Overview

Few tank designs have been as effective, versatile and long-lived as that of the British Centurion. Conceived during the Second World War as the answer to the superior German Tiger and Panther tanks and to the lethal 88mm gun, this 52-ton main battle tank incorporated the lessons British designers had learned about armoured fighting vehicles during the conflict, and it was free of the major faults that had impaired the other British tank designs of the time. The Centurion was so successful that it served in the British Army and in numerous other armies across the world from 1945 until the 1990s. Pat Ware's highly illustrated history of this remarkable tank covers its design and development, its technical specifications and the many variants that were produced. He tells the story from the design brief of 1943, through testing and trials to the tank's entry into service. And he traces the course of the Centurion's subsequent career as it was up-dated, up-gunned and adapted to operate in varied conditions and conflicts all over the world including Korea, the Indo-Pakistan wars, Vietnam and the Arab-Israeli wars. His expert account of this remarkable fighting vehicle is accompanied by a series of colour plates showing the main variants of the design and the common ancillary equipment and unit markings. His book is an essential work of reference for enthusiasts. 90 colour and b/w illustrations

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9781781590119

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Pat Ware is a leading expert on the history of military vehicles and a prolific writer of books and articles on every aspect of the subject. His most recent publications include a study of the military Jeep, encyclopaedias of military vehicles and motorcycles, and photographic histories of British tanks of the Second World War and the post-war period. He was the founding editor of Classic Military Vehicle magazine in 2001 and continues to contribute to the magazine. Among his most recent books are British Tanks: The Second World War and British Tanks: 1945 to the Present Day. Brian Delf has a long-established reputation as an illustrator of technical subjects as well as architecture and natural history, and he is particularly well known for his work on military vehicles.

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