I drove cheiftain for 10 years. The noise, vibrations, you feel it in every part of your body. To the corners of your soul. It's a feeling that never goes away.
When I was an apprentice pipefitter in 1977 aged 16, I was working for some time at chilwell depot in Nottinghamshire. These tank were always in and to hear them being put through their paces on the test track was something I’ll never ever forget.
Worked at Vickers Elswick in one of the machine shops so made components for the MBTs and the variants ,Recovery and .,Bridgelayers.We also built up rated designed variants for foreign countries.If I remember these had Rolls Royce engines.
Everyone says it was foolish to upgrade such an awesome machine as this, at the time. The Challenger came out and it said it would kick the ass off the Chieftain but this was one of the very best tanks we ever produced. If you look at the specs it had the best armour and weapons system of the day and slopped armour that was state of the art. The early tank has a poor engine but in later production this was addressed. A wicked video and more please !
Pretty shit engine even to the end, I drove and gunned on them in 3RTR. The engine never really got much better so don't believe the crap about it was addressed, it never was.
During our time in Hildeshiem the Chieftain became a reliable beast without a doubt the upgrades on the engine helped a lot but the crews kept it reliable,
''best armour'' Not really, the Sovjet T-64 used superior armour, though that had teething issues of it's own. ''sloped armour'' Which had been used since the late '30s. Sure, in theory it was an excellent tank, but having 55% of the entire Chieftain tank fleet being inoperable at any given time due to powertrain issues is just too massive a drawback to consider it ones of the best IMHO.
@@JamesVDBosch you are kidding right? yes the reliability was a problem, but it out performed anything else on the shooting ranges and the armour was awesome for its time. comparing it to the t64 seems strange. even the russians didnt like the t64 hence keeping their t62s until redesigning and moving quickly on to the t72. the autoloaders in the russian tanks have always been a problem for both rate of fire and reliability and their low sillouettes equal small turrets with poor gun depression causing problems when trying to fire downwards or from behind slopes. given the chieftain was about 15 tons heavier than the t64, i would say the overall armour protection was of a different class, (not to mention that briain leads the world in tank armour design and they later fitted upgraded armour to some chieftains) as said earlier, it was the power packs that were the achillies heel on these otherwise superb tanks.
@@philstaples8122 Well hello Phil Staples. Long time no see. A fellow 3 RTR veteran. Compared to the 70"s it improved a great deal. One time when an exercise finished we started to move back to camp and 6 of 12 tanks broke down needing replacement packs. It was a Friday and they had run out of spare packs. They towed all six tanks to a small wood and we had to wait until the following week for the new packs to arrive. The last two tanks to get a new pack was mine and one other. After fitting we drove back together and within 2 KM both new packs blew again! This time it was an error by the REME, they failed to prime an oil pipe. But hey, fun times.
Good old Leyland L60 engine. Went to British Army Training Unit Suffield, Canada back in 1975. I was a Chieftain gunner. First day of exercise, engine blow up, pack lift (engine change) with a reconditioned engine, day 4, that engine blow up! Another pack lift, another reconditioned engine, 500 yards driving that engine blow up!!! Another pack lift, as a gunner was getting good at helping to replace engines. To get our firing exercises in we had to use another tank after they had fired their rounds. Two days before the end of the exercise the engine blow up again, we were towed to a tank graveyard with other tanks waiting their time to be recovered. 4 days later dragged into BATUS camp.
My late aunt drove an Oldsmobile Omega all the way from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to Quebec City, Quebec in third gear (it had 5). It was a one way trip.
AMAZING AMAZING Footage I had my sound sticks on and blew the neighbors away next door - Awesome sound of that engine at full bore - Top marks Top film
Good effort with the BATUS paint scheme and Fourth Tanks Chinese Eye but..... someone needs to let the driver into the secret about gear changing and oh, to see a Chieftain being moved without the gun on stab. It won't be long until the elevation gearbox needs replacing. Good to see her running and such fine photography but the operation could be so much more professional.
Also for reference I was taught when painting disruptive pattern paint schemes always us the darker colour to "knock off " the corners. IRR Green would normally be used overall then sand to breakup the rest. 2 years service in BATUS paint shop Wheels always one colour.
My manager was a tank commander in the chieftain and said you can't beat the sound of this tank to the challenger, very true the chieftain sounds to throaty.
Love it! One of the best tanks for it's time as to hitting ratio if it would break down on a good shooting spot. Because it would definitely breakdown (the engine was more than troublesome). The German Leopards kept on moving while the Brits were trying to get it's engine running again. Fortunately the Chieftain had a shooting succes score of 98% from 1500m.
Weirdly the Iranian's didn't have many prolems with them in the Iran-Iraq war....it turned out to be quite reliable, almost like it liked rough conditions...
They weren't nearly as bad as the Internet would like you to believe. I wonder why this myth gets so voraciously peddled by people who have never been within a mile of them.
@@LeeTanczos did that happen...I'm pretty sure that the chieftain has a semi auto sequential shifter that is operated by a foot rod like a motorcycle??
drumdust yes better than those tommy kettle Sherman’s blow ups , funny how these yanks mouth off but they had to beg us too have our Chobham armour to make their tanks out of
Centurion would be a better fantasy my man. Made in 1945, if the allies in 1944 D-Day had to postpone D-Day till 1945 due to logistical challenges, you would see a speed of a medium tank armed with a 17 pounder and APDS with the armour rivaling that of a Churchill Mk 7 versing in Western Europe.
we have just done an engine pack change on this very tank at the armourgedon museum husbands bosworth ,, first outing is this weekend at market harborough ,,,, sounds better nw
I recall dark nights, on Salisbury Plain, holding the road traffic as a Battle Group approached crossings: the approaching noise, the implied menace and civilians, wanting to ignore the Royal Military Police and just drive on ("You've no authority over me..."); was it wrong of me to wish they had a 60-ton corrective??
C'mon.... It's a Chieftain, ofcourse it's not a modern tank. It's using an incredibly out-dated L11 120mm gun, doesn't have composite armour, non-isolated ammunition storage, out-dated powerpacks, out-dated ammunition, extremely poor mobility for today's standards, etc. The tanks just happens to look more modern because it was one of the first tanks to feature the driver in a reclined position, this lowered the overal profile and gave it a sleeker look, though in this case the camo also contributes.
i was in a chieftain regiment this tank spent most of its life been repaired it was so unreliable only half the tanks in the regiment worked at any one time but the gun was amazing
I agree. The very early engines were weak, but a lot depended on the crew. I was 13/18H, and my tank, 94, never broke down, and that was one of the first issued. Nor did the vehicles in my troop. Later at MVEE, with the modified and uprated engines, they just ran and ran. . Likewise running Armoured Wing at the D&M School. You expected a Chieftain to run. Down to discipline, expertise and maintenance
@@leemingmerlin Damn right, I loved this wagon. Yes things happened once in a while, but if your wagons being repaired all the time, then you should look in a mirror for the cause
Ironically it was the engine’s reliability that let it down, a boxer 12 that could run on multi-fuel. The tank though was the best in the world at the time other than that. As a personal thing though, I liked the older Merlin V12 engine derived Brit tank engine noises.
Great film work but please someone teach the driver how to change gear (or you'll get TN12 problems) and put the gun in the crutch or you'll ruin the elevation gearbox. Thanks for video.
I'd say almost zero commonality of parts between Chieftain and the earlier Centurion. Yes perhaps Chieftain was developed using techniques learned from the Cent, but almost everything about it differs. Cent had a 105mm main armament, Chieftain was 120mm and electronically stabilised. Totally different hull and turret build. Cent had a Rolls-Royce Meteor V-12 petrol (gasoline) engine with a 5 speed manual gearbox and manual clutch, Chieftain had a Leyland L-60 6-cylinder vertically opposed 2-stroke diesel engine with an electrically operated 6 speed Merritt-Wilson TN-12 epicyclic gearbox and a centrifugal clutch, changing gears was by means of an electro-mechanical Gearbox Controller operated using the driver's left foot in a similar manner to a motorbike. The Chieftain engine was designated "multi-fuel" but in reality it was only ever used with diesel fuel. Cent had a Morris 1000 4-cyl petrol engined aux generator compared to the Coventry-Climax H-30 3-cyl diesel engined aux gen fitted to the Chieftain. Chieftain had a fairly advanced gun control system, seeing later improvements with the addition of a laser ranging sight (TLS) to replace the .50 Cal ranging gun, and a computerised predictive aiming system (IFCS) which was linked into the gun control system. In all, not much similar about them except they were tanks. Challenger 1 had more similarities to Chieftain because the internal layout and workings of the turret were almost identical. Chally 1 had the same main armament and almost the same electrical systems. The gun control system and IFCS was virtually the same, but with a slightly different Tank Laser Sight. It also had a thermal gun sighting system (TOGS) which was only available on the very last Chieftains, but with some of the modules relocated to different places. To an untrained eye, it could be difficult to tell the difference internally. The big differences were in the hull, the power pack (engine and gearbox), suspension system, driver's compartment and controls, turret external shape and armour. Again a significantly different tank. Challenger 2 is a different beast again, with similarities to Challenger 1 but huge differences in the turret systems.
IDP Film But obviously doesn't mind destroying the gun control. The metadynes aren't running, as the gun is not stabilized. And BTW how many people do you think can go through the start up of a Chieftain (Master switch on, 3 generator switches on & genny start, after about 30-90 seconds bring generator online, 3 main engine switches on & start main engine). And if your generator doesn't start, you can perform a hydraulic start (God help you). And assuming you got it started, how many people understand the GCP?
Well if I knew the location it would be easy to go start it then drive it down the motorway 😂 I think people would like to know the location because perhaps the guy who owns it would do tank rides for people come on don't be greedy share the enjoyment around
@@challyho6375 - "Think of it as a BANK VAULT - It an't going anywhere ! " - It's one hell of a Beast ! - sounds awesome of full chat - where's the Republican Guard
Sounds loke most of the time he is in the wrong gear. I drove one for a couple of years, this guy is either bogging it down or revving too high. Because he cant see the gear indicator dial he is making a mess of it. The gear changes are very rough also. The transmission wouldn't last more than a couple of days of this driving. Cool sound if its driven properly.
I for one, loved that sound. First light, sitting in a trench and you hear that screaming coming towards you was not a nice experience. Surprisingly, although a loud sound it was very difficult to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.
The "Nigh-time Soundtrack" to my military service: scared me (always) at crossings over public roads; lost 1 civvie car, when the driver decided to park on a training area and carry-out a nature survey; we kept straight faces as we recorded the incident :)
God imagine you were a militia soldier, like 16, 17 and someone's shoved an AK in your hand and told you to go fight for your country or the evil invader is gonna come and kill your family (yes they tell kids that.) So you're already scared, confused, homesick, imagining what these invaders must look like and then you look up and THIS thing growls as it comes round the corner of a building. People sometimes forget just how *terrifying* tanks are if you don't have them yourself. The Chieftain in particular. It is the definition of "You have one chance to walk away." Edit: Assuming it doesn't break down of course.
Good guess but no .It's the box containing the TOGS gunnery system and cooling fans. On Chally 1 it was mounted on the other side of the turret and on C2 it's mounted over the main gun.
David Smith: I don't think this driver realised that it has more than 4 gears.........he's changing up & down every few seconds on flat ground. I used to drive these (I'm Ex 3RTR) in Germany during the late 60s / early 70s and I would probably have failed the driving test if I'd driven like this :-)
I was a chieftain driver in the mid to late 70's, I would have been in 4th gear in about 20 yards it was painful to hear the way it was being driven, Queens Own Hussars
Chieftain tank we used in Osnabruck in the late 60's and early 70's. The bloody thing was a nightmare with DEF bearings failing and fine drives cracking and falling off of the main engine casing. I changed so many power packs. Later I was posted to 11 Field WKSPs Reme and they were glueing the castings back together. The Rolls Royce Leyland multi fuel engine was a failure. In 1974/7 I was involved at ROF Leeds with the first three challenger prototypes with the Rolls Royce diesel. They were still using many Chieftain components. The Chieftain was so incredibly unreliable.
The L60 had nothing to do with Rolls Royce. It was a Leyland design , inspired by a Rootes group three cylinder, two stroke truck engine with opposed pistons. The real issue with the L60 was the extremely short length of time the MOD gave Leyland to perfect the unique design.It could have been a fine motor had the time for proper development been allowed.
+jan kristian mari Dia Hi Jan - yes it is a Centurion standing by for manoeuvres - the mussel on her is a "Centurion 5 AVRE 165 " hope this helps arcaneafvs.com/centavre165.html best wishes & thank for writing in.
Reason I ask is we (SCOTS DG) had our saltires on the front of the turret. Incidentally 0B (Zero Bravo) is the call sign of a Squadron Leader's tank, which of one, I used to be the Gunner while serving in the SCOTS DG. Might have been a 4RTR thing to have the Saltire on the back, or it's just an inaccuracy.
Bruce MacAllan - We take our hats off to you & interesting write up - thank you for taking the time to post something others can read Best wishes Fella - from IDP Film
Как же ему тяжело! ) Бедный! Красив как по мне. Но! Он большой, широкий, и его Т-62 валил в лоб на боевых расстояниях. Иран на них проиграл почти все бои, с огромным минусом. Возможно сказалась плохая выучка, возможно не было толкового обеспечения. Но факт есть факт.
the chieftain had good armour and a great gun, but that is no use if the vehicle is in the workshop, and that is where chieftains spent a large part of their existence..........when the dutch army tested the chieftain-several months!!!- they said about the engine it wa a bad design, the were design errors , bad workmanship, and obviously no quality control. in this test they had to swap engine after a couple of days, and the engine room was a compete messs....oil everywhere, and even when cleaned it looked lke a mess. after that, it was certain that the Leoperd was chosen by the dutch .
That's an astute observation because the L60 design was actually inspired by a Rootes 3 cyl, 2 stroke truck engine, possibly a relative of the "Knocker". The War Dept originally approached Leyland and Rover to design a v8 engine of around 700-750 bhp. Rover had a go but dropped out and Leyland picked up the slack. The 2 stroke , opposed piston design was thought to be a good choice as it was compact but powerful and could be made to run on various types of fuel (or so it was thought). The War Dept then sped up the design process which gave Leyland little to no time for in depth testing and any needed mods, etc .Hence, what could have been a very, very good engine was turned into a real dog's breakfast.
45s should project through the hull if on training, nobody should be on the outside of the vehicle, if you aint been to war then forget the comment ;-)
always thought white telephones were in bath rooms not infantry telephones painted white on the back of chieftains,,the camo paint is wrong as it is not in a disruptive pattern not like a tablecloth!!
This is some of the best filming i've ever seen - BRILLIANT can't wait to see your next film. Thumbs Up!!!!!!!!!!
+Darren Warren
Darren - Thank you - next film we are producing is a WW2 German troop film.
I drove cheiftain for 10 years. The noise, vibrations, you feel it in every part of your body. To the corners of your soul. It's a feeling that never goes away.
That’s called vibration white finger mate.
And me mate QOH in the eighties ..
And me m8 , QOH in the 80s
Nothing beats the howel of the L60 engine pack of the Chieftain👍💂
It produce more noise than the useful horse powers
Жан Д. But still more useful than you will ever be
on the rare occasions it worked ;)
@@thesheepman220 How polite.
Ask any U.K. ex-Tankies, and they will tell you that "Chieftain was the best tank in the world, as long as it broke down in a good fire position"
When I was an apprentice pipefitter in 1977 aged 16, I was working for some time at chilwell depot in Nottinghamshire. These tank were always in and to hear them being put through their paces on the test track was something I’ll never ever forget.
you must have met me then I worked at 38 central about then , ended up in the machine shop. it shut about 1988 I think. loved the sound of the L60's.
Worked at Vickers Elswick in one of the machine shops so made components for the MBTs and the variants ,Recovery and .,Bridgelayers.We also built up rated designed variants for foreign countries.If I remember these had Rolls Royce engines.
spent most of my childhood in Germany listening to that wonderful howl and was lucky enough to drive a few of them too.
Everyone says it was foolish to upgrade such an awesome machine as this, at the time. The Challenger came out and it said it would kick the ass off the Chieftain but this was one of the very best tanks we ever produced. If you look at the specs it had the best armour and weapons system of the day and slopped armour that was state of the art. The early tank has a poor engine but in later production this was addressed. A wicked video and more please !
Pretty shit engine even to the end, I drove and gunned on them in 3RTR. The engine never really got much better so don't believe the crap about it was addressed, it never was.
During our time in Hildeshiem the Chieftain became a reliable beast without a doubt the upgrades on the engine helped a lot but the crews kept it reliable,
''best armour''
Not really, the Sovjet T-64 used superior armour, though that had teething issues of it's own.
''sloped armour''
Which had been used since the late '30s.
Sure, in theory it was an excellent tank, but having 55% of the entire Chieftain tank fleet being inoperable at any given time due to powertrain issues is just too massive a drawback to consider it ones of the best IMHO.
@@JamesVDBosch you are kidding right? yes the reliability was a problem, but it out performed anything else on the shooting ranges and the armour was awesome for its time. comparing it to the t64 seems strange. even the russians didnt like the t64 hence keeping their t62s until redesigning and moving quickly on to the t72. the autoloaders in the russian tanks have always been a problem for both rate of fire and reliability and their low sillouettes equal small turrets with poor gun depression causing problems when trying to fire downwards or from behind slopes. given the chieftain was about 15 tons heavier than the t64, i would say the overall armour protection was of a different class, (not to mention that briain leads the world in tank armour design and they later fitted upgraded armour to some chieftains) as said earlier, it was the power packs that were the achillies heel on these otherwise superb tanks.
@@philstaples8122 Well hello Phil Staples. Long time no see. A fellow 3 RTR veteran. Compared to the 70"s it improved a great deal. One time when an exercise finished we started to move back to camp and 6 of 12 tanks broke down needing replacement packs. It was a Friday and they had run out of spare packs. They towed all six tanks to a small wood and we had to wait until the following week for the new packs to arrive. The last two tanks to get a new pack was mine and one other. After fitting we drove back together and within 2 KM both new packs blew again! This time it was an error by the REME, they failed to prime an oil pipe. But hey, fun times.
Good old Leyland L60 engine. Went to British Army Training Unit Suffield, Canada back in 1975. I was a Chieftain gunner. First day of exercise, engine blow up, pack lift (engine change) with a reconditioned engine, day 4, that engine blow up! Another pack lift, another reconditioned engine, 500 yards driving that engine blow up!!! Another pack lift, as a gunner was getting good at helping to replace engines. To get our firing exercises in we had to use another tank after they had fired their rounds. Two days before the end of the exercise the engine blow up again, we were towed to a tank graveyard with other tanks waiting their time to be recovered. 4 days later dragged into BATUS camp.
Sounds about par for the course ..... lol
I had a toy Chieften Tank in the 1970s, when i was a child. It is a privelidge to see it here in action.
Me too!
Still got mine and its in great condtion
Billowing blue smoke out the rear... looks like that L60's running well (after all it is moving)!
My late aunt drove an Oldsmobile Omega all the way from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to Quebec City, Quebec in third gear (it had 5). It was a one way trip.
the sound is amazing !! I searched for this video a long time ago and now I found it.
AMAZING AMAZING Footage
I had my sound sticks on and blew the neighbors away next door - Awesome sound of that engine at full bore - Top marks Top film
The howl of the L60 in real life not video...once heard, never forgotten!
You are so right Sir.
Now this is my type of ASMR!!
Hell you guys sure know how to rip from the air - Bloody AWESOME FOOTAGE yet again !
+John Williams
Thank you- really appreciated
Good effort with the BATUS paint scheme and Fourth Tanks Chinese Eye but..... someone needs to let the driver into the secret about gear changing and oh, to see a Chieftain being moved without the gun on stab. It won't be long until the elevation gearbox needs replacing. Good to see her running and such fine photography but the operation could be so much more professional.
yep, needs the FVGCE in STAB mode. Dreadful abuse
@@tjdiver1961 These beauties always end up in the hands of rich sods who are too arrogant to learn how to use them.
Also for reference I was taught when painting disruptive pattern paint schemes always us the darker colour to "knock off " the corners.
IRR Green would normally be used overall then sand to breakup the rest. 2 years service in BATUS paint shop Wheels always one colour.
Gun kit was sick at the time. It is all working now.
@@thewomble1509 More like the other way round. Had to save money and find the parts to fix. We don't have REME following us around, with stores.
best sounding engine ever!!!!!!!
OUTSTANDING, love it 👍🙏🇬🇧
That sound... amazing! I want to buy one and drive it to work.
Me too
My manager was a tank commander in the chieftain and said you can't beat the sound of this tank to the challenger, very true the chieftain sounds to throaty.
Interested to know how you get spares for these especially tracks which are only good for 300 miles or so.
96 links new, 88 max wear plus sprockets.
just unlocked this tank in warthunder with the same camo paint, its great to see and hear the real thing. Thank you for uploading this
How long did it take to get the tank do
Love it! One of the best tanks for it's time as to hitting ratio if it would break down on a good shooting spot. Because it would definitely breakdown (the engine was more than troublesome). The German Leopards kept on moving while the Brits were trying to get it's engine running again. Fortunately the Chieftain had a shooting succes score of 98% from 1500m.
Weirdly the Iranian's didn't have many prolems with them in the Iran-Iraq war....it turned out to be quite reliable, almost like it liked rough conditions...
They weren't nearly as bad as the Internet would like you to believe.
I wonder why this myth gets so voraciously peddled by people who have never been within a mile of them.
That's a beautiful looking tank
That driver has absolutely no idea how to get the most out of that main engine
Gomez QRIH: It sounds like he never got past 3rd or 4th gear.
@@paganphil100 i was doing stick changes without the clutch when I drove one of these at the open day in BAOR as a kid.
Probably more concerned with not getting it to conk out rather than setting all those ponies free.
@@LeeTanczos did that happen...I'm pretty sure that the chieftain has a semi auto sequential shifter that is operated by a foot rod like a motorcycle??
@@LeeTanczos no clutch on a cheiftain
if you want to hear a train that sounds like this, the class 55 "Deltic" also has an opposed piston engine
Imagine if the Brits had this beast on D-Day.
*brakes down driving out landing craft*
breaks down driving on to landing craft.
No fuck all yanks mouthing off yet again
drumdust yes better than those tommy kettle Sherman’s blow ups , funny how these yanks mouth off but they had to beg us too have our Chobham armour to make their tanks out of
Centurion would be a better fantasy my man. Made in 1945, if the allies in 1944 D-Day had to postpone D-Day till 1945 due to logistical challenges, you would see a speed of a medium tank armed with a 17 pounder and APDS with the armour rivaling that of a Churchill Mk 7 versing in Western Europe.
we have just done an engine pack change on this very tank at the armourgedon museum husbands bosworth ,, first outing is this weekend at market harborough ,,,, sounds better nw
brilliant filming !!!!!!!
+Amil Dertas
Amil - Thank you we appreciate you writing in - best wishes the Twins
This is a proper beast
2 stroke diesel awesome engine from Cheftain
I recall dark nights, on Salisbury Plain, holding the road traffic as a Battle Group approached crossings: the approaching noise, the implied menace and civilians, wanting to ignore the Royal Military Police and just drive on ("You've no authority over me..."); was it wrong of me to wish they had a 60-ton corrective??
This machine is a smoke generator. whoever was in the driver seat needs lessons and the engine was designed for REME pack lift Training
Only the pre Sundance modification. After that much more reliable
Brings back some great memories ! 👌🏻👌🏻
BATUS cam and 45s
For some reason it looks like a modern tank to me.
Rule Britannia!
Cuz it modern tank
Yeancarlo S. Montana it was
It is a modern tank my dude
C'mon.... It's a Chieftain, ofcourse it's not a modern tank.
It's using an incredibly out-dated L11 120mm gun, doesn't have composite armour, non-isolated ammunition storage, out-dated powerpacks, out-dated ammunition, extremely poor mobility for today's standards, etc.
The tanks just happens to look more modern because it was one of the first tanks to feature the driver in a reclined position, this lowered the overal profile and gave it a sleeker look, though in this case the camo also contributes.
I like the camo scheme for it 👍
BATUS cam, British Army Training Unit Suffield, Canada.
i was in a chieftain regiment this tank spent most of its life been repaired it was so unreliable only half the tanks in the regiment worked at any one time but the gun was amazing
Michael - Very interesting post ! - Thank you for dropping a line
Pity...when I was REME LAD all our sqn ran all the time..needs proper maint by crew!!
i spent 6 years on Chief as commander and the 2 i had ran great
I agree. The very early engines were weak, but a lot depended on the crew. I was 13/18H, and my tank, 94, never broke down, and that was one of the first issued. Nor did the vehicles in my troop. Later at MVEE, with the modified and uprated engines, they just ran and ran. . Likewise running Armoured Wing at the D&M School. You expected a Chieftain to run. Down to discipline, expertise and maintenance
@@leemingmerlin Damn right, I loved this wagon. Yes things happened once in a while, but if your wagons being repaired all the time, then you should look in a mirror for the cause
Ironically it was the engine’s reliability that let it down, a boxer 12 that could run on multi-fuel. The tank though was the best in the world at the time other than that.
As a personal thing though, I liked the older Merlin V12 engine derived Brit tank engine noises.
The engine had initial problems, but eventually put right.
Don't think you could call it a "Boxer" engine more an opposed piston 6 cylinder engine - although, yes it did have 12 injectors.
It was a six cylinder , twelve opposed piston design.............
Great quality video! Cheers
Great film work but please someone teach the driver how to change gear (or you'll get TN12 problems) and put the gun in the crutch or you'll ruin the elevation gearbox. Thanks for video.
it has a tea maker inside..
Turn the gun kit on!
It was sick at the time, all working now.
I'd say almost zero commonality of parts between Chieftain and the earlier Centurion. Yes perhaps Chieftain was developed using techniques learned from the Cent, but almost everything about it differs. Cent had a 105mm main armament, Chieftain was 120mm and electronically stabilised. Totally different hull and turret build. Cent had a Rolls-Royce Meteor V-12 petrol (gasoline) engine with a 5 speed manual gearbox and manual clutch, Chieftain had a Leyland L-60 6-cylinder vertically opposed 2-stroke diesel engine with an electrically operated 6 speed Merritt-Wilson TN-12 epicyclic gearbox and a centrifugal clutch, changing gears was by means of an electro-mechanical Gearbox Controller operated using the driver's left foot in a similar manner to a motorbike. The Chieftain engine was designated "multi-fuel" but in reality it was only ever used with diesel fuel. Cent had a Morris 1000 4-cyl petrol engined aux generator compared to the Coventry-Climax H-30 3-cyl diesel engined aux gen fitted to the Chieftain. Chieftain had a fairly advanced gun control system, seeing later improvements with the addition of a laser ranging sight (TLS) to replace the .50 Cal ranging gun, and a computerised predictive aiming system (IFCS) which was linked into the gun control system. In all, not much similar about them except they were tanks.
Challenger 1 had more similarities to Chieftain because the internal layout and workings of the turret were almost identical. Chally 1 had the same main armament and almost the same electrical systems. The gun control system and IFCS was virtually the same, but with a slightly different Tank Laser Sight. It also had a thermal gun sighting system (TOGS) which was only available on the very last Chieftains, but with some of the modules relocated to different places. To an untrained eye, it could be difficult to tell the difference internally. The big differences were in the hull, the power pack (engine and gearbox), suspension system, driver's compartment and controls, turret external shape and armour. Again a significantly different tank.
Challenger 2 is a different beast again, with similarities to Challenger 1 but huge differences in the turret systems.
Tim James - BRILLIANT - nice to read - Thanks for posting
What's the location of this video? :)
+Rita Sobral
Hi Rita - The owner wants to keep this private for security reasons hope you understand.
+Rita Sobral A fantastic British heavy weight MBT, with an awesome sounding engine :D
IDP Film But obviously doesn't mind destroying the gun control. The metadynes aren't running, as the gun is not stabilized.
And BTW how many people do you think can go through the start up of a Chieftain (Master switch on, 3 generator switches on & genny start, after about 30-90 seconds bring generator online, 3 main engine switches on & start main engine). And if your generator doesn't start, you can perform a hydraulic start (God help you).
And assuming you got it started, how many people understand the GCP?
Well if I knew the location it would be easy to go start it then drive it down the motorway 😂 I think people would like to know the location because perhaps the guy who owns it would do tank rides for people come on don't be greedy share the enjoyment around
@@challyho6375 - "Think of it as a BANK VAULT - It an't going anywhere ! " - It's one hell of a Beast ! - sounds awesome of full chat - where's the Republican Guard
Sounds loke most of the time he is in the wrong gear. I drove one for a couple of years, this guy is either bogging it down or revving too high. Because he cant see the gear indicator dial he is making a mess of it. The gear changes are very rough also. The transmission wouldn't last more than a couple of days of this driving. Cool sound if its driven properly.
Nice to see the Abbot
Any idea why it has a dirty-great white arrow painted on the front of the turret?
Yes.
That thing looks like a tank should... but sounds like no tank should ever have to sound.
I for one, loved that sound. First light, sitting in a trench and you hear that screaming coming towards you was not a nice experience. Surprisingly, although a loud sound it was very difficult to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.
Engine sound sweet at 2:02
The "Nigh-time Soundtrack" to my military service: scared me (always) at crossings over public roads; lost 1 civvie car, when the driver decided to park on a training area and carry-out a nature survey; we kept straight faces as we recorded the incident :)
Served in the paint shop in BATUS for 2 years never ever painted the infantry comms phone box on rear white....
God imagine you were a militia soldier, like 16, 17 and someone's shoved an AK in your hand and told you to go fight for your country or the evil invader is gonna come and kill your family (yes they tell kids that.) So you're already scared, confused, homesick, imagining what these invaders must look like and then you look up and THIS thing growls as it comes round the corner of a building. People sometimes forget just how *terrifying* tanks are if you don't have them yourself. The Chieftain in particular. It is the definition of "You have one chance to walk away."
Edit: Assuming it doesn't break down of course.
sounds like its about to explode anytime...
It reminds me of the sound of my dads VW vanagon.
If i am not mistaken that is a Chieftain Mk 10 isn't it?.
Its actually a Mk 11. You can tell by the TOGS system instead of the active IR system
0:41 left hand side of the turret; is that a pair of ATGM tubes?
Good guess but no .It's the box containing the TOGS gunnery system and cooling fans. On Chally 1 it was mounted on the other side of the turret and on C2 it's mounted over the main gun.
Stillbrew 💪
Konkurs ATGM😈
Cannot beat a two-stroke diesel.
awesome :)
BATUS colour scheme, RTR eye.
4RTR Chinese Eyes.
This poor tank is in pain. It screams in agony.
no, it's just the opposed piston engine
I drove a chieftain in the70’s on Salisbury plain, I drove it better than that on my fist attempts
David Smith: I don't think this driver realised that it has more than 4 gears.........he's changing up & down every few seconds on flat ground. I used to drive these (I'm Ex 3RTR) in Germany during the late 60s / early 70s and I would probably have failed the driving test if I'd driven like this :-)
I was a chieftain driver in the mid to late 70's, I would have been in 4th gear in about 20 yards it was painful to hear the way it was being driven, Queens Own Hussars
Its Mk.11 ? The sound and running of the engine is like a scared horse
The enemy can hear this tank coming from far away. So much for stealth !
puts the fear of god in the enemy - they just run !
Try a bunch of Warrior AFV's approaching from the distance. You can hear that you are seriously in the shit.
It its heyday the Chieftain bridge class was 65 tons, what you talking about stealth ?.
9 years on Chieftain, luvved it
In the dark you have no idea where those things are coming from. The sound is very hard to pin down in one direction unlike regular 4stroke diesels.
Is this the BATUS specific camo?
Yes She was in Batus before being de-commissioned with 4RTR
Chieftain tank we used in Osnabruck in the late 60's and early 70's. The bloody thing was a nightmare with DEF bearings failing and fine drives cracking and falling off of the main engine casing. I changed so many power packs. Later I was posted to 11 Field WKSPs Reme and they were glueing the castings back together. The Rolls Royce Leyland multi fuel engine was a failure. In 1974/7 I was involved at ROF Leeds with the first three challenger prototypes with the Rolls Royce diesel. They were still using many Chieftain components. The Chieftain was so incredibly unreliable.
The L60 had nothing to do with Rolls Royce. It was a Leyland design , inspired by a Rootes group three cylinder, two stroke truck engine with opposed pistons. The real issue with the L60 was the extremely short length of time the MOD gave Leyland to perfect the unique design.It could have been a fine motor had the time for proper development been allowed.
I give like 👍 number 1000. I can win something?
whats that (derp looking gun) on that - *is that a centurion*?
+jan kristian mari Dia
Hi Jan - yes it is a Centurion standing by for manoeuvres - the mussel on her is a "Centurion 5 AVRE 165 "
hope this helps
arcaneafvs.com/centavre165.html
best wishes & thank for writing in.
Centurion AVRE, but it's missing the plough
Lol that Centurion is now getting added to the game name War Thunder
Is that Mk. 6?
MK11
Gearbox or gear changes don't sound happy though
Shot with the X5R?
Is it supposed to make that noise, it sounds like the driver is trying to murder it.
Had to find out whistlingdiesel bought
Mmmmm I'll stick to the Megatron thanks
See, that the problem swopping the original engine with a 1303 beetle. Great video though.
Sounds good at max revs but shite at low revs, Fuel injection springs to mind ???
sounds like my grandma's tractor
chobahm wasnt used on chieftain. stillbrew was
is that a Scots Saltire on the back of the turret?
Yep. Maybe the tank belonged to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards?
Reason I ask is we (SCOTS DG) had our saltires on the front of the turret. Incidentally 0B (Zero Bravo) is the call sign of a Squadron Leader's tank, which of one, I used to be the Gunner while serving in the SCOTS DG.
Might have been a 4RTR thing to have the Saltire on the back, or it's just an inaccuracy.
Bruce MacAllan - We take our hats off to you & interesting write up - thank you for taking the time to post something others can read
Best wishes Fella - from IDP Film
Bruce MacAllan: It has RTR pennants on the radio antenna and the driver is wearing RTR denims.
It's got 4RTR Chinese Eyes on the sides of the Turret
Как же ему тяжело! ) Бедный! Красив как по мне. Но! Он большой, широкий, и его Т-62 валил в лоб на боевых расстояниях. Иран на них проиграл почти все бои, с огромным минусом. Возможно сказалась плохая выучка, возможно не было толкового обеспечения. Но факт есть факт.
For all it’s failings a bad exhaust note definitely wasn’t one
I’ve heard that the exhaust note was developed to frighten the crap out of the enemy when advancing to contact
the chieftain had good armour and a great gun, but that is no use if the vehicle is in the workshop, and that is where chieftains spent a large part of their existence..........when the dutch army tested the chieftain-several months!!!- they said about the engine it wa a bad design, the were design errors , bad workmanship, and obviously no quality control. in this test they had to swap engine after a couple of days, and the engine room was a compete messs....oil everywhere, and even when cleaned it looked lke a mess. after that, it was certain that the Leoperd was chosen by the dutch .
Sounds very similar to a Comer "Knocker"
That's an astute observation because the L60 design was actually inspired by a Rootes 3 cyl, 2 stroke truck engine, possibly a relative of the "Knocker". The War Dept originally approached Leyland and Rover to design a v8 engine of around 700-750 bhp. Rover had a go but dropped out and Leyland picked up the slack. The 2 stroke , opposed piston design was thought to be a good choice as it was compact but powerful and could be made to run on various types of fuel (or so it was thought).
The War Dept then sped up the design process which gave Leyland little to no time for in depth testing and any needed mods, etc .Hence, what could have been a very, very good engine was turned into a real dog's breakfast.
Shame its spoilt by 2 sitting on edge of loaders hatch and not in it
45s should project through the hull if on training, nobody should be on the outside of the vehicle, if you aint been to war then forget the comment ;-)
i know what you mean. They;ve never been to Alberta!
Opposed Engine but doesn't sound like a T-62. Wonder why?
Supes Me t-64 has the opposed piston engine.
Sounds terrible. Collect the metal shavings.
One day there will be an electric transmission for tanks. No gears to crash and far less shock load on the engine.
always thought white telephones were in bath rooms not infantry telephones painted white on the back of chieftains,,the camo paint is wrong as it is not in a disruptive pattern not like a tablecloth!!
She is exactly as she was when she left service. Last in BATUS with 4RTR.
can't believe this is a tank made in 60s. It looks some masculine.
compared to trash like AMX30 and Leo1 ;D
Why not master chief
He doesn’t know how to drive it...
No, not a bloody clue. Wrong gear, wrong revs, erratic gear changing. Awful.
Whoever is driving this tank hasn't a clue.
sound like its screaming for help
Old smokey ..... you could hear and see them coming from F***ing miles away,
rgwholt and goes for every other tank at that time and still today
Needs some WD40 on them tracks ;)
Leyland 650 engine rolls Royce gear box doomed the thing was broken down on manoeuvres longer than it was running
Merrit Wilson box.
chiefly
Might sound great that gun is just sad tho
Really doesn' t know how to use that Gearbox.... painful