The FAI ''(Ford-A Izhorskiy)''
armoured car was a replacement for the
D-8 armoured car, used by the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
from the early 1930s to early 1940s.
Description
The FAI was built on the chassis of the
GAZ-A
The GAZ-A is a passenger car that was mass-produced by GAZ from 1932 until 1936. It was the first passenger car to be produced in the Soviet Union and is a near-exact copy of the Ford Model A from 1930. To the local population, the car was nicknam ...
car, a licensed copy of the American
Ford A. This chassis was the major weakness of the FAI. Most commercial car chassis were not powerful enough to move a useful amount of
armour
Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...
or
firepower
Firepower is the military capability to direct force at an enemy. (It is not to be confused with the concept of rate of fire, which describes the cycling of the firing mechanism in a weapon system.) Firepower involves the whole range of potenti ...
on the battlefield. The Germans were known to get round this particular problem by designing a car chassis that was intended from the outset for both civilian and military vehicles and which was used successfully in at least one German armoured car family of this period. However, armoured cars based on commercial car
chassis
A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
were, for the most part, road-bound, thinly armoured and lightly armed. The FAI was a typical example of this class of vehicle with a single 7.62 mm
DT machine-gun in a revolving turret. The armour was sufficient to stop most shell fragments and small arms fire, but could not withstand any kind of cannon or heavy machine-gun fire. It was also very vulnerable to mines.
The FAI was built in relatively small numbers before being replaced by the very similar
BA-20. The early BA-20 had the same vertically sided turret as the FAI. FAIs were employed in the early days of fighting on the
Eastern Front in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
The FAI and BA-20 series had a few advanced features. They were of all-welded construction in an era when very few AFVs were welded. Also, they had cork-filled tires to enable them to retain mobility even if the tires were penetrated.
The FAI and BA-20 are often mistaken for each other. The main recognition feature of the FAI is the two dome-shaped armoured covers over the driver and co-driver's stations. The BA-20 had a flat armoured roof in this area instead.
Variants
* FAI (''ФАИ, «Форд-А, Ижорский»''). The FAI was built on the chassis of the
GAZ A
GAZ or Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (russian: ГАЗ or Го́рьковский автомоби́льный заво́д, , Gorky Automobile Plant) is a Russian automotive manufacturer located in Nizhny Novgorod, formerly known as Gorky (Го ...
car, a licensed copy of the US
Ford A with 40
l fuel tank
A fuel tank (also called a petrol tank or gas tank) is a safe container for flammable fluids. Though any storage tank for fuel may be so called, the term is typically applied to part of an engine system in which the fuel is stored and propel ...
.
[Максим В. Коломиец. Броня на колёсах. История советского бронеавтомобиля 1925–1945 гг. М.: "Яуза", ООО "Стратегия КМ", "Эксмо", 2007. ]
* FAI-M (''ФАИ-М, «ФАИ-Модернизированный»'') - upgraded variant, since 1938. The FAI-M was converted from the chassis of the newer
GAZ-M1
The GAZ M1 (“Эмка“/”Emka”) was a passenger car produced by the Soviet automaker GAZ between 1936 and 1943, at their plant in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod, Russia).
Systematic production ended in 1941, but the factory was able to cont ...
car with 60 L fuel tank using spare upper hulls.
*
FAI-ZhD (''ФАИ-жд, «ФАИ-железнодорожный»'') - From 1933 on, small numbers (only 9 were made) of FAI-ZhD were produced.
FAI-ZhD was a modification for additional railway usage. The speed on rails was 85 km/h forward and 24 km/h reverse. The road speed was 40 km/h. The changing of modes took the crew 30 minutes.
* GAZ-TK (''ГАЗ-ТК, «ГАЗ-Трёхосный, Курчевского»'') - The armoured car was built on the chassis of the GAZ-AAA and equipped with 71-ТК radio. Only one prototype was made in 1934 - 1935.
Users
*
:* Red Army (1933–45)
:*
Soviet Border Troops
The Soviet Border Troops (russian: Пограничные войска СССР, Pogranichnyye voyska SSSR) were the border guard of the Soviet Union, subordinated to the Soviet state security agency: first to the ''Cheka''/State Political Di ...
- 30 (1935–41)
*
Mongolian People's Republic
The Mongolian People's Republic ( mn, Бүгд Найрамдах Монгол Ард Улс, БНМАУ; , ''BNMAU''; ) was a socialist state which existed from 1924 to 1992, located in the historical region of Outer Mongolia in East Asia. It w ...
- 15 (since 1936)
*
Second Spanish Republic
The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII, and was di ...
- 20
* - The Germans used at least one captured FAI-M.
References
Sources
* М. В. Коломиец. Лёгкие бронеавтомобили Красной Армии довоенной постройки ("Фронтовая иллюстрация" № 2 2007). – М.: ООО "Стратегия КМ", 2007.
External links
FAI at Battlefield.ru
U.S. WWII Newsmap, "Russian Armored Vehicles" hosted by th
UNT Libraries Digital Collections
{{WWIISovietAFVs
Armoured cars of the interwar period
World War II armoured fighting vehicles of the Soviet Union
Military vehicles introduced in the 1930s
Izhorskiye Zavody products