The Schofield tank, named after its designer, was a
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
tank design of the Second World War. Developed in 1940 when it seemed that the
Pacific War might reach New Zealand and with little likelihood of weapons coming from
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, it did not enter service. It was designed to run on either tracks or wheels.
Design and development
When a need for the production of indigenous
armoured fighting vehicle
An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured cars, ...
s arose in 1940, E. J. Schofield, a motor vehicle dealer for
General Motors in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
, approached the government with his own design.
Schofield's tank was based on the chassis of a
Chevrolet truck using the suspension from a
Universal Carrier
The Universal Carrier, also known as the Bren Gun Carrier and sometimes simply the Bren Carrier from the light machine gun armament, is a common name describing a family of light armoured tracked vehicles built by Vickers-Armstrongs and othe ...
. Wheels normally carried on the hull could be bolted on so that it could use these rather than the tracks. As initially designed it had a crew of three: machine gunner and driver at the front and a second machine gun in a turret at the rear.
The initial design performed badly in trials but the Government sought an improved version. Designed by another member of the original team, the improved model used a better transmission and the turret now contained a
QF 2 pounder gun with a co-axial
Besa machine gun
The Besa machine gun was a British version of the Czechoslovak ZB-53 air-cooled, belt-fed machine gun (called the TK vz. 37 in the Czechoslovak army"TK" from ''těžký kulomet'' "heavy machine gun"; "vz" from ''vzor'' "Model").
The name came ...
. By the time it was complete, in 1942, New Zealand had received tanks from the UK and US.
The armour plating was provided by the
New Zealand Railways. The four wheels shared drive and idler sprockets with the track, and the move from wheels to track, and vice versa, could be made from within the hull.
In 1943 the improved design prototype was shipped to Britain, where it was evaluated by the
Department of Tank Design
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
. Although not completely critical, the project was advised to be stopped. The tank was stored for a while and scrapped after the war.
See also
*
Half-track
A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels at the front for steering and continuous tracks at the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cro ...
Other Commonwealth Tanks of the Second World War
*
Bob Semple tank – New Zealand improvised tank design
*
Sentinel tank – Australian indigenous tank design
*
Ram tank
The Tank, Cruiser, Ram was a cruiser tank designed and built by Canada in the Second World War, based on the U.S. M3 Medium tank chassis. Due to standardization on the American Sherman tank for frontline units, it was used exclusively for tra ...
– Canadian indigenous tank design
*
Grizzly tank – Canadian licence built M4A1 Sherman
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
External links
Track-and-wheel Schofield's tanks (Russian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schofield Tank
Tanks of New Zealand
World War II tanks of New Zealand
Military equipment of New Zealand
New Zealand design