Cromwell 2 - Tank Design & Development

A look at the design and development of the Cromwell II, this tank is part of the regular A27M family, although only 2 were ever made and over the years it’s often been mixed up with other projects or forgotten about. Hopefully his video will put some fact straight and highlight an interesting vehicle in the Cromwell family.

While various uses of cromwell II have been circulated around in the past there was never any clear documentation of this name, we can now confirm this vehicle is cromwell 2 and the name rercorded in period print.

[tomsstuff]

Oh well.. British tank development seems to be rather... unintuitive to understand at times! Thank you for making these videos about even the odd ends of such "niche" type vehicles. Always interesting to watch those!

[Twitchguy]

As an American I have to say I really prefer British designs for tanks from a strict visual profile. British tanks for me just look exactly like what I imagine tanks should look like

[GARDENER]

The only time Leyland made the right decision regarding an engine was putting the short block Chevvy in the Rover SD1...😁

[bremnersghost]

My Grandad was an AT Gunner in the Royal Artillery from 39-46, He talked about Testing the Centaur's Armour.

[janxspirit]

Excellent bit of detective work, ty for sharing!

[michaeldenesyk]

Great to see a new video from you. Well done.

[martindice]

Bloody good show sir!
I wish you and yours a very happy and prosperous 2022!
Carry on.

[sergarlantyrell]

Note how much older Viscount Nuffield was than the other engineers...

I don't know what it was about the culture of that era in particular where the older engineers were slow to adapt to new technology & blindly went ahead with what they were already doing, to the detriment of their country in a time of need.

[CthulhuInc]

thanks ed for another interesting video! i was only aware of this vehicle from Chamberlain & Ellis' book on US & UK tanks of WW2.

[chrismiddleton]

It's like The Chieftain meets Ian McCullum (Forgotten Weapons)!
Hey, AA, The Chieftain sent me. Likey.

[bobdouglas]

Your posts are great. However, the problem common to most of them is that they're too short. You obviously have a great depth of understanding of your subject, please spend more time sharing it. Thanks.

[simonmcowan]

Don't worry about upside down casting numbers, I collect bricks, yup I'm a plintologist, anyway, I've a NORI brick, where the letters were placed into the mould as you read them, but came out back to front when produced. So the turret letters were placed in the mould as the worker read them the right way round, but were the wrong way round when the turret was cast.

[nowhere]

I enjoy these well researched videos. Thanks ❤

[stevefriswell]

Very informative sir. Thank you for sharing the results of your investigation.

[ericgrace]

I only discovered your channel recently, and thanks to a pesky dose of CoVid, I've been binge watching them.
Thank you for an informative and entertaining series. In my mind's eye, I see you producing them in a potting shed at the bottom of your garden.
So thanks...and I wish you a happy Christmas ⛄ and prosperous New Year.

[gorbalsboy]

Theirs something about tanks that attracts all the best people, merry crimble Ed, aw ra best

[bigblue]

It's not just the turret that looks like it came off a Churchill. The plate in front of the driver and hull gunner also looks like it came off a Churchill.

[johnkelley]

This was very interesting and had it entered service it might have been a successful design. It certainly seem to be resistant to 25 pdr shot. Thanks for sharing this as the Cromwell, Cavalier and Centaur were my favorite British tanks.

[johnharrison]

With a name like 'ROBOT-ham', he was BORN FOR that work. 😉

[ddraig]

What a convoluted and very British story. It seems sometimes the British defence industry hasn't changed much. Luckily it seems American industry didn't have problems like this with the Sherman.