Oxford gun towING VEHICLE

[Stanley]

Oxford gun tower
The RA expected six prototypes for trials in late 1944 but by December supply problems with the Cadillac engines had delayed production and the RA were told to look on the CT20 as a long term project with the Windsor Carrier taking over the role as an Armd. OP for Infantry Divisions until the mid 1950's. Trials carried out between then and July 1945 also showed up defects in the suspension that further delayed production and user trials. At this stage a production run of over 400 vehicles with the Cadillac engine was envisaged with further long term production planned using a British engine of around 180bhp and the possibility of incorporating overhead cover.

However the end of the War brought about a harsh review of all vehicle projects. Production was severely curtailed but CT20 continued to take place in several trials. In July 1946 it was demonstrated at the high profile "Exhibition of German and other vehicles and equipment" at Chertsey where it was seen as the future. It was described as "the latest type of British Carrier; its welded hull is much more spacious than that of the Universal Carrier. It employs "Cletrac" steering and a four speed hydromatic gearbox in conjunction with a 2-speed and reverse auxiliary box. The engine is a Cadillac V8 developing 110bhp". It also took part in a suspension demonstration against a Coventry armoured car and a German 8 wheeled armoured car with unrecorded results.

Change continued at an alarming rate due to the conflicting demands of post-war reductions and the development of the Cold War. Between August and November 1946 CT20 was used by the RA as a trials vehicle for a further development, the CT25. This was a later version of the CT20 with a Rolls-Royce engine and improved suspension to take the weight of overhead cover which was not possible on CT20. A mock up of the fighting compartment was also built on an Alecto chassis for design approval before FVDD Chobham produced a mock up on the new CT25 chassis. However by 1946 Vickers were developing a new family of light vehicles called CT26. The RA felt that this was too bulky to be an OP vehicle and too small to be a GPO vehicle but in February 1946 the War Office decided that all future field and medium SP guns were to be mounted on this chassis and therefore their associated vehicles. By September the RAC had changed their mind in favour of what was to become the FV300 series and so the RA also agreed to this series. Little else is known about the CT20/25 series from the RA point of view although the Oxford Carrier served on with the Infantry in various roles including that of a A/T gun tower and even saw service in Korea. Tim published this in the Royal Artillery Journal as part of an article on the history of the Armoured OP vehicle and also formed part of an article he did for Tracklink (Bovington Magazine) on the Oxford and Cambridge carriers. It was based on material gathered from the library at the School of Artillery in the UK.