Cruiser Tank Mk VIII Centaur Mk I

The newest exhibit in Armoured Warfare Museum, the Cruiser Tank Mk VIII Centaur Mk I was brought from Portugal last Friday. This tank led to one of Britain's most succesful of so-called "cruiser tanks" (medium tanks with very light armour for this class of vehicles, but with great top speed, ment to exploit breakthrough achieved by infantry tanks - which were basically "pocket heavy tanks"). namely Cromwell tank. The chief difference was the engine - Centaur tanks used 340 HP Nuffield Liberty engine, which was unreliable and did not give the machine the speed required to serve as cruiser tank. Later on the Centaurs were fitted with 600 HP Rolls-Royce Meteor, an engine based on legendary RR Merlin used in Spitfire fighter. Now equipped with reliable and powerful powerplants, the new tank was called Tank, Cruiser Mk. VIII, Cromwell.

Centaur tanks were used by Polish Forces in the West for training purposes, and later on the Poles fought on Cromwell and Sherman tanks. Late in the war, some of the units were also equipped with further improvement of Cromwell design, the A34 Comet.

Right now this tank is an empty shell without transmission and engine, but the museum staff attempts to find these elements abroad. The restoration will be divided on two phases: phase one, restore the tank as a static exhibit; phase two, fit it with powerplant and restore it to running condition (it is still unknown if it will be restored as Centaur or as Cromwell tank).