CENTURION TRAINING BOOKLET

[neil pudney]

I don’t know how ‘hard to find’ this publication is but I just bought it on ebay and was surprised no one else bid.. It’s a little water stained on the cover but otherwise seems ok. I’m waiting for it to arrive shortly from the seller. With 150 pages there should be a lot of info for us interested in the centurion. I will update when I get it in case anyone may be interested. This sort of publication especially original issue is getting harder to find as the years go by I guess.

The publication reference is:-

AFVP/VTP/25
RAC Publications Section, RAC School, Bovington Camp, Dorset June 1946.


Cant wait for my centurion to arrive !

[Stephen White]

Neil

You've got a gem there and I'd be very interested in the content. I'm surprised there were no other bids because I suspect it would be relatively rare.

The Mark II entered service in Dec 46 with 5 RTR. It was the first Cent with a fully cast turret and the hull was uparmoured from the first batch of Mk 1s. It retained the 17 pdr from the Comet. It didn't last long in service and was replaced in 1948 when the 20 pdr equipped Mark III came into service. The pamphlet you've bought is a very early draft user handbook produced by the Armoured Trials and Development Unit at the RAC Centre.

I'd be particularly interested in any photos or drawings showing the idlers as I'm trying to get the sequence of development right, to help with my Mark 5/1.

Regards

Stephen

[neil pudney]

Hi stephen, i am still waiting for it in the post but will let you know. I only paid £9.99 for it, makes a change from being outbid on ebay !
I will contact the seller in case they have any other rare tank gems !
regards,neil

[neil pudney]

I now have the Centurion Training book (1946) Issued at Bovington RAC. Most is type written text with a few schematics here and there. One thing which is of immediate interest is the complete listing of equipment in both external and internal stowage bins and lockers with everything but the kitchen sink in there !
I will over the next few days scan these pictures and pages and upload to the forum as im sure centurion builders will find it of interest.

regards,neil

[neil pudney]

I have now scanned 11 pages from the book i have on the Centurion, all of these pages have the complete Bristish army inventory for the Centurion right down to tins of biscuits that were carried on the tank ! the Army thought of everything here...
I had to digitally clean all the pages as they were quite faded and yellowed with age so the ones now are all as they were when printed,clean and white. Amazing what computers can do !
Each page has been scanned at hi-res so each is about 1mb in file size. If anyone would like a copy i can email them to you, just send me a message with your email address.
Im sure even though this was for the Centurion II in 1946 the Army wouldn't have changed things too much on future Cents and will give the builder an excellent reference when deciding what to put in the stowage bins on their centurion.

[Kevin Hunter]

Hi Neil
I for one would be very interested to see the content of your booklet, if you dont mind?
This is all new to me, and I'm trying to digest as much info regarding the Centurion as I can.
PM en route with email address.
Cheers
Kevin

[neil pudney]

Hi kevin, i will send what i have scanned to you, thanks for the message.