Thornycroft Antar Information

The Mighty Antar was a heavy-duty 6×4 tractor unit built by Thornycroft from the 1940s onwards. For some decades it was the standard tank transporter of the British Army and was also used by other nations. It was powered by a shortened V8 land version of the V12 Merlin Aircraft engine, modified to run on diesel, and known as the Rolls-Royce Meteorite.

The civilian version of the Antar was developed in the late 1940s as an oilfield vehicle for transporting pipes over rough ground. They were of 6×4 layout (i.e. six wheels, four of them driven), with the front (steering) axle undriven and with twin wheels on both driven (rear) axles (technically ten wheels, eight of them driven, as each rear axles has four wheels). The vehicle was designed from the outset for off-road use, like the earlier Scammell Pioneer and unlike the road-going Diamond T it was eventually to replace.

The engine, the Meteorite, was a cut-down V8 version of the V12 Rolls-Royce Meteor used in tanks, itself a terrestrial version of the Merlin and made under licence by the Rover Co Ltd. Early Antars used the petrol version made by Rover and by the early 1950s the Rolls-Royce-manufactured diesel versions of the engine.

The name "Antar" was a reference to Antar Ibn Shadded, a pre-Islamic Arab poet-warrior. The intended lead customer for the "Mighty Antar" was the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, previously the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, and this was an intentional ploy to flatter the customer.

In 1951, the first Antars entered British Army service. These were fixed-body steel-built ballast tractors and were given the design number FV 12001 and the designation Tractor 30-ton GS 6x4. They could haul the new 50-ton Dyson FV 3601 trailers that were being used to carry the new and heavier Centurion tanks. A 20-ton winch was fitted behind the cab, although just provided for loading the trailer rather than for recovery.

At this time, the intention was that the even heavier Conqueror tank would be transported by a whole new transporter of equally large capacity, the Leyland FV 1000. This was 2 feet (61 cm) wider than the Antar, as the Antar had in turn been 2 feet (61 cm) wider than the Diamond T. They were to be equipped with a semi-trailer of 60 tons capacity, given the design number FV 3301. This design was ungainly and top-heavy when loaded, being high at the rear to clear the wheels and sloping downwards towards the front to better place the weight of the load.

Partly inspired by this semi-trailer, a new FV 12002 version of the Antar was developed as a tractor unit to haul it. This was a graceful swan-neck design and had only a small hump over the rear wheels, making loading by the rear ramps simpler. The trackways on which the tank sat were carried outboard of the trailer frame itself, which rose up between them at the front to form the swan neck, sloping only gently to clear the tanks hull. This gave a stronger and yet more compact layout than the ungainly step of the FV 1000 projects. The first version of this was the 16-wheeled FV 3001 of 60 tons capacity. This was later refined as the FV 3005 with smaller wheels, then the 50-ton-capacity FV 3011 (when using the Taskers/Sankey trailer) for carrying the Centurion.

As the semi-trailer Antars entered service through 1953 to 1955, and after the abandonment of the FV 1000 project, they replaced the American Diamond T that had served during the Second World War as the British Armys main tank transporter.

The Antar tractor itself was heavier, at 20 tons, than any available recovery vehicle could lift for a suspended tow. There had been plans in the super-heavy FV 1000 and FV 1200 series for recovery vehicles, but these were cancelled with the rest of the project. As an ad hoc measure in 1952, an RASC officer devised a bolt-on recovery jib that could be fitted to one Antar to make it capable of the suspended towing of another, although this modification was never approved for mass production.

In the early 1960s the Mark 3 entered service, to support the increasing weight of later Centurion models and also future plans for the Chieftain tank. These were the last Antars in service, remaining until the mid-1980s. The Mark 3 is visually distinct from the earlier models, the use of an 8-cylinder inline engine, the Rolls-Royce C8SFL; without the wide vee of the Meteorite the bonnet was much narrower.

The Mark 3 used either a 50- or 60-ton semi-trailer (numbered as FV 12004) or could be converted to the FV 12006 ballast tractor configuration for hauling the 50-ton Dyson full trailer.

By the late 1960s, it was clear that the Antar, even when re-engined, was an old design and replacement would be needed. There was also concern over the spares situation, as they were out of production and Thornycroft had been absorbed, via AEC, into the vast mass of Leyland. The Antar was replaced by the Scammell Commander in 1986.

1B denotes ballast body for Dyson trailer.

2A denotes articulated for Dyson 50-ton semi-trailer or Sankey 60-ton semi-trailer.

Basically the same as the Mk 1 but for relocation of the twin 100 gallon fuel tanks stacked the rear of the cab. These were moved to the saddle in the centre of the vehicle. A Dowty 20-ton winch was then located at the rear of the cab and a PTO-driven hydraulic pump added to serve the Sankey semi-trailer loading ramps and wheel changing jacks.

One Mark 2 was converted with an AEC diesel engine for army trials in 1963 and sold off in 1971.

AandB

Totally new, narrower, body and cab. The inline engine permitted a much narrower bonnet than the Meteorites wide vee. The gearbox was similar but the main stick (gear lever) gave six speeds (5 plus overdrive) with a single stick for all winch and PTO control functions.

A third differential (inter-axle) was fitted to the second axle, with a cab-operated control.

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