History
The driving force in the development of Challenger was Roy Robotham. Robotham had been a Rolls-Royce executive in the car division who, with no work to do, had led a team to develop a tank powerplant from the Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine. The Rolls-Royce Meteor gave the British a powerful reliable engine, which would power the A27M Cromwell tank. Robotham's contributions gained him a place in the Ministry of Supply and on the Tank Board, despite his lack of experience in tank design.
Initially, Vickers had been working on a "High Velocity" 75 mm (3.0 in) gun to be fitted to the Cromwell, but it was realised that the Cromwell's turret ring was too small to mount it. There were longer term plans to develop improved tanks to replace the Cromwell - this would deliver the interim Comet tank and, at the end of the war, the Centurion tank.
The General Staff brought forward specification A29 for a 17 pounder armed cruiser tank. This was passed over for the alternate specification, A30 for a 17 pounder armed tank.
In 1942, an order for a 17 pounder gun armed tank was placed with Birmingham Carriage expecting it to be based on the A27M components. Turret and gun mounting was in the hands of Stothert & Pitt. Birmingham Carriage had to modify the Cromwell hull to take a bigger turret.
Read more about this topic: Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger
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