Churchill Mk.VII Crocodile (flame throwing) tank.

            The Churchill Crocodile was a British flame-throwing tank of late Second World War. It was a variant of the Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) Churchill Mark VII, although the Churchill Mark IV was initially chosen to be the base vehicle.

The Crocodile was introduced as one of the specialised armoured vehicles developed under Major-General Percy Hobart, informally known as "Hobart's Funnies". It was produced from October 1943, in time for the Normandy invasion.

Design and development

From early in the war, there had been experiments with mounting flamethrowers on British vehicles, leading to vehicles such as the Cockatrice, Basilisk and the Wasp (the latter being a flamethrower on a Universal Carrier). The Churchill Oke, a flamethrower carrying Churchill Mark II developed by a Royal Tank Regiment officer, was tested operationally on the Dieppe Raid. Parallel development work was carried out by the Petroleum Warfare Department, AEC and the Ministry of Supply (MoS) on Valentine tanks. The Department of Tank Design preferred the Churchill, which was the Infantry tank successor to the Valentine, as a basis for further work.

The General Staff decided a flamethrower based on the Churchill using the Petroleum Warfare Department's design was required. The main armament of the tank was to be retained. The specification was for a minimum of a minute of flame with an effective range of 80 yards and the fuel to be in a jettisonable trailer. Twelve pilot models were ordered in July 1942.[2] War Office policy reversed this decision in August 1942; tanks were thought to be too vulnerable at close range and the flamethrowers should be manpack or Carrier types. The PWD continued with development work of a trailer and equipment including improvements in the fuel. The thickened fuel gave better performance in terms of range and effect on the target.

After Major-General Percy Hobart saw the Crocodile demonstrated in 1943, he put pressure on the MoS to produce a development plan. The Chief of the General Staff added the flamethrowers to the 79th Division plan.[5] A Royal Armoured Corps advisor to the General Staff Major-General Alec Richardson was shown the prototype in January 1943 and it was also demonstrated for the War Office in March. The project was given permission for 250 units in August 1943[6] The ordering before troop trials with prototypes was necessary to get the units built in time for the planned invasion of France in 1944. The prototypes were under construction by October; at around that time it was decided to modify the design of the equipment so it could be used on the new Mark VII Churchill as well as the Mark IV that it had been originally designed for. The requirement for it to fit the Mark IV was subsequently dropped.

The first prototypes Mark VII were delivered to troops in January 1944 and production vehicles in April. The order had been increased to 750; then extended by a further 200 for use in the India and South East Asia

Taken on: October 11, 2009

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Sets appears in: • Portsmouth Oct_2009

Groups appears in: • WW II • Geotagged : UK more » • Geotagged : Europe • WW2 • Tanks and armoured cars (not artillery) • County of Hampshire • History Fair • Geotagged : England • "Unlimited Photos: No Rules" • Geotagging Europe • Official National Geographic Group • Scars of War • Getty Images and the Flickr Collection (closed) • Flickr's Best - Unlimited • Flickr Triple • Nikon flickr Trophy • Flickr Photo Album Unlimited & Instant Posting • Normandy and the break-out, 1944 « less

Camera: Nikon D70s, f/3.8, 1/160 sec, 24mm (=36mm) (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D70s
Aperture:	f/3.8
Exposure Time:	0.006 sec (1/160)
Focal Length:	24mm (35mm equivalent: 36mm)
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Fired, Return detected
Exposure Program:	Not Defined
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Contrast:	Low
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Ver.1.00
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