Churchill Tank "gnat" spaced armour prototype

[wyvern]

With the tongde churchill fast approaching I have begun looking at variants of the type vii and came across "Gnat" fitted with a spaced mesh steel armour kit.

fTM06_churchill_into12.jpg (49.84 KiB) Viewed 397 times

Above is an excert from David fletcher's book "churchill tank history and specification " which I have just bought. The tank also features on the front cover. Are there any other photographs of it or drawings available?

[ColemanCollector]

Wow! YOU can make a Churchill even uglier! And I mean that in a good way.
I'll check my Haynes book but I don't remember seeing that, and I'm pretty sure I would've!

Mike.

[ColemanCollector]

Dang! No Gnat in the Haynes guidebook. But I did find this pic. If anybody has concerns about Tongde inaccuracies and looking toy-like--just hang tons of kit and tracks on it! This is a temptress!

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Mike.

[wyvern]

Amazed they thought it needed more armour!

[HERMAN BIX]

Panther track on the Petard Chuch !!
Befspring armour on the Gnat !!

I could actually want a Churchill

[wyvern]

I have sent an enquiry to the tank museum. If they don't have any info on it, I'll try to work it out as best I can from the one photograph.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Thank you for the tip on the Churchill book by Fletcher.

“The camel once swallowed, the gnats went down easily enough.” — Winston S. Churchill

[wyvern]

Well it turns out "if you seek you will find" has come good for me as I have just received some rather brilliant scans from the Tank Museum Archives found for me by Joe Johnson. These include 4 detailed photos of the tank itself and 2 of works drawings to show how the spaced mesh armour is attached. The complete set only cost me about £20 so was a bit of a bargain.