Hello, Tank Nuts! Here is your latest instalment of Tank Chats from David Fletcher, let us know what you thought of it!

'The engine won't fit' 'Just put it in wonky, no one will notice' A very British solution.

I read an article saying that AEC weren't contracted or asked to design and build an armoured car by the British War Office; they just went ahead and did it (which is why the mk.1 used an existing turret and gun). They then placed the prototype where they knew Churchill would see it; he did, and ordered AEC to build more.

David Fletcher star of the interweb, the knowledge, the charisma, the facial hair.

AEC, Windmill Lane, Southall. Maker of the Routmaster double decker buses. I used to pass it every day as a schoolboy and sat alongside some of their Apprentices at Southall Tech. All gone now.

A nice cup of coffee, Mr. David Fletcher, and a new armored car video from the Tank Museum. What a top notch way to start the day!

I never realized how massive this armored “car” actually was

Always loved the aesthetics of this little car. Very unique with that big wedge front and it's boxy form. Always seemed like quite a potent armoured car with the 6 pounder and it's heavier armour

I never even knew this thing ever existed! :D ...that's why I come here! - you can learn something new and interesting each time a video appears, but - MOST OF ALL! - I LOVE to listen to David Fletcher and his "tank chats"! :) :) You could listen to this guy for hours without getting bored for 5 seconds.

I have waited...so frikking long for this video. The AEC has been one of my favorite armoured cars ever since i first photos in a book about it when i was 5. There is something just "right' about the looks of this unit

I could listen to David Fletcher all day. Love these Tank Chats❤

Can we _please_ get Richard Smith to do more videos on some of the artifacts hidden away?!!? Those were great!

I like to imagine David drives to work in one of these! 😂

David Fletcher is a national treasure. Thanks.

You learn something new, every time a video is posted. Much appreciated. Thank you.

He is back, the Legend, the moustache!

I love this! I have found the "Holy Grail" of armour history and profiles of individual vehicles.

David's explanation the AEC engineering is very interesting, it seems very different from other armored cars and innovative. And a serious threat to enemy armor.

A company of heroes clasic, realy good for dealing with anything armored exept medium and heavy tanks

That bridge at 2:45 is the Levensauer Hochbrücke (Levensau high bridge) crossing the Kiel Canal near Kiel, carrying the road and railway to Flensburg.

Another great video. Thank you. Huge amount of relevant history in a very short time. A classic history lesson masterclass from Mr Fletcher.

Ooh the green on white flash is the same as the 2nd Cav Reg RAAC - which was the Australian divisional recon regiment from around the late 60s/early 70s to just a few years ago, when they re-organised all the bridages to have more or less the same establishment and made the division more or less obsolete as a tactical formation.

This video has been listed twice in this playlist, but what a lovely bunch of vehicles.

Honestly any Tank Chat without advertising ain't good anymore! I would like a blooper reel of the advertising sequences.

Wow that drive system of predominantly front wheel drive and four wheel kicks in when needed sounds like the grandfather of Haldex, this is like an armored audi TT

The 1st Armored Brigade of the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, which was formed in 1944 in Italy and then moved to Croatia to join the partisan forces there, was equipped with M3A1/A3 Stuart tanks and AEC Mk.II armored cars. According to what I have heard, the AEC Mk.II was very well regarded and preferred to the Stuarts by the crews, not the least because of the gun which was more potent than the one on the M3 Stuart and could deal better with most of the rag-tag armor that the Germans and their various collaborators used in Yugoslavia. Apparently, the AEC crews managed to even knock out several 'Panthers' and 'Tigers' during the war. The Axis forces, of course, didn't have such equipment in Yugoslavia, they mostly had just obsolete German and captured Allied armor, but apparently the British instructors that trained the crews and personnel didn't pass up teaching them about the existence of Panthers and Tigers and told stories about how powerful they were. So, just like in other Allied armies, the Yugoslav tankers started seeing Panthers and Tigers everywhere as well. Hence why they created PAK 75mm armed tank destroyers on the M3 Stuart chassis...

I'd like to see a side by side comparison with a Sherman Tank! Seems to me it would've been great for convoy protection.

"Effective target" made me chuckle

I bought some plushies from the Tank Museum and they were very reasonably priced, of high quality, and shipped POST HASTE to New York.

Superbly presented, as always, by the Tank Santa Himself! Love this thing in WarThunder, earned Mark of Distinction right away, back in the day.

Happy Holidays to the Tank Museum....love the content be safe and well...and keep that content coming it is loved by the community!!!!! And a special hug to Mr Fletcher...a cup of tea and a biscuit for you sir....LOL.

Excellent. Never heard of it before. Or even very much of armoured car regiments except after El Alamein when they used their speed for pursuit.

In the single engagement on the approach to Trieste "major" armor to armor engagement in Yugoslavia was fought. Germans had variety of armor, including three captured T-34. After initial loses to Yugoslav Stuarts, 4 AEC Mk.II have made an ambush into which Germans were drawn in. Fire from those hit the flanks and they KOd all 3 T-34s and at least 4 other vehicles, including SdKfz 250 or 251, some Marder variant and two light tanks of unknown type, probably ex-Italian. One T-34 burned down, other was heavily damaged (engine and transmission destroyed by multiple penetrations), and 3rd had turret heavily damaged with two penetrations. So they have used turret from tank no.2 to repair no.3 and rolled into Trieste on the T-34, among other hodge-podge of the armor they had. Repairing No.3: elektron.tmf.bg.ac.rs/bojan/armor/tanks/t-34-76/t-34-76_m43_03.jpg No.3 in Trieste, operational again: elektron.tmf.bg.ac.rs/bojan/armor/tanks/t-34-76/t-34-76_m43_02.jpg

Toyota USA's offroad racing team, used a similar fold up screen for their driver, to supplement the driver's goggles!

Automatic LIKE. It is big, it has character, it looks British, it is British, it is unique, it looks functional but mad at the same time but most of all it has a moustache.

I worked for an AEC main dealership in Maidstone, I had no idea they made an armoured car.

David looks like an old fella who'd wandered in of the street to tell you about his antique lawn-mower... :D

One of my favourite Armoured cars - a tank in all but name.

Fingers crossed we'll get to see a Staghound on the channel someday!

ww2 tanks are so interesting and amazing because they were really first time in use after being invented in ww1

Zipping around behind enemy lines with a 6 pounder?? Seems like the perfect machine. 👍🏾🍻

His comment about the height being a problem is well made. There is a photo of three of them knocked out by German paras with Panzerfausts and they were all visible above the hedgerows.

Thank you , Mr Fletcher .

Absolutely love these little features.

Waiting for a decent priced 1/35 scale model of the AEC! Love the aesthetics. Think Miniart are doing a full interior job which is far too detailed and pricey for a cut price modeller like me.

Skew-whiff you say? Thanks Gavin; your preemptive translation was a life saver.

I like armoured cars 👌

They had those in North Africa and Italy during WW2 my great grandad was in Kings Dragoon Guards and they had some.

If I'd been crewing a Panzer II, I'd have been very glad to spot one of these before it spotted me.

Very interesting and informative David, as usual. Delivered with your usual dash, suave style, and English panache. But please correct me if I am wrong, but there’s was never any mention of a date or time period this vehicle was in service; When was it first conceived and put into production? Where and how was it employed And how long did it stay a part of the Royal Army’s armoured force? Other than these and a few other very minor nick picky unanswered questions concerning this fascinating vehicle, this was another one of your marvelous videos! 👏🏻

I recently some footages of the "Legion Etrangére" - i.e: "The French Foreign Legion" fighting in Mali and..."surrounding ares"...but I rember they had vehicles that were oddly similar! (to say the LEAST, actually). They wre referred by the tropps as "Panhard's" (or in many other ways!) - but there was plenty of similarities (though correct me if I'm wrong). PS. It's always a PRIVILEDGE to be here! :) :) Thank you guys for this work!

Those vids are already legend 😀

My favourite British armoured car. I mean the mark 3 version a 75mm gun. What other armies had a armoured car with a turret armed with a 75mm gun during WW2.

AEC Armoured Car is the name of a series of British heavy armoured cars built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) during the Second World War.

A beautiful brute of an armoured car. I also like the AEC Mk.II that was tested with the twin Oerlikon armed Crusader AA turret, which seemed to be pretty potent but was mothballed after the shift in air superiority.

loved the look of the mark I. It would have been cool to have compared it with the Puma or Greyhound.

I enjoyed this vehicle in company of heroes 2. It was cheap and had a solid gun

Thanks.

Very nice to show the exploded view of the engine, go on!

Skew-whiff, my favourite British stew.

Each of these videos should include a comprehensive test drive by Clarkson, Hammond, and May.

It's still a crazy vehicle :-)

Fletcher is a gem.

I'm guessing it wasn't all that quiet, either. I suppose the reason it was front drive is because most vehicles with transfer boxes have the engine shaft coming in the front and the main drive shaft coming out the back, and they just reversed one.

"Skew-whiff"... ! Bless Mr Fletcher.

I remember reading about this tank and didn't have this much info and i already thought it was very weird

That’s not an armoured car! That’s an armoured truck :o) I wonder what the transfer box clutch was? One way ratchet?

Love your videos, guys!

Great work Sir thank you

There was the slant six, I think this could be the crooked six.

Monstrous

AEC Diesel sounds a lot like AC/DC

It may not be the best but, it has character!

The German approach to armoured reconnaissance. Fight for intelligence? A big vehicle with a big gun that can look after itself and slug it out with enemy recon. vehicles.

Great!

thank you

That turret instantly reminded me of a Cruiser Mk8 tank and a Cromwell! Too big.

I think AEC built a bus where the engine axies did not line up. I think it was canted, twisted and tipped fore and aft. AEC was a well respected company when I started work in 1970 at BOAC.

Woho! I love these vids

Tanks, the ultimate Off road vehicle

Maybe the last armoured combat during WW2 in ex. Yugoslavia was between Yugoslav AEC AC and German Beute T34 during race to Trieste . After few shots, Germans fled in terror, leaving their tank behind.

Love this vehicle in the tabletop game 'bolt action' has killed more tanks in the games i've used it than pretty much all of my actual tanks and tank destroyers.

I bet the tank museum is starting to run out of vehicles by now :D ... Seriously, how many are there in the collection?

As usual an extremely interesting video. What is the difference between an armoured car and a tank, is it just the wheels?

Yet again, dont interupt the video, wait till the end !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AEC in company of heroes 2.

You can see where the idea came from for the much later Fox. The British army did like their armoured cars. I wonder when they will "give in to the urge" after being without one for so long? Panther is the closest thing in the current inventory. It's just not "British" enough. We need a quirky homegrown design.

Still kinda feels weird how these small armored cars are practically obsolete nowadays

This vehicle with a 75mm and its armour could be used today in limited roles!

Very fine looking

Heres one for the Tank Museum crew, why so many BESA"S rather than Vickers mg's on Brit tanks?

British: *Make an absolute unit of an armored car with light tank levels of armor and whats essentially a Cromwell turret* Also British: "Great, now its too tall for recce."

Wonderful as usual. Didn't the Irish Army use these for a time?

Front wheel drive, interesting.

My grandfather crewed these in the war.

A tank in all but name

So, FWD by default because they fitted everything backwards? Engine wonky to avoid various parts? What were they SMOKING?

World of tanks should introduce a david fletcher tank commander, with a tash bonus... Just for British vehicles, 👌👍👆, and there should be a bloody tash emoji!!!!!

@ 1:55 those two AC seem to have Yugoslav flag painted on. Were they delivered to the allies during or after wWII (as unneded junk, probably)?

In many ways I find armored cars and non tracked fighting vehicles more interesting than tanks.