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REMEMBERED
NUFFIELD: THE WAR LORD
Apart from making cars and having an
lifelong interest in medicine, before and during the
Second World War, Lord Nuffield and his companies
designed, manufactured and acted as ‘parent’ in the
manufacture of armoured vehicles.
D type chassis at Adderley Park
Of course, Morris Commercial Cars was
involved in the design and manufacture of a number
of well-known “soft” military vehicles and gun
tractors. Examples include the D-Type six-wheeler
lorry and a number of lorries with Roadless Traction
adaptations to provide off-road traction for
conventional vehicles.
D Type: fitting track to rear wheels
Also, during the Second World War, Nuffield
companies made all kinds of other war material,
including mines and torpedoes, aircraft and their
components, guns, amphibious vehicles and many
other things.
William Morris, as he then was, became
involved in military hardware through an approach
by one Lt Gen Sir Giffard Le Quesne Martel.
Morris-Martel One-man Tankette
In the 1920s Martel had designed one-man
and two-man ‘Tankettes’, which Morris arranged to
build for him. These were based on Morris
Commercial ‘D’-Type mechanicals and some six
prototypes were produced. They were not entirely
successful; however, Crossley Motors also produced
a similar, and equally unsuccessful, machine.
Morris- Martel Two-man Tankette
Later, in 1937, Lt. Gen. Martel and Field
Marshall Lord Wavell were invited to Russia to
observe manoeuvres and had seen Russian light and
medium tanks on exercise that were much faster
than any in the British arsenal. This was achieved by
using a suspension system designed by Charles
Christie, an American designer.
Christie T3E2 Tank
In 1938, Martel arranged for Nuffield to
acquire a sample Christie tank for examination, the
result of which was the setting up of a design team
from Morris Commercial and the incorporation of a
new company, Nuffield Mechanization and Aero Ltd,
located next to the Wolseley works in Birmingham.
Nuffield director, Oliver Boden, oversaw the
operation and Lord Nuffield acquired the rights to the
Christie suspension system. The company was staffed
by people from Wolseley Aero Engines and a core
group of engineers from Morris Commercial at
Adderley Park.
In 1939, the outcome was the first two
examples of a line of heavy Cruiser tanks. Under the
designation A13: this became the Cruiser Mark V. It
used an updated World War One aero engine
designed in America and named in the UK as a Liberty
engine, of V12 configuration. The tank had epicyclic
steering, armour plating to 30 mm standard,
allegedly of Austrian manufacture (obviously, Hitler
was completely aware of our armour!), a 2-pounder
40 mm gun and at least one machine gun.
Most of the early Cruiser tanks were lost in
France before the evacuation at Dunkirk. Nuffield
Mechanization was unenthusiastic over this machine
and elected to develop its own version.
So, in parallel with the Cruiser, the
Covenanter was developed by Nuffield, fitted with a
Meadows horizontally-opposed 12-cylinder engine
and simpler steering. Both tanks were similar in
construction. Originally designed to have welded
armour plate, a potential shortage of skilled welders
meant that production hulls were riveted.
A13 Cruiser Mark III Covenanter: Fastest Tank in 1940
Armour plate was increased to 40 mm
standard, but the Christie suspension remained,
consisting of four road wheels with sprockets front
and rear, the rear one being the driver.
They were never that successful, particularly
in the desert, where they were under-gunned and
susceptible to excessive wear due to sand ingress. In
common with many military projects, changes in
specification and the rush into production had meant
that there was little development work carried out
initially, and in some cases not at all, machines being
ordered off the drawing board, with rectification and
modifications being carried out in the field.
A15 Cruiser Mark VI Crusader
Not only that, tanks designed to fight in the
relatively benign regions of northern Europe could
not then be expected to work seamlessly in the harsh
environment of the desert with sand and extreme
heat. What this costs in terms of wasted effort is
incalculable, but continues to this day. No military
project seems immune from MoD intervention and
micro-management.
Increases in gun power and armament, and
with a change of engine to the Rolls-Royce Meteor
V12 (a de-tuned version of the Merlin aero engine),
the suspension had to be beefed up by the addition
of a further road wheel. This machine became the
Crusader and was used mainly as a fast
reconnaissance tank.
It is said that a team of staff from Nuffield
Aero were flown out to the desert to sand-proof
many of the vehicles. Earlier, when on delivery,
mechanical staff had travelled with the tanks,
working on them throughout the long sea voyage
around the Cape of Good Hope to Egypt. Pre-delivery
inspections were never so arduous as this!
A35 Cruiser Cromwell Mark IV
The Christie suspension gave the tank a top
speed in the region of 25 – 27 mph, against some 12
mph of the heavier battle tanks. In this role, they
played an important part of the success in North
Africa after El Alamein, and into Italy. Later, they,
together with the later Cromwell, Cavalier, Centaur
and Comet tanks performed well into the post-
invasion battles alongside the heavier American
Sherman and Patten tanks.
Most later became training vehicles or
converted into bridge layers, armoured dozers or
recovery vehicles.
Of course, Nuffield was not the only
manufacturer of Cruiser tanks. Leyland also was a
major constructor, as was the London, Midland and
Scottish Railway among many others, but Nuffield
was the ‘parent’ organisation, holding the rights to
the suspension system, the key to the speed and
manoeuvrability of a whole generation of British
armoured fighting machines.
Altogether, Nuffield Mechanizations
constructed 205 Cruisers and 300 Crusaders.
However, nine other constructors built the majority,
totalling some 3500 Crusaders, 500 Cavaliers and 113
Centaurs.
Cruiser Comet Mark I
Examples of some of the Nuffield tanks are
preserved in the Tank Museum at Bovingdon, in
Dorset, together with a real monster that never
entered production, the Tortoise, also a Nuffield
Mechanizations and Aero development.
Very heavy and slow, with a crew of seven,
and not ready until 1947, it was never going to be a
practical proposition. All that can be said of it is that
it devastated German roads and bridges while on test
after the War!
Prototype Tortoise Self-propelled Gun
Later British tanks, such as Centurion,
Scorpion, and those up to the present day, still owe a
great deal to the original partnership of Lord Nuffield
and Sir Giffard Le Quesne Martel, the adoption of the
Christie suspension and the engineers from Morris
Commercial.
David Pusey © morriscommercialremembered.uk 2017