We indians used this tank during 1971 along with Centurion, AMX-13, M4Shermans and PT-76. This was indeed a good tank which was used even later. This was indeed lighter than centurion but this was sufficient to cater it's demands! Nice and informative video. Keep up the good work
So... Vickers designed and manufactured a world class tank... and failed to appreciate its value and capabilities. Have read about this tank in passing but this presentation is fabulous in its details and accuracy... looking forward to the next instalments! Excellent work!
It seems like the Indians got a real winner in this one! When you can't beat 'em in armour protection, you do your absolute best in every other aspect instead.
I'm imagining a Wall Street-type guy at Vickers on the phone with his counterpart in India, lighting a huge cigar saying something like "You've got the tea, we've got the tanks, let's make this thing happen baby" while eyeing up the long line of sex workers his colleague just brought into the office. Of course as soon as the deal is sealed they do a massive high-five and snort a yard of nose candy.
It must be noticed that the Vickers MBT used torsion bar suspension, which was quite unconventional for a British tank at the time. When rated at 535 bhp, the L60 engine was working well within its full capacity, so stress on the components was low and engine life correspondingly long. The Rolls-Royce K60 in a twin-engine setup was also considered. Compared to the Vijayanta, the Kuwaiti Mk. 1s featured transistored AEI gun control equipment instead of GEC valve (amplifiers), one rear wheel on either side was moved backwards to improve wheel loading, trench crossing and reduce ground pressure, they also lacked of flotation equipment.
@@edfrancis712 You welcome. Do you plan to make a video on the Medium No. 2 Experimental Vehicle FV 4202 in the future ? (after, of course, the Vickers MBTs series) Declassified documents WO 185/384 "Medium tanks FV 4201 and FV 4202: design and development" are available at the at the National Archives.
@@georgesabitbol2137 the cleft turret version, indeed I do, I've got a few images etc, but will likely tie it in with an early chieftain vid, as info seems a bit scarce in the archive on it
I had always wanted to know about the history of the Vickers Mk. 1 and this provided a lot of information. I have to admit that until I watched your tutorial I had no idea the tank served outside of India. Thanks for sharing this.
Very interesting! My grandfather was Chief Inspector of AFVs at Vickers Elswick during this time so your research adds detail to childhood memories of what he used to tell us about his work. He had a lot of tales about tanks getting stuck in bogs on the proving grounds in Northumberland!
Awesome! It's great to see such a wealth of information on such an otherwise difficult to read about tank. I remember buying the Christopher Foss book on Vickers and being relatively disappointed at the lack of depth on the more modern vehicles. I look forward to the rest of this series!
Two editions of the book were published, the first one in 1988 (From Landships to Challenger) and the other one in 1995 (From Landships to Challenger 2), I assume that the second iteration also covers the Vickers Mk. 3(M) from the 1990s.
Absolutely fascinating video - can't wait for the next bit. Yours have to be the most informative and watchable content on armoured vehicles I've seen and deserves a much bigger following. 251 views and only 33 likes? C'mon people - show some support!
Wonderful in depth video, thank you. As Tim says up there with Drachnifel for quality, although I would point out (nit-picking) to both that the 'w' in Elswick is silent (as in Alnwick, Berwick etc.)
Just to point out one thing: but first, I am very glad I 've found this channel, you have excellent content, doing some less known vehicles, as well as those very popular but going to the details not many are aware of. Yet, the thing I heard on many channels is that people are distinguishing two types of armour construction: cast and welded. That is wrong. There are cast and rolled plates armour, but both of them are put together by welding. You will rarely find cast armour in one piece. The same way you produce rolled plates and then connect them by welding, you also cast parts and then you connect them by welding them as well. Before welding there were also rolled plates armour and cast armour but they were connected by riveting them together. And yet, no one thinks there is rivet armour. Anyhow, I wrote this for informational purposes exclusevly, I had no intention to insult anyone or troll or whatever. Wish you all the best and good health!
Thank you for this. I learnt more about this wonderful piece of kit that I have been fascinated about but could not find enough material online. =] I have a few retired Vijayanta's around my area as gate guardians, they look quite poorly though since they do not seem to get the same level of spit and polish as you would expect them considering they were one of the first indegenously produced AFVs built here.
Glad it was helpful!, would love some photos of them, ive been tryign for years to get 1 back to the UK so it can tell a bit about thhe vickers story and india etc. (there are quite a few photos online but often low res) if you can get a series of high res photos with no people in them or clutter, il do a video on Vijayanta and ad ur images - if you want
@@armouredarchives8867 Hullo, I got a few pictures this past weekend but only from the left and front of the tank. How can I share them with you? I'll try to get the right side this weekend from a different gate-guardian sited elsewhere. P.S. -- congratulations for 2K
Great video, can't wait for the rest. Has there been any good dedicated books written on the tank? I have a feeling it only ever gets bit-parts and mentions.
Fantastic subject, looking forward to watching this after work. I'm not often one to go "do this!" in comments a lot, but one thing I'd love to hear more about is the Crusader they fitted with a Meteor engine. It's such a ridiculous concept that I'd be eager to hear more about it, which model of Crusader it was (2-pdr, 6-pdr?) and how those tales of it spiraling off the track went. There was one other I meant to ask about, but it escapes me for now. Either way, delighted to see one on the Vickers, often undernoticed tank!
@@edfrancis712 Wonderful, thank you. Good to know more on it exists. And a Covenantor too? One of my favourite aesthetics with a stonking engine? Stop sir, I can only be so excited.
The problem with the Indienpanzer was that there was no way for India to produce it. It had a fully cast turret and India lacked the technology to do that. The Vickers had a welded turret, which was easier for a local factory to make.
cheers, ed - another great video! hm, my suggestion for today, something obvious, perhaps - the daimler armoured cars ;) hm, maybe that is an over-done topic? how about the aecs? or, the austins - and the halftrack variants, please :D
The Kuwaiti Vickers MBT were used in the Yom Kippur War, a battlegroup drove on their own tracks to the Syrian front, and saw action on the last day of the war. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jahra_Force An organisation chart appears here: www.wargamevault.com/product/91218/K12M-AlJahra-Kuwaiti-Brigade-Group-October-1973September-1974
Good video - but you were wrong on one point. PG Tips is African tea. It's grown at the Brooke Bond estates in Kenya. Part of Unilever they also own tea estates in Upper Assam, Darjeeling and Tripura. Brooke Bond was one of the major tea businesses worldwide and Brooke Bond Supreme is imported to Pakistan, made from Kenyan tea leaves. Although Brooke Bond did trade in Indian tea, the specific PG Tips blend is an African tea.
haha just went with a generic brand of tea people would know :P but ty for correction, tanks I know tea I drink. we should do a video, top 5 artys to play and what tea to drink with them.
@@armouredarchives8867 which tanks (and specs thereof) did we develop to give yorkshire so that we could have their tea? ;) probably something equipped with a whippet and a flat turret? lmao!
Fun fact, the Indians still use Vijayanta turrets along the Line of Control! Its accurate 105mm gun is used to provide direct fire support for infantry or it joins in the artillery barrages conducted by the artillery!
Ah! Viewed with great interest. I recall reference to this via my Father who had served relative to Indian units. Why it should not be of interest to British tank museums I cannot think. I would have been interested as an ECE with REME to see the FVGCE relative to both centurion and chieftain.
Why didnt the Indians buy spare engine or even more powerful versions of the L60 once the designed matired somewhat? I read the last models of the L60 starting with the mark 8A had been fixed as much as they could and had an output of 750hp
It is a shame Vickers went bust due to bad workmanship on the chieftain tanks, they found swarf in the turret rings which could have jammed the turret in action so they lost the production of the tanks in Newcastle it was the final nail in the coffin, and the yard was shut down.
yes where next part ,i like the vickers more tea mk3one aswell cas i have me janes armoured vehikkle recognition hand books first one 199t1then next two one from 9T6and 2000yarp .
How come they only got 535hp out of their L60 engines? Even the early Chieftains managed 650hp eventually getting up to 750hp. That said, I wish the Vickers MBT Marksman was in war thunder instead of the Chieftain version as it would probably still be more mobile.
Good content but, your audio levels are off. Your music needs to be turned up about 20% and your voice needs to be turned up about 40%. Just watch this video with ads and you'll hear the huge imbalance in volume. The first thing at regular volume blew my eardrums right out my ass. Not kool.
@@armouredarchives8867 Nope, on a desktop with not so cheap speakers. I have a lot of comparison with other RUclips videos. A few are just very low on volume, yours is among them. I could easily crank up the volume, but... the next video from another channel will then blow me off my chair!
We indians used this tank during 1971 along with Centurion, AMX-13, M4Shermans and PT-76. This was indeed a good tank which was used even later. This was indeed lighter than centurion but this was sufficient to cater it's demands! Nice and informative video. Keep up the good work
"Metal box full of smoke and stale farts". Love it! Never change, Ed.
One of those bits of military life that are often left out of the histories.
So... Vickers designed and manufactured a world class tank... and failed to appreciate its value and capabilities. Have read about this tank in passing but this presentation is fabulous in its details and accuracy... looking forward to the next instalments! Excellent work!
You're up there with Drachnifel for quality content. Hope you get the audience you deserve.
Thank you Tim!
Now if only the could do a collaboration on amphibious tanks...or land ships🤔
How the bloody hell has youtube never recommended me this channel? Instant subscription, kettle on and settle down for the afternoon to catch up.
"And they lived happily ever after..." true story!
It seems like the Indians got a real winner in this one! When you can't beat 'em in armour protection, you do your absolute best in every other aspect instead.
serious trade deal done here, tea for tanks. good trade! :)
Boom!
British Priorities... ☕
I'm imagining a Wall Street-type guy at Vickers on the phone with his counterpart in India, lighting a huge cigar saying something like "You've got the tea, we've got the tanks, let's make this thing happen baby" while eyeing up the long line of sex workers his colleague just brought into the office. Of course as soon as the deal is sealed they do a massive high-five and snort a yard of nose candy.
It must be noticed that the Vickers MBT used torsion bar suspension, which was quite unconventional for a British tank at the time.
When rated at 535 bhp, the L60 engine was working well within its full capacity, so stress on the components was low and engine life correspondingly long.
The Rolls-Royce K60 in a twin-engine setup was also considered.
Compared to the Vijayanta, the Kuwaiti Mk. 1s featured transistored AEI gun control equipment instead of GEC valve (amplifiers), one rear wheel on either side was moved backwards to improve wheel loading, trench crossing and reduce ground pressure, they also lacked of flotation equipment.
good spot. missed that peter gave some great photos of it but missed the rear wheel move as not recorded in docs. hats off to you sir
@@edfrancis712 You welcome.
Do you plan to make a video on the Medium No. 2 Experimental Vehicle FV 4202 in the future ? (after, of course, the Vickers MBTs series)
Declassified documents WO 185/384 "Medium tanks FV 4201 and FV 4202: design and development" are available at the at the National Archives.
@@georgesabitbol2137 the cleft turret version, indeed I do, I've got a few images etc, but will likely tie it in with an early chieftain vid, as info seems a bit scarce in the archive on it
@@edfrancis712 I am mostly interested by the FV4202 "40-ton Centurion".
@@georgesabitbol2137 ahh two sep vehicles medium gun tank no2 and 4202 separate projects but I'm sure both will be covered :)
I had always wanted to know about the history of the Vickers Mk. 1 and this provided a lot of information. I have to admit that until I watched your tutorial I had no idea the tank served outside of India. Thanks for sharing this.
Very interesting! My grandfather was Chief Inspector of AFVs at Vickers Elswick during this time so your research adds detail to childhood memories of what he used to tell us about his work. He had a lot of tales about tanks getting stuck in bogs on the proving grounds in Northumberland!
Awesome! It's great to see such a wealth of information on such an otherwise difficult to read about tank. I remember buying the Christopher Foss book on Vickers and being relatively disappointed at the lack of depth on the more modern vehicles. I look forward to the rest of this series!
Two editions of the book were published, the first one in 1988 (From Landships to Challenger) and the other one in 1995 (From Landships to Challenger 2), I assume that the second iteration also covers the Vickers Mk. 3(M) from the 1990s.
@@georgesabitbol2137 Covers yes, but nothing very in depth.
Absolutely fascinating video - can't wait for the next bit. Yours have to be the most informative and watchable content on armoured vehicles I've seen and deserves a much bigger following.
251 views and only 33 likes? C'mon people - show some support!
Plenty of information & images I've never before seen - keep 'em coming matey.
What an excellent and informative channel. Sorry to hear you weren't well (although that was a year ago I see).
I can only agree - the Drachinifel of British tanks! I just discovered your channel yesterday and I'm very impressed!
ty
Your drawl is first class. You even got an extra ‘w’ into ‘wwarfware’.
Wonderful in depth video, thank you. As Tim says up there with Drachnifel for quality, although I would point out (nit-picking) to both that the 'w' in Elswick is silent (as in Alnwick, Berwick etc.)
Just to point out one thing: but first, I am very glad I 've found this channel, you have excellent content, doing some less known vehicles, as well as those very popular but going to the details not many are aware of. Yet, the thing I heard on many channels is that people are distinguishing two types of armour construction: cast and welded. That is wrong. There are cast and rolled plates armour, but both of them are put together by welding. You will rarely find cast armour in one piece. The same way you produce rolled plates and then connect them by welding, you also cast parts and then you connect them by welding them as well. Before welding there were also rolled plates armour and cast armour but they were connected by riveting them together. And yet, no one thinks there is rivet armour. Anyhow, I wrote this for informational purposes exclusevly, I had no intention to insult anyone or troll or whatever. Wish you all the best and good health!
Thanks for this material... I am running a 1960 onward wargame of india and this answers a few difficult questions that I had open...
Thank you for this. I learnt more about this wonderful piece of kit that I have been fascinated about but could not find enough material online. =]
I have a few retired Vijayanta's around my area as gate guardians, they look quite poorly though since they do not seem to get the same level of spit and polish as you would expect them considering they were one of the first indegenously produced AFVs built here.
Glad it was helpful!, would love some photos of them, ive been tryign for years to get 1 back to the UK so it can tell a bit about thhe vickers story and india etc. (there are quite a few photos online but often low res) if you can get a series of high res photos with no people in them or clutter, il do a video on Vijayanta and ad ur images - if you want
@@armouredarchives8867 l shall endeavour to do my best this weekend. 😇
Wishing all here a Safe, Happy New Year 2021.
@@armouredarchives8867 Hullo, I got a few pictures this past weekend but only from the left and front of the tank. How can I share them with you?
I'll try to get the right side this weekend from a different gate-guardian sited elsewhere.
P.S. -- congratulations for 2K
hi sorry forgot to add email, tsk, my bad. hre it is - armouredarchives@gmail.com
@@armouredarchives8867 thank you. Will make a few light edits tonight and send them your way. Cheers!
My old machine shop foreman was one the vickers men who went across to India for the new factory
Great video, can't wait for the rest. Has there been any good dedicated books written on the tank? I have a feeling it only ever gets bit-parts and mentions.
Christopher Foss - The Vickers Tanks: From Landship to Challenger
R. M. Ogorkiewicz - AFV Weapons Profile No. 45: Vickers Battle Tank
@@georgesabitbol2137 its covered in Fossey's work, but not as in-depth i feel
Fantastic subject, looking forward to watching this after work. I'm not often one to go "do this!" in comments a lot, but one thing I'd love to hear more about is the Crusader they fitted with a Meteor engine. It's such a ridiculous concept that I'd be eager to hear more about it, which model of Crusader it was (2-pdr, 6-pdr?) and how those tales of it spiraling off the track went.
There was one other I meant to ask about, but it escapes me for now. Either way, delighted to see one on the Vickers, often undernoticed tank!
ahh yes i have alot on that - as well as the covvy fitted with one. i have a Q/A with TAP soon and that will be answered
@@edfrancis712 Wonderful, thank you. Good to know more on it exists. And a Covenantor too? One of my favourite aesthetics with a stonking engine? Stop sir, I can only be so excited.
The problem with the Indienpanzer was that there was no way for India to produce it. It had a fully cast turret and India lacked the technology to do that. The Vickers had a welded turret, which was easier for a local factory to make.
cheers, ed - another great video! hm, my suggestion for today, something obvious, perhaps - the daimler armoured cars ;) hm, maybe that is an over-done topic? how about the aecs? or, the austins - and the halftrack variants, please :D
The Kuwaiti Vickers MBT were used in the Yom Kippur War, a battlegroup drove on their own tracks to the Syrian front, and saw action on the last day of the war.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jahra_Force
An organisation chart appears here:
www.wargamevault.com/product/91218/K12M-AlJahra-Kuwaiti-Brigade-Group-October-1973September-1974
Good video - but you were wrong on one point. PG Tips is African tea. It's grown at the Brooke Bond estates in Kenya. Part of Unilever they also own tea estates in Upper Assam, Darjeeling and Tripura. Brooke Bond was one of the major tea businesses worldwide and Brooke Bond Supreme is imported to Pakistan, made from Kenyan tea leaves. Although Brooke Bond did trade in Indian tea, the specific PG Tips blend is an African tea.
haha just went with a generic brand of tea people would know :P but ty for correction, tanks I know tea I drink. we should do a video, top 5 artys to play and what tea to drink with them.
@@edfrancis712 No more tea for you Ed, only Russian Kompot!
@@armouredarchives8867 which tanks (and specs thereof) did we develop to give yorkshire so that we could have their tea? ;) probably something equipped with a whippet and a flat turret? lmao!
While I was still active in World of Tanks, I called the Indienpanzer the Apple Tank.
Indienpanzer -> I-panzer -> iPanzer
Fun fact, the Indians still use Vijayanta turrets along the Line of Control! Its accurate 105mm gun is used to provide direct fire support for infantry or it joins in the artillery barrages conducted by the artillery!
The engine was the same as for the chieftain but if I remember correctly was down rated a bit in horsepower.. which is one of the reasons it worked..
Ah! Viewed with great interest. I recall reference to this via my Father who had served relative to Indian units. Why it should not be of interest to British tank museums I cannot think. I would have been interested as an ECE with REME to see the FVGCE relative to both centurion and chieftain.
GRERT JOB LOVE THIS TANK.
Why didnt the Indians buy spare engine or even more powerful versions of the L60 once the designed matired somewhat? I read the last models of the L60 starting with the mark 8A had been fixed as much as they could and had an output of 750hp
Waiting for Part 2!
Was a Part II on the Vijayanta ever made, or are we still waiting for it?
Great video!
Amazing!!!!Thanks for posting this video!!!
Just proves, built to commercial spec is better than MOD
Brilliant content, thank you very much! 👍🇬🇧
3:30 the eternal anglo strikes again
Makes you wonder how WG hasn't capitalised on this entire series of tanks
I guess India does not have enough gamers at present
Tier 7. 15mm frontal armour.....180 dmg. done.
@@Colinpark can easily slip it into UK branch :P
Meanwhile~
War Thunder: I am 4 parallel universes ahead of you
this one is better than them there jonny foreigner ones i tells yer !.
How did it shed all that weight compared to Centurion??
Thank you, great presentation 😀
Glad you enjoyed it!
It is a shame Vickers went bust due to bad workmanship on the chieftain tanks, they found swarf in the turret rings which could have jammed the turret in action so they lost the production of the tanks in Newcastle it was the final nail in the coffin, and the yard was shut down.
Didn't u upload the part 2 of this video ?
Indian panzer must have ability for crew to curry up buttoned up. Like brew up in British tanks
When will part 2 come out M8
Hope that one thumb down for dislike is not from the Chieftain because he's got some new very stiff competition on RUclips 😜
Notice that the Indian workers building the tank were wearing their industrial sandals!!!!!!
Mk1, if it looks right it is right.
I’m sorry there was going to be a Vickers tank with a ATGM launcher and they ditched it :(
yes where next part ,i like the vickers more tea mk3one aswell cas i have me janes armoured vehikkle recognition hand books first one 199t1then next two one from 9T6and 2000yarp .
Before Arjun Existed , There Was The Magnificent Vijayanta Vickers MBT
How come they only got 535hp out of their L60 engines? Even the early Chieftains managed 650hp eventually getting up to 750hp.
That said, I wish the Vickers MBT Marksman was in war thunder instead of the Chieftain version as it would probably still be more mobile.
Why isn't it in British museums?🤷♂
Bovington were asked, they were not interested. (probly not german enough for them to care)
Good content but, your audio levels are off. Your music needs to be turned up about 20% and your voice needs to be turned up about 40%. Just watch this video with ads and you'll hear the huge imbalance in volume. The first thing at regular volume blew my eardrums right out my ass. Not kool.
Please boost you audio somewhat, it is way too low
Will do for the next one - thank you for letting us know.
May I ask - you listen on a laptop?
@@armouredarchives8867 Nope, on a desktop with not so cheap speakers. I have a lot of comparison with other RUclips videos. A few are just very low on volume, yours is among them. I could easily crank up the volume, but... the next video from another channel will then blow me off my chair!
Of course, tea and cash for tank, why not right? It is so british.
Chieftain was a commercial succes, they sold bunch to middle east
Germans allies ? 🤔🤔🤣🤣
Vickers MK1 Main Battle Shit
I wonder why there is not a single moving picture in a video posted on a video site.... This is a slideshow. Fail.