Matchbox 1/76 Churchill AVRE Bridgelayer

1/76 Churchill ARVE

The box is not sealed

Box is dated 1983 & made in England.

Complete & unstarted.

Not one of the Hong Kong knock-offs that are on the market now

A bit of history:

The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) was a heavy British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, and its use as the basis of many specialist vehicles. This series of tanks was named after Winston Churchill, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Minister of Defence at the time, and had been involved with the development of the tank as a weapon during the First World War.

Churchill AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers)
A Churchill III or IV equipped with the Petard, a 290 mm Spigot mortar, throwing the 40 lb (18 kg) "Flying dustbin" with its 28 pound high explosive warhead; a weapon designed for the quick levelling of fortifications developed by MD1. The AVRE was designed after the Canadian defeat at Dieppe, and could also be equipped with numerous other attachments, such as mine flails, fascine rollers, explosive placers etc. Post war the Churchill AVRE was re-armed with a breech-loaded low velocity 165mm demolition gun which was less dangerous for the loader (the hull gunner) as he previously had to stick his head and torso out of the Spigot Mortar armed AVRE to load the Mortar. The crew of six are from the Royal Engineers, except for the driver which came from the Royal Armoured Corps. One of the RE crew is a demolitions NCO sapper who is responsible for priming the "Flying dustbin" and is also tasked with leading the crew when they dismount the tank to place demolition charges ("Wade" charges).

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