Bad Tanks

Once the Covenanter's heating problems were resolved (which was priority for the design team), it ran as one of the coolest running British tanks of the war.

 

And raises the horrible possibility of the tank literally 'brewing up'...

 

sheldrake i have answered your question as to what the benefits of the covenanter design were. basically they had no other option than to fit the rads in the front. they weren't trying to redesign the wheel or anything, they just didn't have a choice. the engine compartment is full of engine and gearbox and not much else. it's a tiny little tank.
i must admit i like the covenanter, it's an interesting tank from the engineers point of view, just a shame the cooling was never sorted properly, which in my opinion is due to the small crappy cooling fan. other than that it has the same as a crusader.
and no, i'm not a fan of the austin allegro, although i did have an MG maestro

 

The Ross rifle, while it functioned beautifully as a sniper weapon, was wholly unsuited to trench conditions. That it remained in service as long as it did was purely due to political interference (Sir Sam Hughes).
Does the Covenantor have a similar back story?

 

Oh Charioteer, the Finnish Army had 38 of them and it is the only combat ready tank inside which I have been manipulating the sight. At that time I thought that the sight was splendid but the only optical sight I had used before that was that of our rpg, 55 S 55, lol. And it is the only AFV I have ridden on, standing behind the turret so that I could communicate with the TC, half of my squad sitting on the engine deck. We poor sappers had a little difficulties to stay onboard on the cross-country part of the ride because tankmen tried to show as how fast they could drive cross-country. That was during our tank affilitiation training, our secondary duty was to be anti-tank reserve.

 

BTW, even if lightly armoured and long in tooth in mid 70s IMHO it would have been more healthy to fought T-54s and -55s inside a Charioteer the with a 55 S 55 see 55 S 55 - Wikipedia and I can testify that it was a bl**dy noisy weapon.

 

"We were bundled into a 3-tonner and transported to Chippenham park. It was tipping with rain when we arrived. Not an auspicious start to our real army career. I remember seeing a couple of Covenanters parked against a wall and was told that there were hacks"

The term 'Hacks' is often used in cavalry regiments, and other's, to refer to a vehicle (originally a horse) which was not allocated to an individual or sub-unit i.e. generally available, especially to officers. It might be a car or jeep for jaunts into town or as in the post Dunkirk shortages tanks when there weren't enough to go around.

 

I saw this recommended, after watching one of the recent tank chats: Italian Tanks

WW1 Italian tanks / armoured cars are discussed first. Italian tanks and tankettes of the Mussolini era start to be addressed around the 8 min mark, and the start of WW2 from about 14 mins in.

 

Huh, I play WoT but I missed that video...