Inside The Tanks: Chieftain 

My No.1 Tank, saw alot of them towed by other Chiefs or Centurion ARV or standing around with broken engines on the big Parking lot in front of our house waiting for ANTAR`s. as a kid i was often in Chieftains when they came in our Region during the big autumn manouvres in early 70s One day i came from school and walked thru the narrow inner city back home, a Chieftain Comp. couldnt pass a MLC70 or 80 Bridge in Uslar because they made a new Asphalt/Tar layer so the Tanks had to find another way to the railway Station in Bodenfelde, they drove thru the inner city of Uslar and devastated Headstones, Walkways while i was standing one Meter away, the engine sound and the vibrations WHOW, it was the first time i saw Chieftains instead of Centurions, it ignited my love for this big and Heavy Beast. Then they drove back in the direction the came from, i run home fast as i could jumped on my bicycle and followed the Track marks on the road, in Solingen village they left the Road and drove via dirtways around the City, found a Cent ARV with a broken Chief in tow in a total destroyed narrow 90 degree Tractorway bent, stayed with them until a Stalwart arrived with Jerrycans , they refueld the Cent ARV and moved on i followed them until i found the whole Company at the Heights of the eastern Weser Valley near Wiensen. Spoke with the Crews and played inside the Tanks, one Soldier gave me the his Headset and mic and i spoke from the Turret position with the Driver, he told me they are a Tank unit from Ulster/NI. All Tanks had Names with B on the Side (maybe a B Comp.) even after 50 Years i remember the names of two tanks, BELFAST and BRIGADIER GERARD Then they removed the Searchlight box on all Tanks stored it on the engine Decks and moved to the Railwaystation in Bodenfelde, i stayed until they loaded all tanks on railway Flatcars. The coming years the Cents disappeared ( exception belgium or Dutch?) and during the Manouvres we had more and more Chieftain Units during the Manouvres.

Enjoyed this vid. Served for 16years and never had the chance of a "Cabby." The sound is immense and is never forgotten. Beasts they were and remain to this day.

I’m not a tank guy and I don’t really know why I clicked on this video but I have to comment on the PERFECT AUDIO. I only wish you could teach everyone how it’s done.

Being the owner of a Triumph Spitfire I perfectly understand the reliability issues with the British Leyland engine

As an apprentice, I saw the first Chieftain leave our workshops. The reason the engine was unreliable was that BMC built it and not Rolls-Royce. The engines I helped rebuild for the Sha of Iran's tanks were very reliable, one did 2500 miles in the desert and the whole engine bay was solid sand when the louvres were lifted. Later I also ran the CAD section in the Design Office and did the design of the additional armour around the complex curves of the turret front. I hardly ever saw John Brewer, nice chap though. The establishment where all military vehicles were designed has grass growing in its car park. It will always be the F.V.R.D.E. to me. Germany is building the Challenger 3. Bl**dy ell.

1969 I completed a Chieftain drivers course and came top of the course ! Yahoo ... the 69 version I drove was nothing like the one you are showing here. So this was very informative. Thanks. - I do remember making many visits to the museum and fancy taking another look.

It's nice seeing Richard presenting videos again! Nick's stuff is also really good, but both presenters have their unique styles that work really well.

OMG! What a blast from the past. I served as an electronics technician in the REME and was attached to 2RTR in the 1970s and learned to love these beasts. The power pack certainly was bit of a dog but the electronics were a dream and very reliable - so much so that I spent most of my time with a spanner in my hand helping the overworked VMs :)

Done my gunnery on chieftain. 1986 ... Absolute beast.

The brewing facilities 🍵 😂

Brilliant video. I did a tank driving day for my 40th Birthday and drove a Chieftain. As a kid my favourite toy was a die cast model of a Chieftain that fired match sticks 😂

Brings back memory's when in the 70s I was a driver in chieftains, it was a great tanks, apart from the engine...

The amount and diversity and range of technology here is amazing. Just a few countries away, some people are struggling to build a mud hut with a grass roof.

15:17 I was on every mark of Chieftain from Mk2 to Mk11 and this is the best video I have seen about the vehicle. I struggled to find fault and to be fair after all these years my memory is probably not perfect! I was a driver during the fanbelt issue and still don't know the why's & where's of it. We did get very good at changing them! It would be good to see an extended version covering different marks because the turret in particular was transformed by the end. Excellent video, more of these please!

Lovely to drive and very fast x REME here

Re multifuel engine : _sensibly all nations ignored this .. except Britain_ 😵‍💫

Best thing about FV 4201 ..Its noise.Worked with the RSDG in 86 on ranges, Donkey motors plus big bang that try's to implode your windscreen? 12 sqn RCT suppling those guys with BIG bullets.

I really appreciate the close up shots of the control panels etc! I love seeing those.

t was "the most powerful tank in the world" for a time. All but the engine was easy to maintain. A near perfect tank, but for Leyland , and the failed British motor works of that era. Well done , and accurate recording.

Served on both Cents and Chiefs, a Mk 3S. Gun was good, don't ever remember storing ammo lose in the turret though. Do remember on far too many occasions the cry "Still Rammer Out". Loading those bloody vent tubes by hand was a pig as loader I hated that. Also think we still had the ranging .50 rather than the laser range finder, as a gunner I loved that. Give me a Cent any day, complete with aux jenny and a nice petrol engine so one could sleep on the back deck comfortably even when the tank was in deep snow or, get dry sitting on the gear box 🙂

As a child of the 70's, word association with "tank" would only have got the reply "Chieftan".

Wonderful stuff. Thanks so much for explaining and sharing your experience and memories. Top stuff!!

Thanks, brought back some memories.

Woe be the loader who forgot to place the boiling vessel in a safe spot before the main gun fires.

Great tour of the Chieftain, it awoke many (mainly) happy memories for me. Great stuff!

Amazing. The interior resembles an early space capsule.

Many thanks Richard especially for your dedication and service !

As a Tiffy with C Squadron of the Blues and Royals and The Lifeguards, I only had to work on Chieftain on pre Canada and BATUS training. Lost a lot of sleep. But on one Med Man I did manage to average 12 out of 14 tanks available for the BATUS exercise, but it wasn't easy. Gearbox L Blocks and brake M type pumps were the main issue for me and my team. Happy days!!!! LOL

the Chieftain was fairly well armored, but it lacked composite armor (at least until Stillbrew, although it wasn't exported to foreign users), which for example both the T-64 and the later T-72 had. then again against Iraqis with subpar ammunition (all-steel APFSDS like 3BM9 and 3BM17 or at best 3BM15, which are all more or less inferior even to the Chieftain's APDS) that probably didn't matter all that much and early composite armor was mainly intended for defense against shaped charges anyway. I mean the earlier composite materials were probably worse against sabot rounds than plain RHA of equivalent thickness, but they were also significantly lighter, and any possible advantage they had against sabot came more from the spacing between the outer and inner RHA plates rather than the composite material itself. the gun was great for its time, but smoothbores have since clearly surpassed it in terms of muzzle velocity, which became a problem for rifled barrels. what the tank really lacked was mobility due to the problematic engine, but I would also say that Jordan was especially lucky, when they got the Chieftains meant for Iran with a lot more powerful and reliable engine that was used in the Challenger 1 and an upgraded version is still in use with the Challenger 2 as well as a further upgraded version will most likely continue to see use in the Challenger 3.

Thank you mr chieftain! I remember meeting you when I was a 21 year old mil sim enthusiast … who didn’t know anything on a wargame event… nowadays I know little I knew… but still you were very nice to us… thank you! Damn I wish I was more knowledgeable back then and could have another talk with you sir!

A tank is not a proper tank unless you can brew a cup of tea in it.

Was involved with these at Vickers in mid 60's. Looked amazing and always created a stir when out on the road.

Love the thorough inside view thanks!

Awsome vid on a tank yes a problamatic engine but fixed later had a good service life. I'm glad the Battle of the Bridges was mentioned not many people know about this battle and proved that the Chiertain could do its job well in the design of being a tank for defence.

Out-fricken-standing!!! :D

One of the reasons Chieftain was always so popular was because of the boiling vessel. The main reason was that when the engine broke, the crew could StillBrew.......................I'll get me coat

Well filmed and sound recorded. Very informative!

Great to see Richard again 👍👍👍

Superb presentation

BVs are top notch !

To be fair to the Chieftan, it was designed for Northern European defence for the BAOR and and as such mobility was its least important feature. It was meant to fight from prepared Hull down fighting positions, to stop an invading Soviet force. And even then due to the sheer size of the Soviet armoured and infantry units it was expected to have been overrun. If I remember correctly if a Soviet invasion could not be stopped within the first 8 hours then NATO was committed to a first strike nuclear use of battlefield tactical nuclear weapons.

What an amazing amount of technology from the 1960's in one package.

Very interesting. Thank you.

Amazing. The interior resembles an early space capsule.. Amazing. The interior resembles an early space capsule..

You can fell in every word, he loves that tank.

Saw one of these at a firing range in northern Germany in 1977 but i don't remember it having a laser sight I'm sure it still had a ranging gun mounted with the main gun.

Excellent & informative video! I'm amazed at the complexity & "component layout density" of tank turret interiors, as shown with this Cheiftain tank. There appears to be very little unused space in the turret, but the turret interior components (the main components & contols for fire control, at least) had to be designed & optimally placed for convenient use & access by the different crew members. I imagine the turret interior component layout for a tank is an evolutionary process, & rather a nightmare for designers & engineers.

Great video!

A very interesting video, cheers 👍

Served in R.E.M.E and started working on the Chieftain in 1968 in Bordon. Then went to Fallingbostel in Germany and repaired them for 4 years. Brilliant but dirty work.

Thx, very interesting info. Beautiful peace of kit thiugh 😉

Magnificent beast.

I remember being on exercise in BAOR when a chieftain put it's barrel through a house after crossing a bridge the convoy was stopped for hours gave us loads of gonk time in our 432's waiting for it be removed from the house

Thanks for that Richard. Just watching the video, I could smell panzer! Been a while since we were at Junior Bleeders! Best regards, Paul Booth.

Spent many hours changing traverse and elevation gearboxes in the chieftain. EX REME ART WPNS.

BEAUTIFUL

Excellent description

I reversed a brand new one off a transporter, drove 100 yards to the tank park, and the engine seized in the gateway. Spent some hours helping REME fit a new powerpack.

Your Burco hasn't melted it's pins, Amazing!

And if you want to see some of one in bits there is the Mr Hewes channel :o) *so many relays :o

This guy knows this tank well

The detail in WoT is so good that if the Boiling-Vessel is damaged the entire crew is knocked out of action.

My cousin was in American Armor during the sixties in Germany. He told that they thought the chieftains were a superior tank

This is a really good breakdown! Most tank videos go something like this: "this is the tank, it was designed to kill people and as you can see its got a big gun to do that. Another feature of this tank is it can go off road thanks to its pair of foot wide tracks". Even with old tanks where security isn't an issue they do this. My father has a remote control one he made as a boy that I played with as a boy. I always remember the distinctive smoke launchers and search light housing. Speaking of which, how was that used in battle? Was it "aim aprox, light on, aim+fire, light off, move repeat?"

Could have been a world beater if they had put a decent proven power pack in it

Anything that could leak would leak 😂

nice episode :)

Great vid 🎉

My favourite tank chieftain Mk6 ❤

Best looking tank ever If ONLY they gave it a decent engine

Nice one Diggs, it takes me back 😊 Gunnery if Funnery.

If I remember correctly, the Russians always used to place their best units opposite the Chieftains. Which is a compliment I guess.

I was a tank troop Sgt in the Queens own hussars .1975-1991. Best days of my life!!

This could have been the best tank NATO ever fielded if the Brits had only decided to ignore the fuel recommendation as the rest of the NATO nations did. America certainly learned a lot as many of the innovations were copied in the Abrams except of course the water boiler which I'm told many American tankers stole for their own use.

Very good presentation by someone who knows the vehicle intimately. If that boiling vessel was boiling on the brakes and gun fired and the recoil destroyed it. Not nice for those around boiling water gaining everywhere. Nice to know it could do the job if it had too.

A great tank in battle as long as it broke down in a good fire position.

I do love a chieftain, good looking machine

Interesting that the Leyland L60 seems to have worked reasonably well in the Vickers Medium Tank used by India. I suppose that's what happens when you know about 15-16 tons off.

The poorer results in the Iran-Iraq war were down to the training and support not being up to high British Army standards but, to be fair, that was a big ask given the tank's maintenance requirements.

Cheers. I need to do some models of the Cold War as I was a kid back then, so that's whetted my appetite.

Always had a real soft spot for cheiftan. Never did understand how they got the engine so wrong. Leyland were pretty crap but hey ho. Great vid

The story of British tanks and their development , their design forged in the breach of combat , it is quite a story and one for the ages.

Richard, the Leopard 1 used an MTU twin supercharged V10 that was mult-fuel. But comparing Leyland to MTU doesn't need any explanation. Actually the L60 was developed from the Junkers Jumo 205D which looks almost identical, the only difference was the 205D worked. 🙂

Every time I look at the cramped interior of the tank, it makes me feel wanting to widen the tank to get more space inside.

Cant imagine a Driver giving up His seat to a Gunner to sleep, one of the few perks of the job on Chieftain. got the MRS right on this Vidieo though!

You mentioned that the thermal blanket is for the heat of the barrel from firing, but I thought it was to protect the barrel from heat from the sun, warping the barrel. And the Abrams is multi-fuel, so America didn't ignore NATO's recommendation

Hmm, is it suspicious isnt it ? Because they uploaded video about chieftain, hmm.

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥:@15:33 SPOTTED THE PERFECT CHAIR FOR A 22-HOUR GAMER SESH ON WOT!!!! 👀👀👀👀👀🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

I love how theres a name brand magnehelic in the nbc system, nothing custom, no proprietary special differential pressure guage just a magnehelic...

In the armoured engineers, we had 3 Chieftain bridgelayers and 3 Centurion AVRE (2 x 165, 1 x 105 gun tank) in our troop. The Cents were far more popular with crews because they were clean, reliable & had nice warm, flat engine decks to sleep on. The Chieftains would have been more survivable in battle, but that engine was horrible. Not only did it constantly break down, but it howled like a banshee & smoked a lot, so it wasn't really very "tactical". At RARDE Chertsey, I asked the tank design boffins why they put single-pin tracks on Chieftain, when the yanks & Germans already had double-pin (with much less track-bashing required); they didn't really have an answer.

Now put this beast, the Chieftain Mk. 6 in game please! :D

Tanks are recommended for getting through heavy traffic. Easy to park. Unbeatable off road capability. Only issue is bad fuel consumption and difficult to get a baby seat.

September, 2023. Several sources say the entire UK military has less then 60 operational tanks.

What good memories,,I did manage a complet BATUS without breaking down ,,,,,Ex LG

When did Centurion gun tanks finally leave service with the British Army? 1970-something? Was was the effective vision range of the infra red night sight device on Chieftain?

2nd oldest, p5 is up in Kirkcudbright

Extremely good. Better than the usual efforts from WoT - If only the game was as good. Fix the Matchmaker, bots, clown cars and perhaps players will return.

As for The multi fuel engine of the Chieftain... I read an old book from the 1990s...it simply said:. "It Didn't Work!". Something like a 50% failure rate.

Were there any significant differences between the exported tanks and the British tanks?

Another great tank with light armour on hatches. Nowadays drone's have the overall advantage