The BA-64 is a light all-wheel-drive armored car designed and produced by the Gorky Automobile Plant on the chassis of the GAZ-64 off-road vehicle. It was the most widely produced armored vehicle of the Red Army: from 1942 to 1946, 3,901 BA-64s and 5,209 BA-64Bs were built.[1]
Six months from concept to machine
Work proceeded from 17 July 1941 to 9 January 1942 — about six months from sketch to finished prototype. The lead designer was Vitaly Andreyevich Grachyov.[1]
On 10 January 1942 the new vehicle was inspected by Marshal K. Ye. Voroshilov; after factory and field trials, on 3 March 1942 the armored car was shown to members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). In the summer of 1942, following state trials, the first production batch was sent to the troops of the Bryansk and Voronezh fronts.[1]
By a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated 10 April 1942, Grachyov was awarded the Stalin Prize — for the creation of the GAZ-64 and the BA-64.[1]
Role
The armored car was conceived as a reconnaissance and liaison vehicle: light, all-wheel-drive, with machine-gun armament in a rotating turret. The last 62 vehicles rolled off the Gorky assembly line in 1946.[1]
Sources
- gruzovikpress.ru — Gruzovik Press — Armored car BA-64 (archive)
- victorymuseum.ru — Museum of Victory — Light armored car BA-64B (archive)