Centurion Reborn | Olifant Mk1A Main Battle Tank

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Tank Encyclopedia

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 141

@dannyzero692 4 ай бұрын

I find the aesthetic of modernized vehicles extremely interesting.

@verstappen9937 4 ай бұрын

Yeah they’re pretty cool

@mathiasbartl903 4 ай бұрын

Have you seen the Iranian M-60?

@dannyzero692 4 ай бұрын

@@mathiasbartl903 yeah it looked kinda goofy

@theunemployedtrucker 3 ай бұрын

Keep your stiffy to yourself please 😂😂😂😂

@theunemployedtrucker 3 ай бұрын

Keep your stiffy to yourself please 😂😂😂

@robert-trading-as-Bob69 4 ай бұрын

I was at School of Armour in 1989 and 1990. There were a couple of knocked out T 54/55 tanks there, taken out by APFSDS rounds. The Angolan bush is much more dense than South African bush, and the fighting took place during the rainy season up there, so the dense bush was covered in leaves. The skirmish took place at close quarters, where the SA troopers superior training and response times saw the enemy off. On two of the Soviet produced tanks I inspected, there was a single hole drilled through the turret, with two gauges, or divots nearby from the discarding sabot which barely had time to seperate from the 'dart'. That indicates how close the encounters took place. The gauges were about 5 -6 cms deep. There were also captured T34's there, probably T34 - 85's.

@Lancasterlaw1175 4 ай бұрын

Did they seem to be Angolan or Cuban manned?

@robert-trading-as-Bob69 4 ай бұрын

@@Lancasterlaw1175 No clue, sorry. I don't recall that there were any unit markings at all, this was 35 years ago. It was during Ops Modular or Hooper. I recall discussing the terrain and the bush with Major Les Rudman, but can't recall his story on the kills. In my defence, and this isn't a joke, he used to eat raw garlic for breakfast, so I couldn't concentrate properly. I recall that he had a signed copy of a book on the battle from Helmoed-Romer Heitman including photos showing how green the dense bush was. I apologize for my hazy memory.

@malfiq 4 ай бұрын

@@robert-trading-as-Bob69 Are there human remains inside the Soviet tank?

@robert-trading-as-Bob69 4 ай бұрын

@@malfiq Jeez, you're morbid. NO. They were used for evaluation, therefore when I saw them 2 years after their capture, they were relatively clean for being left outside. Someone, however, did decide to steal about 3 large ammo boxes of 7.62mm rounds and hide them in one of the T54/55 tanks until the search died down. Since I was not supposed to be there, and also because I swiped a metal Soviet ammo case from that tank, I could not tell anyone about the pilfered ammo. One of the T34's that was captured in Angola did indeed have the body of the Angolan tank commander within it, the rest of the crew having fled. A tank driver was tasked to move the tank, and did so, stopping at a temporary laager overnight, where he removed the body, and buried it in a shallow grave. If I recall correctly, the tank commanders nom de guerre was 'Geronimo'. There are known gravesites of a few South African soldiers that are stiil up there, and attempts are being made by ex-SADF servicemen to locate and repatriate the remains, part of this project will include trying find the Angolan tankers remains and return them to his wife. That particular T34 was not at School of Armour, but on display elsewhere.

@malfiq 4 ай бұрын

@@robert-trading-as-Bob69 sorry, I was curious, thank you for the insights, it's very thought provoking.

@farmergeo4712 4 ай бұрын

Very interesting!! I did my South African military service during 1967... and were trained on the Centurian at the School of Armor.. Course T67. We did all the theory but never got the opportunity to do the practical. We were trained as Troop Leaders having to qualify as drivers / radio operators / gunners / and crew commanders. We then did the above training on the Sherman 17 pounder fitted with the 9 cylinder Lycoming radial aero engine. During subsequent training camps our Regiment ... Prince Alfred's Guard converted to the Panhard Armored Cars / and the South African version ... Eland ..using a water cooled GM engine. Interesting times!!

@KonradvonHotzendorf 4 ай бұрын

Kortgat

@woff1959 4 ай бұрын

Nice video! Slight correction. No SADF tanks were lost in Operation Hooper, that was Packer when three Olifants ran onto a minefield In March-Aprill, 1988.

@donedwards3353 4 ай бұрын

These are beautiful tanks

@ivantsang2156 4 ай бұрын

Interesting South Africa mange to get their hands with a bunch of T-55 and improving their own tank technology, cool story 🎉

@clintlubbe1232 4 ай бұрын

Serendipitous... ha ha...back in the day the secret agents knew what has to be done.

@splashafrica 4 ай бұрын

Same tanks ended up in Rhodesia did a video on them 😅

@kunyaco11 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for the informative video. Haven't heard too much about the Olifant.

@comentedonakeyboard 4 ай бұрын

Mistaking South Africa for Tansania sounds like a very common, perfectly understandable and not at all suspicious mistake to me.

@basilisk.. 4 ай бұрын

Yeah no, someone wanted SA to get those tanks🤷‍♂️👀

@afriquelesud 4 ай бұрын

The accent is downright hilarious when he days "ollyfont." 🎉🎉🎉🎉

@theunemployedtrucker 3 ай бұрын

No your spelling is way more funnier than his accent 🤣 😂

@leeboy26 2 ай бұрын

Samwise Gamgee approved.

@1994CivicGLi 4 ай бұрын

Rare occasion of South Africa using tracked vehicles

@Frenzyv2 4 ай бұрын

We love our wheels

@Theuns-t7z 4 ай бұрын

Yeah the wheels were good for most of the battlefield

@Ghoulza 4 ай бұрын

tanks are not good for long distances and high maneuver warfare, both of which SA specializes in

@dannyarcher6370 3 ай бұрын

@@Ghoulza specialised *

@Ghoulza 3 ай бұрын

@@dannyarcher6370 yes, ok specialised in.... :(

@Watsonsrep3-qk4uj 4 ай бұрын

I will never forget seeing this beasts going on rail to South-West Africa through Orange Free state fields for the battle of Quito Cannival as a kid !

@bushboi 4 ай бұрын

I was recently at the Armour museum at Tempe military base, I was lucky enough to see many SADF/SANDF vehicles including the Oliphant Mk.1, Mk.2, Mk.2 Optimum and the TTD

@mikehawkins6272 2 ай бұрын

This was the most interesting one yet.

@mikearmstrong8483 4 ай бұрын

Arms embargo: "There we go; problem solved." Someone with spare parts wants money: "Hmmm .... well .... maybe not solved."

@farproduct9508 4 ай бұрын

My uncle was a tank gunner on one of them during his time in the army, he both loved and hated that thing with a passion 😂

@gwiazdapioun2127 Ай бұрын

The story of the T-55 tanks requisition in Durban deserves its own clip, as those tanks would later form the backbone of Rhodesian Armoured Corps.

@BD90.. 4 ай бұрын

Olifant MK2 next please

@TanksEncyclopediaYT 4 ай бұрын

We will be publishing a video on the Olifant Mk1B first

@20chocsaday 4 ай бұрын

An old factory in Britain was shut down and the local newspaper said we would now need to buy our tank ammunition from South Africa.

@splashafrica 4 ай бұрын

SA arms industry needs the business to not collapse entirely its probably cheaper all round to just buy it then to try and figure out a domestic solution

@PhansiKhongoloza 4 ай бұрын

@@splashafricayou're obviously referring to the current government right?

@splashafrica 4 ай бұрын

@@PhansiKhongoloza yes well considering the current 1 is the only one thats not tested its steel in proper combat it makes sense for it's arms industry to decline but still it's an expensive industry to break into it still be cheaper to simply buy it then to try and set up a local manufacturing supply chain in the UK

@PhansiKhongoloza 4 ай бұрын

@@splashafrica That's no excuse. There is a huge market out there. Loads of potential customers. They've ruined it! Fucked it up along with the rest of country.

@Legitpenguins99 16 күн бұрын

Damn, that's the saddest thing I've heard all week. And we just voted another narcissistic moron into office this week

@gunterschmidtke9391 4 ай бұрын

proud to write the first comment to this interesting video, more of this, please

@meitynajoan5553 4 ай бұрын

I love OnlyFant Mk1A

@theunemployedtrucker 3 ай бұрын

Perhaps you should love the dictionary and learn to spell 😂😂

@unsuisseegare1291 18 күн бұрын

@@theunemployedtruckeryou didn't get the joke

@basilisk.. 4 ай бұрын

SA military and airforce used to be great

@danielbtwd 3 ай бұрын

the ratel 90s where needeing several rounds to kill a t55 tank during modular and hooper and most of the kills were at less than 50m. That takes serious courage.

@liamquigley4670 4 ай бұрын

I would love to see a comparaison between this and the Israeli Shot

@abrahamlevi3556 4 ай бұрын

The secret of the Shot-Cal ( acronym for Continental engine) is the fantastic US made Allison transmission that fits perfectly into the power train. The entire power train, starting with the RR Meteor engine and the horrendous transmission where drivers couldn't engage the right gear at will was replaced, and the US made reliable Continental diesel engine significantly increased range. The difference was visible during the defensive battle on the Golan Heights on6/7/8 of October , 1973. The Shot-Cal battalions had a much longer range, and drivers could "dance" among the defensive ramps without any issues with the clutch and gear..

@kunyaco11 4 ай бұрын

One of the confiscated T-55s is at the South African Military Museum.

@codiemorgan1356 4 ай бұрын

You forgot to mention they kept it in running condition.

@ODGreenZa 4 ай бұрын

When we used to produce top military vehicles

@oelschig123 4 ай бұрын

I was a toring tiffie at school of armour on these tanks 88-89

@Jack_the_back 4 ай бұрын

The Aw-lor-four-nt cracked me up, its Or- lee-funt

@gimmedat5541 4 ай бұрын

No it's "oily-fund"

@Jack_the_back 4 ай бұрын

@@gimmedat5541 Thats not how I was taught to say it

@Frog13799 4 ай бұрын

The oilie part in Afrikaans isn't really pronounced the same as oil is in English, its more extendended ooil, sounds more like awl than oil, let's try awl-i-phant the a in phant isn't pronounced as an A but more an Ah

@Jack_the_back 4 ай бұрын

@@Frog13799 Thats pronunciation you put is exactly how I meant it to be, Im just not good with words

@dougerrohmer 4 ай бұрын

Willy-phunt?

@tomsmith2209 4 ай бұрын

There's some realy old soviet tanks in Ukraine. I'd be interested to see them squre off against ths Olifant/Centurian. Thanks for the presentation.

@splashafrica 4 ай бұрын

Theres only 1 South African built vehicle in that war an APC equipped with a Ukrainian built 30mm cannon Estonia donated some armoured csrs that where SA designed but they are British built

@wingtip76 4 ай бұрын

World War Two vintage but I guess any gun is better than no gun.

@robertpatrick3350 4 ай бұрын

Almost identical gun to 1st series of Abrams tank…… sufficient for everything up to the most recent ‘T’ tanks with appliqué armour.

@danieltynan5301 4 ай бұрын

@@robertpatrick3350 these updates basically brought them up to date with anything that came afterwards.

@dannyzero692 4 ай бұрын

@@wingtip76 saying that the Olifant (Centurion) was a WW2 vintage isn’t exactly correct, the Centurion Mk1 developed in WW2 was equipped with the 17 pounders same as the Sherman Firefly. The Olifant use the L7 105mm which was a late 1950s design which is nowhere close to WW2 level and is an early to mid Cold War design.

@Ghoulza 4 ай бұрын

@@dannyzero692 yip, this is late 50's tech so not WW2, we upgraded them to be comparable for most tanks of the 70's and 80's

@Mr.Brownstain-xf2ne 4 ай бұрын

Must of been nice for tankers not to worry about drones

@splashafrica 4 ай бұрын

Drones actually did feature in Angela SA had them in the 80s but yeah warfare has changed significantly SA taught the world about mine resistance back then and today every army has some casper variant now the world is teaching us cyberwarfare and kamikaze drones

@TheRealEtaoinShrdlu 4 ай бұрын

Ratel is (more accurately) pronounced RAH-till. It is Afrikaans for Badger. You can technically call it a Badger as well, because the export models have been called that.

@Ghoulza 4 ай бұрын

there is an IFV that we are making called the badger so that would get confusing, it was designed to replace the ratel but money problems stopped production and they have only reciently started it again

@thundermite1241 4 ай бұрын

Would the gm diesel happen to be a detroit diesel 8v92t or a 12v71

@paulpereira2832 4 ай бұрын

The T-55s were later donated to the Rhodesians who didn't have tanks of their own.

@arkexplorer9328 4 ай бұрын

Wasn't the Olifant that huge double tank thing

@christobosman5710 4 ай бұрын

That is why their is a saying , n Boer maak n plan , meaning , a Boer make a plan , and that is no bull shit .

@craigbritz1684 4 ай бұрын

What's a Boer?

@christobosman5710 4 ай бұрын

@@craigbritz1684 the Boer s as in tribe or nation was the ones that fought the wars against the the then mighty Britain and defeated their 450 000 strong British soldiers , the word boer is also a reference to the South African farmer .

@dougerrohmer 4 ай бұрын

@@christobosman5710 Hate to break it to you, maat. But we only won the first time. The Second Boer War didn't go so well. It turns out that 450 000 is enough to neutralise 50 000 Boers, especially when the Boer's run short of ammo, food and equipment. Bloody Royal Navy. And of course it didn't help when Kitchener said "Let's invent concentration camps for the women and children!"

@LilMissMurder3409 4 ай бұрын

@@craigbritz1684 A small animal that takes a kak tank and makes it less kak.

@splashafrica 4 ай бұрын

@@christobosman5710you thinking of the 2nd war we lost that one we won the negotiation thanks largely to Jan Smuts

@stephenchisadza4975 3 ай бұрын

Israel and Jordan doing what they have always done to this day

@I-Am-Bacon 4 ай бұрын

"The Olofont"

@CARL_093 4 ай бұрын

cool

@squickey 4 ай бұрын

My only question is when is the tech tree for South Africa gona show up in Warthunder 😂😋

@splashafrica 4 ай бұрын

SA vehicles are in the British tech tree if i recall correctly

@warkopvalhalla708 3 ай бұрын

Since 2021

@alexread4803 4 ай бұрын

PLEASE SEE THIS COMMENT, I love panther to a huge extent, especially the idea of fall ones such as the paper tanks coelian or whatever but there ei some picture I have found, which originally I've only seen models based of off, which was similar to that of a berge panther but containing a shielded 2cm flak and not that of the early production ones rather it was a different shield entirely and was mounted onto the middle on seemingly the turret ring, the driver/ machine gunner had one big hatch over the front to exit that was open in the photo I found. I believe it was in 1945 in cezchosovlaika? Apparently although all I've seen is reddit talk about it, I would really like/love someone insight I to this one off,in my eyes at least, dream tank to some. Please provide me with something, make a video or something or if there's maybe a page about it on the encyclopedia

@TanksEncyclopediaYT 4 ай бұрын

If you have the picture, you could send it to us via email: tanks.encyclopedia@gmail.com We'll be happy to take a look.

@leonardblignaut665 4 ай бұрын

Please investigate the correct pronunciations of key names, such as Olifant and Unita etc.

@Itoon-h2z 4 ай бұрын

Why are they being embargoed?

@TanksEncyclopediaYT 4 ай бұрын

Apartheid.

@PhansiKhongoloza 4 ай бұрын

Good question. As apart from the Afghans, South Africa is the only other country to actually take on and defeat the the USSR and their proxies on the battlefield.

@WernerShadow 4 ай бұрын

We procured them illegally we had sanctions at the time

@JGCR59 4 ай бұрын

Seriously I wonder why South Africa just didn't produce its own hulls. The technology of building a tank isn't exactly rocket science after all

@Militaryheritage 4 ай бұрын

Later vid as part of the TTD

@vvr881 4 ай бұрын

The would but they needed tanks in a hurry...the war in Angola was getting very hot

@Lancasterlaw1175 4 ай бұрын

Making and Welding rolled homogenous armour is actually fairly tough, particually as you have to lift the entire hull to let gravity help do the welds. Some of the cast parts are equally tough. Problem is once you have built the heavy industry and experience for this, you may as well build a few thousand to make the investment worth it which is a hard sell to a cash strapped military with few armoured threats.

@ianjardine7324 4 ай бұрын

True getting good consistent weld penetration is vital to the hull integrity and not easy when dealing with the thick steel needed for tanks. It requires highly skilled welders top of the line equipment and excellent quality control procedures which rely on delicate sophisticated sensors to map the entire depth of the joint. When the Chieftains were built only Britain America Germany and the Soviet's were doing it and the Soviet's never got the consistent quality. This is why the Chieftain had a cast turret as the thicker steel and complex shape made welding too risky.

@Lancasterlaw1175 4 ай бұрын

@@ianjardine7324 Well said!