I read that Churchill Crocodiles were sent to Korea, and they ended up dropping their flamethrower trailers and just fighting as regular gun tanks. But I wondered if Churchill non-flamethrower tanks were sent as well, as one article I read said?
Here are two Churchill Mk. VIIs in Korea : on the left is a standard gun tank followed by a Crocodile :
H.P.
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Thanks. I saw the picture in one of my books but was not sure whether the left tank was one or the other.
Looks like in fact the one on the left was an ex-Crocodile…
https://archive.armorama.com/forums/284776/
H.P.
Fletchers book talks about Churchill’s in Korea, and mentions one squadron of Crocodiles were sent to Korea, though pictures show many without their flame thrower trailer
There turned out to be no need for flamethrowers by the time the Churchills arrived. But I still wonder if any were sent that were not flamethrowers to begin with.
Which article stated normal Churchill’s went? Fletchers book only mentions crocodiles and makes no mention of regular gun tanks.
That doesn’t mean they didn’t go, but I am curious which reference said they did
The only Churchill gun tanks sent to Korea were the Crocodiles of C Sqn, 7RTR. They arrived in October 1950 and rapidly divested themselves of their trailers. They fought as standard gun tanks and went home in November 1951. It is possible that some of the Sqn HQ tanks were not Crocodiles, but I don’t know for certain. Note that the Crocodiles retained their trailer couplings and flame guns.
There were also Churchill ARVs and Churchill Bridglayers deployed to Korea but they would have been attached to the resident Centurion Battalion (which changed annually).
The Commonwealth armoured units consisted on one British armoured battalion on a 12 month rotation - initially King’s Royal Irish Hussars, then The Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards and then 1 RTR and then 3 RTR - all equipped with Centurions.
KRIH had a Recce Troop of Cromwells (don’t think the subsequent battalions had them?).
There was also a Squadron of Canadian Shermans from The Lord Strathcona’s Horse that first arrived Sept 1951 and effectively replaced the Churchills of 7RTR - Initially C Sqn, then B Sqn and finally A Sqn.
Finally, some of the Royal Artillery Regts had small numbers of Cromwell OP tanks - again, not sure how long these remained in service once the conflict had stabilised into static positions.
The new AFV kit has a option for a Churchill in Busan OOTB.
Yes, the AFV Club kit decals do provide that option but it incorrectly identifies the tank as an ordinary Mk VII when it should be a Crocodile. You would need to add the Crocodile trailer connectors to the rear plate and the flame projector in place of the hull machine gun to make it an accurate model of ‘Gynaeolater’.
I have the old Tamiya kit. Is it still viable?
Despite its age the Tamiya Churchill is still a decent kit - not as intensively detailed as the AFV Club examples but still a very well detailed model and a nice build.
The only ‘issue’ with the Tamiya Crocodile kit is that the fuel trailer is underscale by about 10%, but if you’re not using that, it won’t affect your project. To be honest, the fuel trailer is such a massive beast, the error isn’t really noticeable.
I built this 7RTR example earlier in the year - but it uses Tamiya’s 1/48 scale Crocodile because that’s my preferred scale these days. All the 7RTR tanks had names starting with ‘G’ (7th letter of the alphabet). ‘Gypsy’ is one I hadn’t come across before but it’s included in one of the photos I posted earlier in this thread.
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Thanks. I did the see the AFV Club kit instructions and noted that the tank has the engine and a few more details, but for the price if the Tamiya kit has the right proportions and details I might as well save money and use that.