Pen and Sword, Tank Craft BINDING: soft back PAGES: 64 PRICE: £14.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: Chieftain, BAOR, Middle East, Op Granby, Cold War, gun tank, British Army, Kuwait, Iranian Army, Iraqi Army, Jordanian Army, Op Desert Storm, bridge layer, AVRE
ISBN: 1-52674-142-3
IMAGE: B2917.jpg BUYNOW: tinyurl.com/y4ggwk8p LINKS: DESCRIPTION: The popular Tank Craft series is aimed primarily at the modeller and model engineer but its subject coverage has been making it very popular with military history enthusiasts also. This new addition to the series covers the British Chieftain Main Battle Tank – Very Highly Recommended Our review of “Chieftain” from MMPBooks should be read in comparison with this review. Both books provide unique coverage of the same subject and are complimentary. MMPBooks are well known for their books aimed at modellers but, in this case, the MMPBooks Chieftain has less specific detail for modellers but does have a detailed history of the Chieftain. Pen & Sword who are well known for their extensive military history catalogue have, in this case, published a book that has detailed information for the modeller, but a concise history of the Chieftain. The two books fit very neatly together and could almost be Vol I and Vol II from one publisher. The Chieftain was the major British MBT during the Cold War it had a tough act to follow from the Centurion which it was to replace. The Centurion was designed, but delivered too late, for WWII and was the outstanding tank of its generation, especially when up-gunned to the highly effective British 105mm gun. Unfortunately it was not a match for Soviet heavy tanks and the Conqueror was built in much smaller numbers to deal with that issue. The heavy armour and 120mm gun of the Conqueror were able to counter Soviet heavy tanks but it lacked the speed and agility of the Centurion. It was also spread thin through British armoured regiments. The Chieftain was to fill both roles and it was a masterpiece of armoured engineering, although not without flaws or teething troubles. The Chieftain had a good performance across all terrains and the 120mm gun was highly effective. However, the major advance was in a fire control system that was able to perform in all light and weather conditions with excellent visual aids and these included a system to measure barrel droop and then calculate to compensate, the long steel tube changing shape with temperature changes, giving a high level of accuracy in static positions and when firing on the move with its ability to adjust for the position of the hull at any time, remaining locked onto the target. The basic design was also very suitable for adaptation into specialist versions including bridge layers and AVRE adaptations. This new book provides much illustration, including many full colour sketches commissioned for the book. As with other books in the Tank Craft series, photographs are of Chieftains and of models built in various scales to reproduce the real tank. There is detailed coverage of available model kits and in the whole this is an excellent treatment of the Chieftain and models of it.