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37-657: The Mighty Antar was a heavy-duty 6×4 tractor unit built by Thornycroft from the late 1940s onwards. For some decades it was the standard tank transporter of the British Army and was also used by other nations. It was powered by a shortened V8 land version of the V12 Meteor engine, derived from the Merlin and modified to run on diesel, known as the Rolls-Royce Meteorite . The civilian version of

74-587: A stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 7 Regiment RLC 7 Regiment RLC is a regiment of the British Army 's Royal Logistic Corps . 7 Tank Transporter Column of the Royal Army Service Corps , was established in 1961, following the expansion of the transportation element of the British Army of the Rhine . In 1965, upon the creation of the Royal Corps of Transport ,

111-574: A 50- or 60-ton semi-trailer (numbered as FV 12004) or could be converted to the FV ;12006 ballast tractor configuration for hauling the 50-ton Dyson full trailer. The name Mighty Antar was dropped for the Mk3/ 3A the model becoming simply Thornycroft Antar. By the late 1960s, it was clear that the Antar, even when re-engined, was an old design and replacement would be needed. There was also concern over

148-520: A 60 degree vee based on an aero engine, but the cooling arrangement was such that each bank required a separate radiator which had to sit side by side, giving the large frontal area of the earlier Mighty Antars.) The gearboxes were similar to the Mk2 but the ratios were slightly different, raising the road speed slightly. Whereas on the Mk 2 there were two gearlevers (one for the four speed main gearbox and one for

185-428: A 6×4 truck of 3 ton capacity, along with larger trucks of 10 tons. With six wheels, the off-road performance often relied on articulation between the axles, so as to keep all the wheels in contact with uneven ground. A standard lorry chassis with live axles suspended by semi-elliptic leaf springs was inadequate for military use. A solution to this was a bogie suspension . This coupled two rear wheels to

222-760: A Civilian LHD export model. Thornycroft were unwilling to supply Export Mighty Antars with the Rolls-Royce C8SFL engine. They deemed that it was too powerful and would lead to transmission failure. The British Army that had insisted on the more powerful engine soon started to experience transmission failures. Thornycroft therefore specified the C6TFL that was slightly less powerful for overseas contracts because they judged it would give less transmission problems. 3 LHD models went to fill an AEI contract in Argentina for moving heavy electrical equipment. The RAF bought

259-462: A handful of 4×4 vehicles existed and these were slow and lumbering, with complicated servicing needed to their steering axle. Between the wars there was a great interest in the development of vehicles with better off-road performance, both for the military and for the growing oil exploration industry. More driven axles were needed, for better grip, but also a heavier load capacity which itself required an additional axle. This led to designs favouring

296-526: A rigid frame or bogie but allowed this to tilt. The bogie pivoted freely for much of its range, allowing a greater movement than was possible with springs. One of the best-known heavy tractor units of World War II , the Scammell Pioneer , used this bogie system. To encourage development, the War Office offered free use of a suspension design developed by Lt Col H. Niblett (1882–1969), then

333-413: A suspended tow. There had been plans in the super-heavy FV 1000 and FV 1200 series for recovery vehicles, but these were cancelled with the rest of the project. As an ad hoc measure in 1952, an RASC officer devised a bolt-on recovery jib that could be fitted to one Antar to make it capable of the suspended towing of another, although this modification was never approved for mass production. In

370-555: A whole new transporter of equally large capacity, the Leyland FV ;1000. This was 2 feet (61 cm) wider than the Antar, as the Antar had in turn been 2 feet (61 cm) wider than the Diamond T. They were to be equipped with a semi-trailer of 60 tons capacity, given the design number FV 3301. This design was ungainly and top-heavy when loaded, being high at the rear to clear the wheels and sloping downwards towards

407-536: Is the most common form of drivetrain of semi-tractors and heavy haul fixed-chassis cargo trucks in larger countries such as the United States and Australia; in Europe , 4×2 and 6×2 variants are more commonplace. The First World War saw a great adoption of petrol-engined lorries, beginning to replace horse transport. These were almost all simple 4×2 chassis, often based on commercial lorries or buses. Only

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444-451: The 1970s and '80s. Some German conversions provided full 6×6 performance, but most were like the TACR2 and just 6×4. This gave a vehicle suitable for airfield emergency services; with fast performance on tarmac, useful off-road performance for crossing obstacles, increased load capacity and a much cheaper price than dedicated 6×6 vehicles. This article about an automotive technology is

481-541: The 6×4 layout with only the non-steering rear axles driven. 4×4 was largely ignored at first, at least from the major truck makers. Military 6×4 chassis were also easier to produce for civilian manufacturers, as they were more similar to chassis for the larger civilian market, often just with uprated components. A few aberrations of 6×6 , 8×8 and even half-tracks were produced, but these were mostly as gun tractors or recovery vehicles and were too complex and expensive for General Service trucks. The standard design became

518-785: The Centurion. As the semi-trailer Antars entered service through 1953 to 1955, and after the abandonment of the FV 1000 project, they replaced the American Diamond T that had served during the Second World War as the British Army's main tank transporter . During the Cold War , the Antar was used mainly in support of the armoured regiments of British Army of the Rhine based in West Germany; held on

555-899: The Meteorite type 101 diesel of the Rover Meteorite and by the early 1950s versions, with the start of supply to the British army a Petrol version of the engine. Antar was a reference to Antar Ibn Shadded , a pre-Islamic Arab poet-warrior. The intended lead customer for the Mighty Antar was the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company , previously the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. In 1951, the first Antars entered British Army service. These were fixed-body steel-built ballast tractors and were given

592-404: The Mighty Antar was developed in the late 1940s as an oilfield vehicle for transporting pipes over rough ground. They were of 6×4 layout (i.e. six wheels, four of them driven), with the front (steering) axle undriven and with twin wheels on both driven (rear) axles (technically ten wheels, eight of them driven, as each rear axle has four wheels). The vehicle was designed for cross-country use, like

629-575: The RAF for towing Dyson 50 Ton Plant Transporting Trailer. Seven of the RAF Mk1s later transferred to the Army for tank-transporting duties and were re-registered with a ZB registration. The Mk1 had a large Turner built winch for loading tanks onto the trailer. When an updated model with a wooden Ballast body and Darlinglon winch was introduced this was initially also referred to as a Mk1, but latter contracts of

666-468: The all-up weight was 101 tons; they were road-tested at 126 tons. Fixed wooden Ballast body as used on Mk2. Mk2 transmission, Darlington type 70 winch. Rolls-Royce C6T straight 6 turbocharged engine. The C6T retained the same four-speed main gearbox with three-speed Underdrive, Direct, Overdrive Auxiliary gearbox of the Mk1 and Mk2. No Third diff was fitted. Max speed 31 mph (50 km/h). Basically

703-472: The auxiliary gearbox was moved through direct and into underdrive. This interlocking meant only six of the twelve gears available in the gearboxes could ever be selected. There was a separate single stick for all winch and PTO control functions. A third differential (inter-axle) was fitted to the second axle, with a cab-operated control. Max speed 35 mph (56 km/h). With the Chieftain MBT

740-418: The design number FV 12001 and the designation Tractor 30-ton GS 6x4 . They could haul the new 50-ton Dyson FV 3601 trailers that were being used to carry the new and heavier Centurion tanks . A 20-ton winch was fitted behind the cab, although just provided for loading the trailer rather than for recovery. At this time, the intention was that the even heavier Conqueror tank would be transported by

777-542: The earlier Scammell Pioneer and unlike the road-going Diamond T it was eventually to replace. The engine, the Rover Company 's Meteorite, was a cut-down V8 version of their V12 Meteor. The Rover Company had acquired to rights from Rolls-Royce to take over manufacture of all Rolls-Royce Merlin and engines derived from it including the Rolls-Royce Meteor version used in tanks. Early Antars used

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814-484: The earlier contracts renamed the Mk1 and the Mk1B from the initial contracts as Mk2. One Mark 2 was converted with an AEC diesel engine for army trials in 1963 and sold off in 1971. The Mk3 FV12004 was a tractor for semi-trailer with a 3 1/2" pin oscillating fifth wheel to give it limited cross country ability. The Mk3A FV12006 was introduced because the Army had large numbers of Dyson FV3601 full trailers. The Mk3A retained

851-610: The early 1960s the Mark 3 entered service, to support the increasing weight of later Centurion models and also future plans for the Chieftain tank . These were the last Antars in service, remaining until the mid-1980s. The Mark 3 is visually distinct from the earlier models, the use of an 8-cylinder inline engine, the Rolls-Royce C8SFL ; without the wide vee of the Meteorite the bonnet was much narrower. The Mark 3 used either

888-570: The establishment of 7 Tank Transporter Regiment Royal Corps of Transport . The regiment was deployed in three subunits, i.e. 3, 16, & 617 Tank Transporter Squadrons based in Sennelager , Fallingbostel Station and Hamm respectively. There was one tank transporter squadron based in England at Bulford Camp i.e. 19 Tank Transporter Squadron. The Antar tractor itself was heavier, at 20 tons, than any available recovery vehicle could lift for

925-407: The fifth wheel, but had a readily dismountable steel-framed, wooden Ballast Body. The Mk3A could therefore convert between roles as an articulated tractor or a ballast tractor. Fitted with Turner winch. Totally new, narrower, body and cab. The inline engine permitted a much narrower bonnet than the Meteorite version, requiring only a single radiator. (The Meteorite engine itself was quite narrow being

962-469: The first tractors for semi-trailer were built they were initially given a classification of Mk1. (although they were considerably different from the original steel-bodied Mk1 above.) These where followed by a tractor for Semi-Trailer which had a wooden ballast body. These were at first called Mk1B. Later contracts of both the tractor for Semi-Trailer, and Tractor for full trailer were called Mighty Antar Mk2, and published materials that covered both these and

999-418: The front to better place the weight of the load. Partly inspired by this semi-trailer, a new FV 12002 version of the Antar was developed as a tractor unit to haul it. This was a graceful swan-neck design and had only a small hump over the rear wheels, making loading by the rear ramps simpler. The trackways on which the tank sat were carried outboard of the trailer frame itself, which rose up between them at

1036-479: The front to form the swan neck, sloping only gently to clear the tank's hull. This gave a stronger and yet more compact layout than the ungainly step of the FV 1000 project's. The first version of this was the 16-wheeled FV 3001 of 60 tons capacity. This was later refined as the FV 3005 with smaller wheels, then the 50-ton-capacity FV 3011 (when using the Taskers/Sankey trailer) for carrying

1073-478: The fuel tanks were moved to sit below the tool boxes. At this time the drivers step arrangement was also altered. A Darlington model 70 22,727 kg winch was then located at the rear of the cab and on the Mk2 built as tractors for semi-trailer a PTO-driven hydraulic pump added to serve the Sankey semi-trailer loading ramps and wheel changing jacks. The Tractor for full trailer did not have a hydraulic system. When

1110-670: The next 30 years, the regiment deployed sub-units on Operation Banner , providing support in Northern Ireland. In 1991, the Regimental Headquarters, with 3 and 16 Squadrons plus 414 Tank Transporter Unit, deployed to Saudi Arabia as part of Operation GRANBY during the liberation of Kuwait. In 1993, the regiment transferred to the newly created Royal Logistic Corps , as 7 Transport Regiment at Antwerp Barracks in Sennelager . The regiment continued to send sub-units on operations in Northern Ireland and Iraq over

1147-690: The only C6T supplied built in RHD. It served initially with the Airfield Construction Branch, before transferring to civilian operation by M.P.B.W. It was used for runway testing. Pakistan Army took delivery of 21 examples in LHD as tank transporters. Unlike the Mk3A the ballast body was not removable and there was no fifth wheel under the body to allow rapid conversion between articulated tractor and ballast tractor. 6x4 (drivetrain) It

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1184-469: The professor of mechanical engineering at the RASC training college, Aldershot . This gave increased and independent articulation to the two rear axles. A pair of semi-elliptic leaf springs on each side were mounted lengthwise on the chassis, cambered downwards. The axles were attached to the ends of both of the paired springs, with each suspended by what was effectively two quarter-elliptic springs , in what

1221-426: The same wooden ballast bodied tractor were referred to as Mk2. The Mk2 was built both as a tractor for full trailer, and as a tractor for semi-trailer. Basically the same as the Mk 1 but for relocation of the twin 100 gallon fuel tanks stacked the rear of the cab. These were moved to a saddle position either side of the chassis behind the cab. On some variants the fuel tanks sat above smaller tool boxes, but on others

1258-523: The spares situation, as they were out of production and Thornycroft had been absorbed, via AEC, into the vast mass of Leyland . The Antar was replaced by the Scammell Commander in 1986. The Mk1 was only built as a ballast tractor for Dyson FV3601 tank transporting trailer. They can be identified by having a steel ballast body. 8 Mk1s were also supplied to the Airfield construction Branch of

1295-463: The three-speed Auxiliary gearbox) allowing the selection of 12 gears, with the Mk3 the selector rods from the two gearboxes came forward to an interlocked mechanism with a single lever. This forces the selection of 1st underdrive, 2nd underdrive, 3rd underdrive, 4th Underdrive, before the lever could move across to select 4th Direct, then 4th Overdrive. The main gearbox could not be moved down from 4th until

1332-436: The unit was re-designated as the 7 Tank Transporter Regiment of the new corps. Upon transferring to the new corps, the regiment consisted of 16 Tank Transporter Squadron, 3 Tank Transporter Squadron, 612 Tank Transporter Unit, 617 Tank Transporter Unit, 607 Mobile Civilian Transport Group, and 625 Mobile Civilian Transport Group; however by 1972, the regiment had been reduced to 3, 16, & 617 Tank Transporter Squadrons. Over

1369-494: Was a relatively conventional design. This design also gave rise to the 6×6 AEC 850 . Nearly all 6×4 have an unpowered leading steering axle, with two driven rear axles. However some mass-produced 4×4 vehicles have had their load-carrying capability increased by adding an additional, unpowered, rear axle. The Carmichael Commando chassis, a stretched version of the Range Rover , was used for such extended 6×4 conversions in

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