A discussion area for the Black Prince I (A43), the final and unsuccessful model in the Churchill tank series consisting of six prototypes, of which only one remains at The Tank Museum, Bovington (one hull is privately owned in a state of progressive disrepair, and one mantlet & gun is presumably still held by Imperial War Museum Duxford).
Bearing the name of one of England’s most renowned military commanders, Black Prince was the final design in the otherwise successful Churchill infantry tank series. Let down by its low mobility, high weight, and slab-faced armour, it could have been a formidable opponent to the German Tiger in 1942 or 1943. Unfortunately for Black Prince the year was 1945, and it was quickly shelved in favour of the far more efficient and adaptable Centurion.
Adored by dozens and returning annually every Black Friday sale, Black Prince struggles in the War Thunder of 2026 due to its raised BR and now-dated, non-volumetric armour model.
That said I do enjoy using it and believe that with a little research and relatively few bug reports, this unique and rare British heavy tank has a lot of potential, and will able to rival the most formidable enemy vehicles around BR 6.0.
Further to the mantlet report, Black Prince’s armament mounting seems very similar to that seen on Comet, some decent pictures of which can be seen in the Comet Workshop Handbook;
Major elements such as the mantlet, rotor, gun cradle, splash guard, and trunnion bearing caps are similar to those on Black Prince.
Quick (bad) sketch of the rotor & right hand trunnion cap, which is currently modelled as 10 mm CHA.
current
Basics of the rotor, these are machined parts so should all be RHA. The BESA shroud should be 1 in (25.4 mm) CHA as it is on later models such as the Churchill III AVRE (see below).
I’ve updated the following reports to include a new primary source; ARMY OPERATIONAL RESEARCH GROUP REPORT No. 276, Report on Ammunition Stowage and Loading of the 17 pr. Gun in Black Prince.
They now contain primary source information detailing the arrangement of ammunition in Black Prince, including the fully-armoured side and forward ammunition bins, and the partially-armoured ready round bin.
Black Prince’s Bedford Twin Six engine is now correct on live, and the fuel tanks have been relocated. Thanks to the team for actioning Black Prince engine model incorrect.
TECHNICALLY The BP didn’t use a Twin Six, it used the Bedford Type 120, a heavily improved Twin Six that had way more torque, and was far more reliable.
But gaijin doesn’t know what torque is, and doesn’t model it in game at all so…
The front is not the only issue with the TOG, it should have an extra (12.7mm) layer of armor behind most of the hull and all-around the turret. Also, the outer turret cheek plates might supposed to be thicker (101.6mm instead of 88.9mm) and the inner thin one holds them in place with the bolts.
nice information it’s really hard to find about it in the books
am still confused about the front hull armor because in video i will link he said it’s 114MM of armor :
Yeah I’ve seen that video too… my guess is that they are counting the 12.7mm into the overall thickness, since 101.6+12.7=114.3mm. This is feasible as the frontal armor shares the same bolts as on the side panels, so it must have the inner layer.
In the video 50mm rear hull armor is mentioned too, but I’m not sure what he refers to exactly, as the plates above the transmission are visibly thin as seen on some pics… maybe its just the circular plates at the very end having 50mm.
is it just me or does the black prince feel a lot slower and less responsive than the regular churchill 7 despite only being ~20% heavier? its the only tank where i put cruise control on and got time to rub one out waiting for it to reach the front
