Black Prince (A43)

The Black Prince (A43) was named after Edward, the 14 th century Prince of Wales who fought in the Battle of Crécy. The tank was designed in 1943 by Vauxhall Motors. Its was an experimental improvement of the Churchill tank with a larger, wider hull and was used as close support for British infantry operations.

The weight of the tank was 49 tonnes and it had 152 mm (6.0 in) thick armour. Its dimensions were 7.7 m (25 ft 3 in), 3.4 m wide (11 ft 2 in) and 2.7 m tall (8 ft 10 in). The engine was a 2x Bedford Flat 12 which was capable of 350 hp (260 kW). It could operate up to 100 miles and had a speed of 18 km/h but could only run 11 km/h off-road. The vehicle was able to carry a crew of five people – a commander, gunner, loader, driver and co-driver/ hull gunner. The tank had two armaments, the QF 17 pdr, a 76.2 mm (3 in) anti-tank gun as the primary and the secondary was a 2 x 7.92 mm Besa MG. It is distinguished from the Churchill VII by a longer gun, bigger turret and absence of side-mounted air intakes.

The Black Prince was originally known as the Super Churchill. The vehicle’s tactical value was limited because of its very slow speed and heavy armament, and as a result there were only six prototypes completed. Although the prototypes were fully tested, no production order was placed. The last Black Prince (A43) tank is located at the Bovington Tank Museum in Bovington, United Kingdom.