A24 Cavaliers - where are they?

[phylo_roadking]

David Fletcher has a four-page article on the development of the Cavalier in this mont's CMV...It doesn't add TOO much to the story - except to provide more of a timeline to some of the events we've all struggled with in this thread.

He does however make ONE interesting point - the contract to build the 500 new tanks was split between Mechanization and Aero in Birmingham and Rushton and Hornsby Ltd in Lincoln...and Rushton's factory history One Hundred Years Of Good Company records that the factory did indeed build their share, 220 Cavaliers! So the Cavalier certainly wasn't an accounting exercise...

As to why just 500 - this was agreed in early 1942 when the emphasis had by then moved on to those designs to be fitted with the Meteor - when it arrived (my note). Now, the Meteor had been chosen as the lynchpin for future development in April 1941...which provided Lord Nuffield with a problem then as the Cavalier was under development for the 410bhp version of the Liberty; if he moved over entirely to the Merlin derivative for the A24 then it would require substantial revision of the cooling arrangements AND using the Merritt-Brown transmission...and he held with the Liberty - and thus as Fletcher says "shot himself in the foot" for any real volume production of the Cavalier after that.

And anyway - the idea of a substantial redesign was against the original design brief for the A24, which was to use as much of the late mark Crusader as possible

As for the decision to only built 160 gun tanks, and change spec to 340 OP tanks...Fletcher puts that down to the AFV Liaison Committee in february 1943....so there's a set of minutes to go hunting for He puts the decision NOT to adapt any of the A24s for the dual-purpose 75mm gun or 95mm CS howitzer down to the same party...

Maybe it's just me - but knowing now a lot more about the doctrine of Close Support in the British Army, and how they clung to it AND the idea of using CS tanks...or tanks capable of the CS role...integrated with armoured units - hints to me that THAT is actually the magic moment when it was decided (possibly by default) NOT to issue the Cavalier gun tank to active service units. If they weren't going to make a CS version, then they weren't going to be using Cavalier gun and CS tanks together in the field in the same unit. It would be interesting to see those AFV Liaison Committee minutes to see if this was actually discussed, or it it was the default position for NOT adapting the A24 for CS use.

And finally - there was some discussion above about what was done with the extra space inside an OP tank with the main gun removed...

It's not just the extra radio(s) - in the case of the Cavalier OP the turret contained two(2) No.19 radio sets AND a No.18 along with an extra aerial...the hull MG was also removed, and in the gunner's seating space there was a petrol-driven charging set (generator) fitted to provide the extra power all that R/T gear required, either a Tiny Tim or Chore Horse generator, which had its own exhaust to and silencer on the hull.

[Sheldrake]

I am researching and writing the History of the Royal Artillery in the Normandy Campaign. I'd be interested in any evidence that the A24 Cavalier Op vehicle was used operationally. I tend to deal with war diaries rather than technical returns.

[phylo_roadking]

Fletcher doesn't discuss its "operational history" - except to say that "...A number of sources claim that Cavalier OP tanks were used operationally in north-west Europe and we know that some at least were presented to the French Army"....which is Fletcher-speak for Bovington has no details on operational service. The article is more a discussion of its development and design...and Bovington is even short on that; they only have the contract card for Mechanization&Aero, they don't have a Rushton&Hornsby contract card.

He does also confirm that the "Bovington Cavalier" had the remains of RA markings along with the panda's head symbol of the 9th Arm'd Div still visible on the front when rescued from Salisbury Plain. Unfortunately, as 9th Div was disbanded in July '44 and never saw service abroad, that's a dead end for chasing down any operational service. But it might be worth checking the war diaries of its last listed constituent units...

[phylo_roadking]

It should also be remembered that buried away in that total of 340 NON-gun tanks...there's x-number (at present unknown) of THESE...



The Cavalier ARV! Which is also supposed to have served in Noterh-west Europe, but is as transparent at present as the OP tnaks.

[phylo_roadking]

There's more than one Cavalier survivor; according HMVF, there's one sitting in the backlot of the isle of Wight tank museum, rescued from Otterburn range still bearing traces of its blue range paintjob, and identified as an OP tank by the blanking plate over the hull MG position -



....and a RED-painted Cavalier was also rescued...wherever it is now -


Blue was in great shape when recovered...



...with what the poster noted was a "properly" repaired A/T round penetration hole! -



....causing the poster to wonder if this was indeed one of the OP-RAs that had served in NW Europe, of which there were "persistent rumours"...

[SleeperService]

Time to necro a thread.
I've just opened a box containing an aborted project model of this beast and I may be able to assist (a little).
The only ARV version 'may' be REC.12 9875 it is the only photo I can be certain isn't a Cromwell/Centaur in the Service Instruction Book for Cavalier, A.R.V. Chilwell Cat 62/617 that I have a poor and incomplete photocopy of. The vehicle has two hull top hatches and the red/white/red marking on the rear of the second track-guard bin and to the left of the blanked-off hull mg position.
The same document states " This publication must be read in conjunction with the Service instruction Book for Cavalier I, Chilwell catalogue No. 62/347.
Where applicable, refer also to R.E.M.E. Echelon Repair Schedules for fighting vehicles as prepared for the standard Cavalier A.F.V."
Incredibly the full 500 appear to have been built (WHY?) but Peter Brown and others can find no evidence of any of them in 21AG. They seem to have been issued from depots for UK based units possibly for major exercises or trials. The OP tanks may have been issued more often.
Final item is an American (Pennsylvania RR?) train loaded with part-stripped British AFVs mainly Crusaders (still with 2pdr fitted) but there could be a Cavalier there as well. My theory is that they were sent to the US for scrapping out of sight of interested parties in a reverse lend-lease where they would have been good ballast for empty ships returning from the UK.
My conjecture is based on scraps of information that fits this version of my long held theory about these. I hope to find out one day....

[SleeperService]

I found what I think is one of the French Cavaliers in a Youtube video here's the screengrab with title if you want to look.

From the same source the full number of the Centaur ARV is shown here

The serial numbers accord with Cavalier serial numbers, which should be in the range T129620-130119.

So T129875 became REC 129875 U and shows it is a Type A hull as Dick Harley's designation.

I've made a note of the Archive references and will arrange a trip to Kew when my brother has a bed free. Any other suggestions can be added to the list.