Lanchester 4x2 Armoured Car

Infobox Weapon
name=Lanchester Armoured Car


caption=
origin=UK
type=Armoured car
is_vehicle=yes
is_UK=yes
length=4.88 m
width=1.93 m
height=2.29 m
weight=4.7 t
suspension=4x2 wheel
speed=80 km/h
vehicle_range=
primary_armament=Vickers machine gun (turret)
secondary_armament=Lewis Gun (stowed inside)
armour=up to 8 mm
engine=6-cyl
engine_power=60 hp (45 kW) Lanchester petrol engine
pw_ratio=12.8 hp/tonne
crew=3-4

Lanchester Armoured Car was a British armoured car produced during the First World War. It is not to be confused with an interwar period six-wheeled design.

History

In 1914, the Lanchester was the second most numerous armoured car in service after the Rolls-Royce. It was originally designed to support air bases and retrieve downed pilots.cite book |last=Trewhitt |first=Philip |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Armoured Fighting Vehicles |year=1999 |publisher=Dempsey-Parr |location=pp 150 |isbn=1-84084-328-4 ]

In 1915, the Lanchester underwent hull remodelling and was formed into armoured car squadrons. 36 Lanchesters were delivered to the Royal Naval Air Service. Three squadrons of 12 vehicles were formed and sent to France in May. One of these squadrons served with the Belgian Army. In addition, Belgium received 10-15 car on loan from RNAS.

The Russian Army received 20 vehicles in 1915. With the establishment of the mountain to coast trench system of the Western Front, armoured cars were of less use and the British Army taking over all armoured car use standardizes on the Rolls-Royce pattern. The Lanchesters were then sent to Russia in January 1916 with the RNAS expedition force. The expedition force was deployed in Caucasus, Romania and Galicia in support of the Russian forces there; detachments were sent as far as to Persia and Turkey and the Lanchesters clocked up many thousands of miles. In early 1918 the expedition force departed Russia via Murmansk. Most of the Russian Lanchesters were used by the White Russian forces in the Russian Civil War.

During most of its service life Lanchester was considered fast and reliable vehicle.

Variants

Vehicles received by the Russian Army were fitted with a small cupola on the turret and with side shields for the machine gun.

External links

* [http://www.landships.freeservers.com/modelkrak_lanchester_kitreview.htm Landships]
* [http://www.miniatures.de/html/int/reviresco-AC18-lanchester-armoured-car.html Miniatures.de]
* [http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/GreatBritain/British-OtherVehicles.html Tanks !]

References