Britain gets it right

The Cruiser MkVIII Challenger 17 pounder tank first ran in September 1942. It mounted a QF 17 pounder gun on a Cromwell based chassis powered by the same 600 bhp Meteor engine on @68 octane Pool petrol.

The OTL Challenger suffered from the same flat front of the base Cromwell and a thinly armoured turret. The size of the turret still made it all lower than a Sherman and used 2 loaders whereas the Firefly used just the one body building contortionist midget. The base Cromwell chassis was lengthened to help carry the extra size and weight of the turret on it's new larger turret ring at 70" diameter.

If they had used the one loader for a smaller turret and a sloping front glacis (which would save a touch of weight) and accepted some small drop n speed from extra weight could this have been the standard British Cruiser tank for the invasion of NW Europe? There was no front gunner anyway so there was no need for a hull flat front to mount the absent BESA. The OTL turret gave good depression which would give it a much better hull down position than a Firefly which was limited in depression (not to mention being a crowded ergonomic nightmare).

Mention has been made of the extra length making turns harder with no extra width but the Czechs had no issue with this and took theirs home to Czechoslovakia after the war.

Going further. The post war Charioteer managed to mount a 20 pounder on used Cromwell chassis with it's 60" turret ring. Might the loss of the second loader allow a small enough turret to not need the extra OTL Challenger length or even the 70" ring?

Essentially one light postulate a 1942 prototype sloping front reliable fast British 17 pounder armed tank superceding the Base Cromwell as the standard production British cruiser tank instead of the Cromwell.

As they say in examinations: discuss.
 
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Essentially one light postulate a 1942 prototype sloping front reliable fast British 17 pounder armed tank superceding the Base Cromwell as the standard production British cruiser tank instead of the Cromwell.

As they say in examinations: discuss.

Essentially one might postulate a 1942 prototype?
All the ingredients are there, just it will need people to connect the dots. What it might help is earlier understanding that towed AT guns are second-best to self-propelled AT guns, that are themselves second best vs. tanks armed with said guns.
 
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