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The platform was based on the Valentine infantry tank chassis, a tried & tested design. The main armament was powerful, being the same gun that graced the Sherman Firefly. That meant it was one of the few anti-tank weapons that could take on the German heavy tanks.
The gun was mounted in an armoured superstructure at the extreme front of the donor tank hull. The driver, plus 3-man gun crew, sat there with the breech facing forwards. The Archer could carry 39 rounds of 17Pdr ammunition – enough to give a Tiger a headache.
The advantage was that the vehicle could make a getaway, even if it wasn’t that swift - the top speed was only 15 miles per hour. Theoretically, firing over the engine area also gave the crew a little more protection from direct counter-fire. The crew compartment, however, was usually open-topped so later models had a roof added for more protection.
800 units were ordered & they began to appear amongst frontline formations in 1944 in both Northwest Europe & Italy. Not all the orders were completed though, making this a rare self-propelled gun. Only 665 made it out into the field.
It’s a quirky subject for a model & with Bronco’s 1:35th scale kit out (Ref: CB35074), it made sense to grab some reference pictures for you of the Tank Museum’s Archer, to help with your builds. Sadly, we only had an iPad camera to grab the shots but they show the key features, especially the inside of the fighting compartment.