Rhino heavy armoured car - Misplaced Pages

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Rhino heavy armoured car
The prototype Rhino with early heavier hull
Place of origin	Australia
Specifications
Mass	8.5 tonnes (8.4 long tons)
Length	4.6 m (15 ft 1 in)
Width	2.3 m (7 ft 7 in)
Height	2.6 m (8 ft 6 in)
Crew	4 (commander, driver, gunner, and loader/radio operator)

Armour	30 mm
Main armament	QF 2-pdr (40 mm) Mk II
Secondary armament	One 0.303 (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun
Engine	GMC 6-cylinder inline
Suspension	4x4 leaf spring

The Rhino heavy armoured car, designated Car, Armoured, Heavy (Aust), was an armoured car designed in Australia during the Second World War. Due to enemy action and design problems the project never got beyond a prototype stage.

History

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the United Kingdom was unable to meet the needs of the Commonwealth for armoured fighting vehicles. This led many Commonwealth countries to develop their own AFVs.

In mid-to-late 1941 a specification for a heavy armoured car was issued by the Australian Directorate of Armoured Fighting Vehicles Production. Two prototype hulls and turrets were built and tested on the same chassis in 1942. The vehicle suffered from excessive weight and in 1943 the project was cancelled.

The vehicle utilised a Canadian Military Pattern truck chassis and engine produced by General Motors Canada, the rear-engined Model 8446 with GMC Model 270 engine. The same chassis as used for the Canadian Fox Armoured Car. To this a welded armoured body fabricated from Australian Bullet-proof Plate (ABP-3) of 30 mm (1.2 in) thickness to the front and 11 mm (0.43 in) to the sides and rear was fitted. The vehicle was completed by a welded turret with 30 mm all-round protection similar in design to that of the Crusader tank. The armament consisted of a QF 2-pounder Mk IX gun and a coaxial .303-inch Vickers machine gun.

A pilot model of an armoured personnel carrier with an open-topped hull and no turret was also built.

References

Notes

Bibliography

Cecil, Michael K. (1993). Australian Military Equipment Profiles vol. 3, Australian Scout and Armoured Cars 1933 to 1945. Australian Military Equipment Profiles. ISBN 0-646-14611-4.

External links

Australian CMP Based Armoured Vehicles
Rhino Armored Car at warwheels.net

British Commonwealth armoured fighting vehicles of the Second World War

Tanks

Light tanks	Light tank Mk I, Mk II, Mk III, Mk IV and Mk V Light tank Mk VI Light tank Mk VII Tetrarch Light tank Mk VIII 'Harry Hopkins' Vickers 6-ton M3/M5 Stuart * M22 Locust * M24 Chaffee *
Cruiser tanks	Cruiser Mk I Cruiser Mk II Cruiser Mk III Cruiser Mk IV Covenanter Crusader Cavalier Centaur and Cromwell Challenger Comet Ram ‡ Sentinel †
Infantry tanks	Matilda I Matilda II Valentine Churchill
Medium tanks	Grant/Lee * Grizzly I ‡ Sherman * Sherman Firefly Vickers Medium Mark II

Self-propelled
artillery

Field	Bishop Priest* Sexton ‡
Anti-tank	Deacon 17pdr SP Achilles Archer M10 tank destroyer *

Armoured personnel
carriers

Scout cars and
armoured cars

Scout cars	Daimler Dingo Dingo scout car † Humber scout car Lynx scout car ‡ S1 scout car †
Armoured cars	AEC armoured car Boarhound armoured car * Coventry armoured car Daimler armoured car Fox armoured car ‡ Greyhound armoured car * Guy armoured car Humber armoured car Indian Pattern Carrier § Lanchester 6×4 armoured car Marmon-Herrington armoured cars Morris CS9 Rhino heavy armoured car † Rolls-Royce armoured car Rover light armoured car † Staghound armoured car * Standard Beaverette
Reconnaissance cars	Humber light reconnaissance car Morris light reconnaissance car Otter light reconnaissance car ‡

Armoured command
vehicles

Armoured trucks

Experimental vehicles

Key: * American lend-lease, † Australian, ‡ Canadian, § Indian, SA South African, ¶ New Zealand, field conversions of vehicles of various origins

Background: British armoured fighting vehicle production during World War II, Tanks in the British Army

Categories:

History

References

Further reading

External links