From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia FAI armoured car
FAI armoured car
FAI armoured car
Type Armoured car FAI armoured car, stored at Border Guard Barracks in Białys-
Place of origin
tok, Poland
Soviet Union
Specifications ly of this period. However, armoured cars based on com-
Weight 2 tons mercial car chassis were for the most part, road-bound,
thinly armoured and lightly armed. The FAI was a typical
Length 3.75
example of this class of vehicle with a single 7.62 mm
Width 1.68 DT machine-gun in a revolving turret. The armour was
sufficient to stop most shell fragments and small arms
Height 2.24
fire, but could not withstand any kind of cannon or heavy
Crew 2 machine-gun fire. It was also very vulnerable to mines.
The FAI was built in relatively small numbers before
Armor 4–6 mm being replaced by the very similar BA-20. The early BA-20
had the same vertically sided turret as the FAI. FAIs were
Main 7.62 mm DT machine gun
armament employed in the early days of fighting on the Eastern
Front in World War II. The Germans used some captured
Engine GAZ-A 4-cylinder vehicles of this type, at least one of which was taken over
42 hp
by Polish forces during the Warsaw uprising.
Suspension wheeled The FAI and BA-20 series had a few advanced fea-
tures. They were of all-welded construction in an era
Operational 200 km
range when very few AFVs were welded. Also, they had cork-
filled tires to enable them to retain mobility even if the
Speed 80 km/h tires were penetrated.
The FAI and BA-20 are often mistaken for each other.
The FAI (Ford-A Izhorskiy) armoured car was a replace- The main recognition feature of the FAI is the two dome-
ment for the D-8 armoured car, used by the Soviet Union shaped armoured covers over the driver and co-driver’s
from the early 1930s to early 1940s. stations. The BA-20 had a flat armoured roof in this area
The FAI was built on the chassis of the GAZ A car, instead.
a licensed copy of the US Ford A. This chassis was the
major weakness of the FAI. Most commercial car chassis
were not powerful enough to move a useful amount of ar- External links
mour or fire power on the battlefield. The Germans were • FAI at Battlefield.ru
known to get round this particular problem by design- • U.S. WWII Newsmap, "Russian Armored Vehicles",
ing a car chassis that was intended from the outset for hosted by the UNT Libraries Digital Collections
both civilian and military vehicles and which was used
successfully in at least one German armoured car fami-
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia FAI armoured car
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=FAI_armoured_car&oldid=457117570"
Categories:
• Armoured cars of World War II
• Armoured fighting vehicles of the interwar period
• World War II Soviet armoured fighting vehicles
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