Thornycroft Antar
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The Mighty Antar was a heavy-duty 6×4 tractor unit built by
Thornycroft Thornycroft was an English vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977. History In 1896, naval engineer John Isaac Thornycroft formed the Thornycroft Steam Carriage and Van Company which built its firs ...
from the late 1940s onwards. For some decades it was the standard
tank transporter A tank transporter is a combination of a heavy tractor unit and a mating full trailer or semi-trailer (typically of the "lowboy" type), used for transporting tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles. Some also function as tank recovery vehi ...
of the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
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 Rolls-Royce Meteorite was a British V8 petrol or diesel engine of capacity, and was derived from the Rolls-Royce Meteor, which was itself based on the Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine. The Meteorite was, in essence, two-thirds of a V12 ...
.


History


Origins

The civilian version of the Mighty Antar was developed in the late 1940s as an oilfield vehicle for transporting pipes over rough ground. Baxter, Breakdown, p.71 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 the earlier Scammell Pioneer and unlike the road-going Diamond T it was eventually to replace. The engine, the
Rolls-Royce Meteorite The Rolls-Royce Meteorite was a British V8 petrol or diesel engine of capacity, and was derived from the Rolls-Royce Meteor, which was itself based on the Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine. The Meteorite was, in essence, two-thirds of a V12 ...
, was a cut-down V8 version of the V12 Rolls-Royce Meteor used in tanks, itself a terrestrial version of the
Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650  cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was later ...
and made under licence by the
Rover Company The Rover Company Limited was a British car manufacturing company that operated from its base in Solihull in Warwickshire. Its lasting reputation for quality and performance was such that its first postwar model reviewed by '' Road & Track'' i ...
. Early Antars used the
petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...
version made by Rover and by the early 1950s the Rolls-Royce-manufactured
diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
versions of the engine.


The name

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 The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Persia (Iran). The British government purchased 51% of the company in 1914, gaining a controlling number ...
, previously the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.


Introduction into Army service

In 1951, the first Antars entered
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
service. These were fixed-body steel-built
ballast tractor A ballast tractor is a specially weighted tractor unit of a heavy hauler combination. It is designed to utilize a drawbar to pull or push heavy or exceptionally large trailer loads which are loaded in a hydraulic modular trailer. When feasible ...
s and were given the design number FV 12001 and the designation ''Tractor 30-ton GS 6x4''. They could haul the new 50-ton
Dyson FV 3601 Dyson may refer to: * Dyson (surname), people with the surname Dyson * Dyson (company), a Singaporean multinational home appliances company founded by James Dyson * Dyson (crater), a crater on the Moon * Dyson (operating system), a Unix general-pu ...
trailers that were being used to carry the new and heavier
Centurion tank The Centurion was the primary British Army main battle tank of the post-World War II period. Introduced in 1945, it is widely considered to be one of the most successful post-war tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing ...
s. 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 The FV 214 Conqueror, also known as "Tank, Heavy No. 1, 120 mm Gun, Conqueror" was a British heavy tank of the post-World War II era. It was developed as a response to the Soviet IS-3 heavy tank. The Conqueror's main armament, an L1 120  ...
would be transported by a whole new transporter of equally large capacity, the Leyland FV 1000. Baxter, Breakdown, p.70 This was wider than the Antar, as the Antar had in turn been 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 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 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 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 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 ...
as the British Army's main
tank transporter A tank transporter is a combination of a heavy tractor unit and a mating full trailer or semi-trailer (typically of the "lowboy" type), used for transporting tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles. Some also function as tank recovery vehi ...
.


Recovery vehicles

The Antar tractor itself was heavier, at 20 tons, than any available recovery vehicle could lift for 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. Baxter, Breakdown, p.73


Later service

In the early 1960s the
Mark 3 Mark 3 is the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It relates a conflict over healing on the Sabbath, the commissioning of the Twelve Apostles, a conflict with scribes and a meeting of Jesus with h ...
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. Baxter, Breakdown, p.85 The Mark 3 is visually distinct from the earlier models, the use of an 8-cylinder inline engine, the
Rolls-Royce C8SFL The Rolls-Royce ''C range'' was a series of in-line 4, 6 and 8 cylinder diesel engines used in small railway locomotives, construction vehicles, marine and similar applications. They were manufactured by the Rolls-Royce Oil Engine Division heade ...
; without the wide vee of the Meteorite the bonnet was much narrower. The Mark 3 used either 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.


Replacement

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 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 The Scammell Commander was a heavy equipment transporter manufactured by Scammell for the Royal Corps of Transport. It is a tank transporter of UK origin, developed mid 1970’s to succeed the Thornycroft Antar in UK military service. It enter ...
in 1986. Baxter, Breakdown, p.95


Specification


Mighty Antar Mark 1

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 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 the same wooden ballast bodied tractor were referred to as Mk2. * length: 26 ft (7.9 m) * width: 10 ft 3 in (3.1 m) * height: 10 ft (3.0 m) * weight: 43,240 lb (19,610 kg) * Engine: Rolls-Royce 18.4 litre
Meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...
Mk-204 V8
petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...
(60 degree overhead cam, four-valve, twin-carb, twin-magneto with two spark-plugs per cylinder). Power: 285 bhp (213 kW) at 2,000 rpm. * Transmission: Four-speed full " crash gearbox" with three-speed transfer casing and power takeoff. Two live worm-drive rear axles with inboard
epicyclic An epicyclic gear train (also known as a planetary gearset) consists of two gears mounted so that the center of one gear revolves around the center of the other. A carrier connects the centers of the two gears and rotates the planet and sun gea ...
reduction. * speed: 28 mph (45 km/h) on level ground.


Mighty Antar Mark 1B and 2

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 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 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 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.


Antar Mark 3 and Mark 3A

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 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. * Engine:
Rolls-Royce C8SFL The Rolls-Royce ''C range'' was a series of in-line 4, 6 and 8 cylinder diesel engines used in small railway locomotives, construction vehicles, marine and similar applications. They were manufactured by the Rolls-Royce Oil Engine Division heade ...
16.2 litre 8-cylinder supercharged
diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...
* power: 333 bhp Totally new, narrower, body and cab. The inline engine permitted a much narrower bonnet than the Meteorite version, requiring only a single radiator. (The Metoerite engine itself was quite narrow being 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 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 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 . With the Chieftain MBT the all-up weight was 101 tons; they were road-tested at 126 tons.


Antar Model C6T or R6

* Engine:
Rolls-Royce C6TFL The Rolls-Royce ''C range'' was a series of in-line 4, 6 and 8 cylinder diesel engines used in small railway locomotives, construction vehicles, marine and similar applications. They were manufactured by the Rolls-Royce Oil Engine Division heade ...
12.17 litre 6-cylinder Turbo charged
diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...
* power: 300 bhp 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 . Basically 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 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. Mike Fincher owned the RAF C6T mighty Antar for 13 years, and has the original workshop manual and drivers' handbook.


Notes


References


Further reading

* * * *


External links


the Antar Web Site
{{ModernUKNonAFVNav, style= wide Thornycroft military vehicles Tank transporters Military trucks of the United Kingdom Soft-skinned vehicles Off-road vehicles Military vehicles introduced in the 1950s History of the tank