The Soviet FAI light armored car of 1933 is a domestic armored vehicle specially designed as a combat vehicle. In the process of creation, it was planned to use a new armored car as a command and control vehicle or as a means of communication and control. The subsequent operation of the FAI armored car in combat and front-line conditions was associated with the performance of precisely these functions.
The history of the creation and mass production of an armored FAI
In 1930, in the USSR, on the basis of components for American cars Ford-A and Ford-AA, in Nizhny Novgorod, the first Soviet cars began to be produced. In the same years, on the basis of the new chassis, the production of the first Soviet D-8 armored vehicles was launched, which were produced in small series. Further continuation of the armored car was supposed to be a new car, developed by the designers of the Izhora plant. By mid-1932, the project of a new light armored car was completed. A distinctive feature of the new product was the presence of an armored rotating turret in which the main armament was installed. The wheelbase, body and powerplant were taken from the American car Ford-A.
In early 1933, the new Soviet light armored car was put into service, having received the factory FAI index (Ford-A, Izhora). The serial production of the FAI armored car was organized at the new Gorky Automobile Plant. Over the years of production from 1933 to 1935 and from 1939 to 1942, GAZ produced 697 vehicles, which, together with the BA-20, became the most massive Soviet armored vehicles in the prewar years.
Tactical and technical parameters of the armored car FAI sample 1933
- Combat weight: 2.42 tons.
- Crew - 2 people.
- Overall dimensions: length - 3660 mm, width - 1680 mm, height - 1850 mm, clearance - 235 mm.
- Armament: 7.62-mm machine gun DT (ammunition - 1250 rounds).
- Armor thickness: 6-15 mm.
- Engine: GAZ-M1. Type: 4-cylinder carburetor, power 50 hp
- The maximum speed of the movement is 80 km / h.
- Cruising on the highway - 250-450 km.
- Overcoming obstacles: wall - 0.4 m, ditch - 0.5 m.
The Soviet FAI light armored car of 1933 received its baptism of fire during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Subsequently, the car took part in battles with Japanese troops on about. Hassan and on r. Halkin-Gol. The most significant stage in the history of armored vehicles of the FAI was their participation in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40 and combat service on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War.
A photo
