The developed D-8 and D-12 turned out to be unsuccessful. The search continued. The decision came after the conclusion of a contract with Henry Ford for the supply of documentation for his cars in the USSR. In 1932, the design bureau of the Izhevsk plant creates an FAI armored car - Ford A Izhevsky. The variant on the GAZ-M1 chassis received the name FAI-M. In total, 697 FAI and FAI-M armored vehicles were produced, this is the second largest indicator in the Red Army in the pre-war period after the BA-20 armored car. Distinctive feature FAI and a very progressive solution was the placement of weapons in a rotating turret, although this increased the "growth" of the car to 2240 millimeters, and the mass - up to two tons. The armored car was put into service at the beginning of 1933. And although since 1934 it was completely produced from domestic components, it was decided not to change the name of the FAI.

The appearance of the FAI-M is not quite usual. The fact is that the Izhevsk plant continued to produce armored hulls when the production of the Ford-A chassis had already ceased. Three hundred armored hulls accumulated. And then they decided to put them on the GAZ-M1 chassis. November 1938 to January 1939 new version tested at the test site of the Research Institute of BT in Kubinka. The military gave positive reviews. Adopted for service under the name FAI-M, the hybrid differed from its progenitor in the back, on which an additional fuel tank and a bracket for attaching a spare wheel were mounted. The main place of production of the FAI was the Plant of buildings in Vyksa, Gorky region, modernized from the Vyksa plant of crushing and grinding equipment (DRO).

Armored rubber "do it yourself"

The armored car had a rear-wheel drive (4x2) chassis with a front engine. The riveted-welded body was made of sheets of rolled steel with a thickness of four to six millimeters, mounted at an angle. The crew of the armored vehicle included two, less often three people. The control compartment was combined with the combat one, the driver was placed to the left, and the commander of the vehicle sat to his right in the presence of a third crew member. The machine gunner was located behind. To prevent the driver and commander from resting their heads on the roof, blind armored caps were made over their places. With a crew of two, the commander took the functions of a machine gunner.

“ In Spain and clashes with the Japanese, the FAI followed the tanks in battle formations, successfully supporting the offensive ”

There were no optical instruments, the view was provided by windshields and rectangular windows in the side doors of the car. In battle, all this was covered by armored covers. The side doors opened forward, protecting the crew from fire in the event of leaving the armored car. Outside the battle and on the march, observation could be carried out from the hatch on the tower, which was closed with a hinged domed lid.

Armed with the FAI 7.62 mm DT machine gun. Ammunition - 1512 rounds. The machine gun was installed in such a way that it was possible to fire without rotating the turret in the sector of ± 10 degrees. The rotation of the tower was carried out by the physical efforts of the shooter and with the help of the back rest.

The GAZ-A four-cylinder liquid-cooled carburetor engine with a capacity of 40 horsepower made it possible to move along the highway at a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour. The cruising range with a full tank is 200 kilometers. Brakes are mechanical. The front and rear single wheels with bulletproof tires were covered from above by smoothly curved fenders, which at the bottom joined with the steps, on which boxes with spare parts and tools were sometimes attached.

In 1935, several FAI armored cars were equipped with devices for moving around railway, by the forces of the crew, the armored car was transferred to the trolley mode in 30 minutes, developed a speed of 86 kilometers per hour along the rails. Ammunition was increased to 2520 rounds. In 1936, these samples entered service with the 5th separate armored rubber battalion, where they were operated until July 1945, after which they were replaced by BA-20zhd, which fought with Imperial Japan.

Long life in captivity

The FAI was used in the fight against the Basmachi in Central Asia, in the civil war in Spain, on Khasan and Khalkhin Gol, in Finland. Irrecoverable losses were insignificant. For example, in the battles at Khalkhin Gol and Khasan - 17 vehicles, in the Winter War - two. Captured FAI were willingly used by the Francoists during the war in Spain.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there were 376 FAI and FAI-M in the parts of the Red Army (in the documents there is no clear differentiation of one machine from another). On the Soviet-German front, the bulk of the vehicles were lost in 1941, but armored cars were used until 1943. On the Trans-Baikal Front, even longer. The armored cars that fell into Finnish captivity served until the 50s as police and training armored vehicles.

In addition, in 1934–1935, 30 FAIs were supplied to the NKVD troops, and in 1936, 15 vehicles were sold to Mongolia.

The FAI has proven itself as a reconnaissance and patrol vehicle. But weak armament and armor did not allow it to be used in head-on collisions directly on the battlefield. Attempts to strengthen both were undertaken, but led to a deterioration performance characteristics. It was decided to entrust purely combat missions to other armored vehicles.

However, in Spain and clashes with the Japanese, the FAI was used in combat formations directly behind the tanks, suppressing resistance points with machine-gun fire and successfully supporting the offensive. The FAI coped with the tasks set, the losses were insignificant.

Of the modifications, the most interesting is the GAZ-TK ("Three-axle Kurchevsky"). In 1934-1935, a slightly elongated body from the FAI was installed on the chassis for the 76-mm dynamo-reactive gun designed by Kurchevsky, which made it possible to add a radio operator. The three-axle vehicle had better cross-country ability, despite the weight increased to 2.62 tons. The maximum speed is 60 kilometers per hour. He did not go into the GAZ-TK series.

In 1932, the designers of the Izhora plant developed a turret armored car, which received the FAI designation ("Ford-A" Izhorsky). As the name implies, the same Ford-A chassis, which was assembled at the Gudok Oktyabrya plant in Kanavina, was used as the base. The new advanced layout of the vehicle led to a significant increase in its height (up to 2240 mm) and its weight, which reached 2 tons. However, the combat qualities and convenience of the crew in the new armored car have improved significantly.

FAI production began in 1933 at the Izhora plant in Leningrad, then it was transferred to the Vyksinsky DRO plant, where it continued until 1936. In total, during this time, 676 armored cars left the factory shops, and since 1934, the domestic GAZ-A chassis has been used as a base.

The combat weight of the FAI was 2 tons. The crew consisted of two people. The armored car was armed with a 7.62 mm DT machine gun mounted in a ball mount on the front wall of the turret. Machine gun ammunition - 1323 rounds. The welded armored body of the vehicle was made of rolled sheets 3.4 and 6 mm thick. The wall thickness of the tower was 6 mm. The landing of the crew was carried out through the side doors. Observation of the battlefield was carried out through observation hatches. In a combat situation, they were closed with armored covers with viewing slots. In the roof of the tower there was a hatch with a hinged domed lid. Through it, it was also possible to conduct surveillance outside of combat.

40 hp engine allowed the armored car to reach speeds on the highway up to 80 km / h. Cruising on the highway reached 200 km.

In 1933, a modification of the FAI railway was produced at the Izhora plant. To move on rails, metal bandages with flanges were worn over ordinary automobile tires. On the railway track, the armored car easily reached speeds of up to 86 km / h. A significant drawback was the long time (about 30 minutes) for installing tires and the impossibility of reversing faster than 24 km / h.

In December 1934, for the FAI armored car in the Design Bureau of Plant No. 1 MOZHEREZ, under the leadership of N.G. Orlov, another version of the railway was developed.

FAI entered service with the tank units of the Red Army. As of March 25, 1936, seven (out of 13) military districts had 574 such armored cars. Most of them were in the Kiev (129), Belorussian (113) and Trans-Baikal military districts.

FAI armored vehicles received their baptism of fire in Spain. Soviet tanks and armored cars began to arrive in this country en masse from the beginning of December 1936 and almost immediately rushed into battle.

So, on December 20, 1936, a tank company under the command of P. Tsaplin, consisting of nine T-26 tanks and six FAI armored vehicles in the bodies of specially equipped heavy trucks, was transferred to the Aragonese front with the task of supporting the operation to eliminate the Teruel salient. December 27 tank company went on the attack. The armored vehicles followed the tanks along the road, firing right and left at the rebel firing points. The enemy put up fierce resistance, throwing gasoline bottles at the tanks and firing from anti-tank guns. Over the next six days, Tsaplin's company went on the attack several more times, but to no avail. During these battles, four T-26s and one FAI were lost.

In total, during the years of the civil war in Spain, the FAI delivered 33 armored vehicles to the Republicans.

During the conflict near the Khalkhin Gol, armored vehicles of this type were used by both Soviet and Mongolian units. The first 15 FAI armored cars were sent to Mongolia back in 1936. By the spring of 1939, the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army had eight cavalry divisions, each of which was supposed to have nine FAI armored vehicles per state. However, not all divisions were fully staffed, so it is not possible to accurately indicate the number of FAI armored vehicles in the Mongolian troops at the beginning of the conflict. But in parts of the 1st Army Group of the Red Army, as of July 20, 1939, there were 80 FAI armored vehicles. They were actively used in the fighting to destroy the Japanese group.

FAI combat vehicles took part in the "liberation campaign" in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, as well as in the Soviet-Finnish war.

The desire to strengthen the armor protection and armament of light armored cars inevitably led to an increase in their combat mass. A standard light chassis could no longer withstand such a load - at the FAI it exceeded the nominal one by about 40%. As a result, the car's cross-country ability was rather low on dirt roads (especially in spring and autumn) and was completely absent on rough terrain.

In 1934, a three-axle car GAZ-TK appeared, designed at the Gorky Automobile Plant as a self-propelled chassis for a 76-mm dynamo-reactive gun designed by L.V. Kurchevsky (TK - "three-axle Kurchevsky"). In fact, this car was still the same GAZ-A, but the third drive axle was suspended from its elongated frame on a transverse spring, and bevel gears with a large gear ratio were installed in the main gear to ensure better traction with a weak 40-horsepower GAZ engine -BUT.

The appearance of a new chassis stimulated attempts to solve the problem of light armored vehicles' patency.

In 1935, the Kolomna Plant manufactured a prototype of the GAZ-TK armored car, installing an extended FAI hull on the chassis of the same name. With the same armament and armor, the new armored car had a more spacious fighting compartment, which made it possible to equip it with a radio station and introduce a third crew member - a radio operator. The patency of the car has noticeably increased. The overcome rise reached 22 °. However, due to the fact that the combat weight increased to 2.62 tons, the maximum speed decreased to 63 m / h. Despite the fact that the specific pressure of the GAZ-TK was only 1.8 kgf / cm 2, the low-power engine and unreliable undercarriage did not allow the dynamic characteristics of the armored car to be brought to the required level.

1 - DT machine gun; 2 - tower body; 3 - viewing slot with a damper; 4 - folding cap; 5 - hinged cap; 6 - stopper latch hinged cap; 7 - pillow; 8 - ball installation of a machine gun; 9 - sleeve catcher; 10 - belt for the shooter; 11 - stopper of the turret marching mount

The FAI-M armored car is easily distinguished from the FAI by appearance due to the "tail" - an armored casing that covered the frame of the GAZ M-1 chassis. A spare wheel was mounted on a special bracket on the casing.

By 1939, most of the FAI, who were in the army, was badly worn out as a result of long-term operation. Spare parts were in short supply - the GAZ-A was discontinued in 1935. A way out of this situation was found by rearranging the FAI armored corps on the GAZ-M1 chassis. For the first time, such an operation was carried out at Rembaza No. 6 in 1938. In November 1938 - January 1939, such an armored car, designated FAI-M, was tested at the NIIBT Polygon in Kubinka near Moscow.

The armored hull from the GAZ-A chassis was moved to the M-1 chassis, which had a front axle reinforced with pads. Since the length of the M-1 frame was much longer than the length of the armored hull of the FAI, its rear part and the gas tank were armored with additional sheets welded to the aft armor plate of the hull. In total, during the tests, the FAI-M passed 3180 km along the highway and country roads. Despite the fact that the combat weight of the vehicle increased and reached 2.28 tons, thanks to a more powerful engine, the dynamic qualities even increased slightly. For example, the maximum speed on an asphalt highway was 83.1 km/h.

In the conclusion of the commission that tested the armored car, it was said: "Modernization of the FAI by placing the hull on the M-1 chassis makes it equivalent in its dynamic qualities to the BA-20. However, the use of the FAI-M will be limited due to the presence of inferior booking. The hull in terms of design and quality inferior to BA-20. During serial modernization, the following changes must be made:

1. Strengthen the front axle.

2. Carry out sealing of the housing (from liquid agents, etc.).

3. Increase the power reserve by installing an additional gas tank.

All of these changes must be carried out during serial modernization, and only after that the FAI-M armored car can be accepted for operation in the Red Army as an additional type to the main BA-20.

It is not known whether all of the above changes were made, but in the second half of 1939, work began on the modernization of the FAI at the repair bases of the People's Commissariat of Defense. It has not yet been possible to find out how many armored hulls were transferred from the GAZ-A to the M-1 chassis. We can only say for sure that not all armored cars have undergone such a rework.

Armored vehicle FAI-M, shot down in the early days of the Great Patriotic War. The type of armored car is easy to identify by the characteristic dome-shaped stampings above the heads of the driver and commander, the wheels from the "emka" and the vertical lower side plates of the hull

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there were 376 FAI and FAI-M in the Red Army units (in the documents of that period they were not clearly divided). It is known that by June 22, 1941, a small number of vehicles of this type were in the 34th Panzer Division (8 microns), the 24th Panzer Division (10 microns), the 17th Panzer Division (5 microns) and in some other parts. Almost all of them were lost in the first months of the war, although individual armored vehicles of this type are found in the lists of tank units of the Red Army in the spring and summer of 1942.

In the summer - autumn of 1941, several armored vehicles went to the Finns, who used our light armored cars mainly in police and training parts. FAI-M served in the Finnish army until 1950.

Soviet light armored car FAI 1933 is a domestic armored vehicle, specially designed as a combat vehicle. In the process of creation, it was planned to use the new armored car as a command 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 serial production of the FAI armored car

In 1930, in the USSR, on the basis of components for American cars "Ford-A" and "Ford-AA" in Nizhny Novgorod began to produce the first cars in the USSR. 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 a small series. A further continuation of the armored car was to be a new vehicle being developed by the designers of the Izhora plant. By the middle of 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 power plant were taken from the American car "Ford-A".

At the beginning of 1933, a new Soviet light armored car was put into service, having received the FAI factory index (Ford-A, Izhorsky). Serial production of the FAI armored car was organized at the new Gorky Automobile Plant. In total, over the years of production from 1933 to 1935 and from 1939 to 1942, GAZ manufactured 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 model 1933

• Combat weight: 2.42 tons.
• Crew - 2 people.
• Overall dimensions: length - 3660 mm, width - 1680 mm, height - 1850 mm, ground 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 is 80 km/h.
• Cruising on the highway - 250-450 km.
• Overcoming obstacles: wall - 0.4 m, ditch - 0.5 m.

The FAI Soviet light armored car of 1933 was baptized by fire during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Subsequently, the car took part in battles with Japanese troops on about. Hasan and on the river. Halkin Gol. The most significant stage in the history of FAI armored vehicles was their participation in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40 and military service on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War.

A photo

The history of wars knows many examples of the use as weapons of things that would seem to be completely unsuitable for these purposes. But pretty effective. Starting from boiling tar on the heads of knights storming castles and monasteries and ending with gas cylinders stuffed with explosives in Syria.

We are accustomed to the fact that war has practically no borders. You can fight in space, in the sky, on the surface of the earth, underground, on water, under water. And you can even use insects. The main thing is to win! Robots of all kinds are in trend today. Robots as consumables on the battlefield. Such a savage, mocking "society's concern" for its defenders - the people.

But there is another aspect of the war that we don't really talk about. The use of civilian infrastructure by troops. However, if you look at the trends in the development of modern weapons, it turns out that modern armies, those that are, according to various estimates, at the very top of the ratings, simply cannot fight without good infrastructure! And this is not something that is logical, it is vital.

Is it possible to imagine modern heavy tanks on a 500-600-kilometer march on their own? Or modern systems mobile air defense, making their way through swamps and taiga without prepared roads? Even "infantry", we deliberately put this word in quotation marks, today cannot operate without the use of civilian infrastructure. Dear.

And the very name "infantry" for modern ground units sounds mocking. If there is that amount various equipment, which is available to the combined arms commander.

Speaking of infrastructure, we often mean the presence of roads and road bridges. In short, everything that can be used by wheeled and tracked military technicians.

The railway, which in developed countries is quite comparable in length to motor roads, is considered only as an opportunity for the rapid transfer of equipment and personnel over long distances. Meanwhile, the military began to use the railway for conducting military operations quite a long time ago.

Today we start a series of articles about military equipment, which was specially created for the conduct of hostilities on the railway. Equipment that is undeservedly forgotten today, although some samples have become grandfathers or great-grandfathers of the most powerful modern weapons.

So, we present the first hero of the new series: reconnaissance armored vehicle "Type 2 railway", better known as a light armored car FAI-M-ZhD. It is this modification of the RB-2 that you see in the pictures. But you have to start from afar. As usual, we basically...

After the end of the Civil War, designers were captured by the idea of ​​​​creating light armored vehicles and tankettes. Both wheeled and tracked. The prospects for these armored vehicles were painted only in iridescent colors. Speed, armor protection of crews, automatic weapons with sufficient lightness of the vehicle itself. And all this against an infantryman practically unarmed against armor.

However, already in the late 1920s and early 1930s, it became clear that "wheel wedges" were a dead end. The fighters have own funds fight these machines. Weak armor has ceased to be the protection of the crew. And in order to get out of the line of fire of such a tankette, it was enough to move away from the road. The permeability of the "weighted" civilian car was low. The "mechanical cart" no longer satisfied the modern army at that time.

But at the same time, the army demanded a light armored reconnaissance vehicle. Strange as it may sound today, but heavier armored vehicles were the first to appear in the USSR. For example, the BA-27 has been in operation in the Red Army since 1928. The effect was that at the disposal of the BA-27 designer A. Rozhkov was the first Soviet truck - a one and a half ton AMO F-15.

The design of a new light armored vehicle was entrusted to the design bureau of N. I. Dyrenkov and the design bureau of the Izhora plant, in which A. A. Rozhkov worked. The chassis of the new light armored car was a chassis from a Ford-A car.

And then the detective begins.

Design Bureau Dyrenkov designs two armored vehicles at once. D-8 (we will certainly tell about it) and D-12. The design bureau of the Izhora plant is designing its own armored car. The Izhors initially took the simplest path. They armored the car with a "box" without a cover. Dyrenkov, on the other hand, created a completely digestible version of a machine with two machine guns. Naturally, both Dyrenkov machines were adopted by the Red Army in 1931.

But, on his own initiative, the engineer of the Izhora Design Bureau A. A. Rozhkov is developing his own car on the same base. Moreover, in June 1930, Rozhkov sent his project to the NTK. The project falls into the hands of the head of the UMM, I. Khalepsky, and he, in his own power, orders to organize the consideration of the project as soon as possible.

Already in July of the same year, the project was considered and recognized as more promising than Dyrenkov's machines. The main advantage of this machine was a fully armored hull and a rotating turret with all-round visibility. Attempts to "pressure" the commission on the only machine gun (7.62 mm DT machine gun) were rejected by the military. At that time, it was believed that for a light reconnaissance vehicle, one machine gun (but in the tower in all directions) was quite sufficient.

The next episode of our detective story.

For field tests, it is necessary to create several prototypes of the car. In different documents, the product was designated differently. "Ford-A with a tower" or "Ford-A Rozhkov" or FAR. Naturally, the Izhora plant was supposed to be engaged in the production of prototypes ...

But ... Izhora plant could not deal with these machines for a banal reason. There were no free production areas and personnel. The plant was overloaded with other orders. And the production of prototypes was transferred ... OKIB N.I. Dyrenkov. It would seem that the fate of the project was sealed. But not in Stalin's times...

Both prototypes were assembled on time and with the required quality. The experienced design and testing bureau of Dyrenkov, by the way, largely thanks to the seething energy of Dyrenkov himself, did not sink to meanness. The samples were collected "excellent" and submitted for testing on February 18, 1931.

In the autumn tests, the new armored car was in no way inferior to the D-8 and D-12!

The new armored car had a body assembled by welding from rolled armor plates with a thickness of 4 to 6 mm. The layout of the HEADLIGHTS was classic, with the front engine compartment.

In the middle part there was a department of management, where the driver's seat was located. Due to the lack of space above the driver's seat, which actually rested his head on the ceiling, a hemispherical dome was made.

In the combat compartment, located in the stern, was the commander of the vehicle. He served the only DT machine gun, installed in a cylindrical turret with a flat frontal armor plate and a dome similar to the corps. Ammunition stacked here, along the sides.

The running gear of the HEADLIGHTS was almost completely similar truck"Ford-A", the production of which was established at the Gorky Automobile Plant. The wheel formula and transmission remained unchanged.

The wheels themselves remained spoked, with ordinary (unprotected) tires, and they did not have any additional protection.

An in-line gasoline engine with an HP 30 power was installed on the armored vehicle.

But the detective was not over. The confrontation between armored vehicles and designers could not be resolved without a victim. This victim was OKIB N. I. Dyrenkov. In 1932 it was liquidated. Naturally, the priority of the work of D-8 and D-12 over the FAR was also eliminated. And the project itself was transferred “home”, to the Izhora plant.

It was there that a new prototype appeared, which is known to us under the name "armored Ford-A" of the Izhora plant. Now, developments tested on N. Dyrenkov's cars were introduced into Rozhkov's sample. A new turret and a new hull appeared on the new, already Izhora machine. In August 1932, the project was approved by the UMM of the Red Army and recommended for mass production. At the same time, the name of the FAI - "Ford A-Izhorsky" was "legally assigned" to the car. In the Red Army, the armored car was named RB-2. Reconnaissance armored vehicle type 2.

But detective stories don't just end there. It seems to be clear that the FAI should be issued where this “I” in the title comes from. However... Due to the overload of the Izhora plant, the production of the FAI was entrusted to... the Vyksa plant of crushing and grinding equipment (DRO)! Moreover, it was planned to produce cars in fairly serious quantities - 100 pieces a year!

Could the workers and engineers of the DRO fulfill the order? With all your will, no. Although ... At about the same time, a young engineer Alexander Yakovlev was making his first plane at the bed factory ...

Missing not only necessary equipment but also personnel capable of doing such work. Yes, and the Izhors "helped" the Vyksa engineers by handing over completely "raw" drawings. But the specialists in crushing machines coped with the task! And again with the help of D-12.

The chassis from Ford-A passed without changes - only the rear seat and body were dismantled. The corps had welded structure and was assembled from armor plates with a thickness of 6.75 mm (frontal part) to 3 mm (roof).

For the landing of the crew, there were two rectangular doors on each side, where small hatches were cut out. The driver monitored the environment through viewing slots made in two hatches in the frontal hull sheet. Another similar hatch was on the right in the stern sheet.

A entrenching tool (shovel and ax) and a spare wheel were attached a little lower. To improve the work of the crew, two hemispherical domes were installed on the roof of the driver's compartment, instead of one.

The tower of the new design acquired a more elongated shape, thereby increasing the internal volume, while maintaining the dome. The composition of the weapons remained the same, but the crew was increased to 3 people: the commander and driver were located in the front, behind them was the machine gunner's seat, who sat (or hung) in a canvas loop.

The FAI armored car was equipped with a Ford 30 hp gasoline engine. and was protected by an armored hood. Machines produced in 1934-1935. equipped with a double hatch access to the engine, and the cars of the latest series of 1936-1937. - single-sided.

The DRO plant managed to produce the first FAI only in February 1932. The car was immediately handed over for sea trials, which were successful for the FAI.

It's time to talk directly about the car that you see in the photo. Attentive readers have noticed that the FAI is somewhat different from the FAI-M, even visually. The photo clearly shows the protrusion at the stern of the car, on which the spare wheel is fixed. On a non-modernized machine, this protrusion is not.

This is not a railroad gadget. This is a regular fuel tank. True, armored and a spare tire here is also an additional protection.

The most radical modernization was carried out in 1939, when most of the FAI had a lot of running gear wear and needed a major overhaul. Instead of the "Ford" chassis, a proposal was made to use the chassis from the GAZ-M1 car.

The front axle of the GAZ-M1 was reinforced with additional pads, and in the stern, on the protruding part of the longer frame, a gas tank closed with armor plates was installed, on top of which it was possible to mount a spare wheel. For the first time, such a modernization was carried out by workshops No. 6 in Bryansk in September 1938. Despite the weight increased to 2280 kg, the car's patency on country roads and soft ground improved, and the maximum speed was 83.1 km / h.

The conclusion of the military commission, which was present during the tests, stated the following:

“Modernization of the FAI by placing the hull on the M-1 chassis makes it equivalent in its dynamic qualities to the BA-20. However, the use of FAI-M will be limited due to the presence of defective booking. The hull is inferior in design and quality to the BA-20.

For series upgrades, the following changes must be made:
1. Strengthen the front axle.
2. Carry out sealing of the housing (from liquid agents, etc.).
3. Increase the power reserve by installing an additional gas tank.

All of the above changes must be carried out during serial modernization, and only after that the FAI-M armored car can be accepted for operation in the Red Army as an additional type to the main BA-20».

Hence the idea of ​​​​putting the FAI on a railway course and using it as an armored rubber tire arose.

The first versions of the FAI on the railway track were released in 1936. The first car was presented ... by the employees of warehouse No. 60! The car had an interchangeable course and differed from a conventional armored car in the presence of a jack and metal bandages worn over the wheels. When driving on ordinary roads, the bandages were simply removed and attached to the sides of the armored hull.

By 1939, most of the FAI, who were in the army, were badly worn out as a result of long-term operation. There were also not enough spare parts for repairs - the GAZ-A was discontinued in 1935. A way out of this situation was found by rearranging the FAI armored corps on the GAZ-M1 chassis. For the first time, such an operation was carried out at repair base No. 6 in 1938. In November 1938 - January 1939, such an armored car, which received the designation FAI-M, was tested at the BT Research Institute in Kubinka near Moscow.

The armored hull from the GAZ-A chassis was moved to the M-1 chassis with reinforced front axle pads. Since the length of the M-1 frame was much longer than the length of the FAI armor hull, the rear of the frame and the gas tank were armored with additional sheets welded to the rear armor plate of the hull. In total, during the tests, the FAI-M passed 3180 kilometers along the highway and country roads. Despite the fact that the combat weight of the vehicle increased and reached 2280 kg, thanks to a more powerful engine, the dynamic qualities even increased slightly. For example, the maximum speed on an asphalt highway was 83.1 km/h

During 1939, the chassis was replaced with parts of the FAI, and new FAI-Ms were commissioned, made using about 300 FAI bodies that had accumulated at the Izhora plant as a result of the GAZ-A being discontinued.

The performance characteristics of the FAI-M armored car correspond to those of the FAI, with the exception of engine power (50 hp), maximum speed (90 km/h) and cruising range (250-315 km).

Until recently, it was believed that only a broken armored hull in the Museum of the Polish Army in Warsaw survived from numerous FAIs. However, the FAI-M was recently restored by the "Military Historical Club of the Red Army" (pictured above). The basis for the reconstruction was the original FAI-M armored hull and part of the units recovered by the search group of the Red Army Club from a swamp in the Novgorod region in the winter of 1992, as well as the original chassis of the M-1 car. Thus, a group of enthusiasts did the same work as the designers of the Izhora plant 64 years ago.

Comments on drawings:

"The drawings were made using measurements of a genuine FAI-M armored cornus, kindly provided for this purpose by the Red Army military-historical club (their email address: www.rkka.msk.ru). Unfortunately, the interior of the car has practically not been preserved, so now it is problematic to accurately reproduce it in the drawings or on the model.In the process of restoring the vehicle, the doors of the fighting compartment were re-manufactured - they differ from the original ones.The correct doors are in the drawing.On the FAI-M from the Red Army, a sound signal bracket is installed on the left side.Moreover, installed not during the restoration, but still "during the life" of the machine. This method of installing the "beep" is unique and is not found in any of the known archival photographs of the FAI-M. Perhaps, both this and other similar minor differences between different machines of this types are explained by the fact that the FAI-M were modernized directly by the repair bases of military units, and were not mass-produced at the factory.Of course, manuals for such a front were sent from the center lke (about 5 pages long), but still, still...
In the photographs of the FAI, FAI-M, BA-3 and BA-6, there are two types of side hatches for access to the engine - folding double-leaf and single-leaf (in the drawing). In the first case, the locks of the upper hood of the engine were placed on the front inclined armor plates (as on the BA-6 in M-Hobby No. purpose special brackets (so on the drawing).
The hulls of the FAI and FAI-M, of course, are identical, but in order to be installed on the emka chassis, the lower triangular armor plates had to be replaced to mate with a car frame of a different configuration and width. New sheets were installed on rivets at a shallower angle to the sides of the hull. On the rivets, with the help of corner plates, the “tail” that protected the rear of the frame and the gas tank was docked. On the experimental FAI-M alone, the aforementioned armored parts were welded, while the riveting technology was more accessible in the troops.

Pay attention to the asymmetric arrangement of the rear observation slot in the turret and the bulletproof nut on the armored cap of the turret hatch (it was shifted aft by 20 mm).
FAI-M ran on ordinary "EM" rubber 7.00-16 "with a road tread pattern. Depending on the time of production of a batch of tires, they had an inscription either "Yaroslavl Rubber Plant" or "Yaroslavl Tire Plant". The so-called "GK tires" with sponge rubber filler. Wheels with GK externally differed only in the absence of nipples for inflating the chamber. rims GAZ-M1 had decorative caps. In some photographs of armored cars, the caps are visible, but basically they did without them - they were held on the disk by springy plates, and it was enough to "attach" the sidewall of the wheel on the "elements of the road relief" a couple of times in order to lose these protruding parts. Yes, and the wheel is more convenient to remove and install without hubcaps.
The front flashlights of the "emka" (do not consider them turn signals, in those days "these nonsense" was not thought of - they performed mainly a decorative function) and the right brake light were absent on combat armored cars.
There was, as a rule, one box for small tools - on the left footboard. But this is by no means a dogma - the FAI-M went with its mirror location, and in general with two ... It was supposed to carry a shovel, an ax and a crowbar from the entrenching tool from the outside. The shovel lay diagonally on the "tail", the ax and crowbar were theoretically (and on the experimental FAI-M) attached to the rear armor plate, in the same way as it was done on a conventional FAI. The FAI-M also has some brackets there, but it’s not clear to me how they could attach something to them. Is it with strings ... It seems that in the 40s this question arose for someone - you can’t see an ax with a crowbar in any photo.
M. Baryatinsky