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Light Tanks Of The United Kingdom
The Light Tank Mark I to Mark V were a series of related designs of light tank produced by Vickers for the British Army during the interwar period. Between the First and Second World Wars, the British produced a series of similar light tanks. They saw use in training, and in limited engagements with British Empire units such as the South African Army during the East African Campaign of 1941. All were around in weight and capable of on roads and around cross-country. The British did not expect their light tanks to be used against anything except other light tanks at most and as such armament was a machine gun only—Vickers machine guns firing either a .303 inch or . 0.5 inch (12.7 mm) round. Suspension was Horstmann coil spring on bogies. The engine was a Meadows six-cylinder petrol. Up until the Mk V, they were crewed by a driver-commander and gunner. The Mk V had a driver, a gunner and a commander helping on the gun. The various marks were produced in relativel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Light Tank
A light tank is a Tank classification, tank variant initially designed for rapid movements in and out of combat, to outmaneuver heavier tanks. It is smaller with thinner vehicle armour, armor and a less powerful tank gun, main gun, tailored for better tactical mobility (military), mobility and ease of transport and military logistics, logistics. They are primarily employed in the screening (tactical), screening, armoured reconnaissance, armored reconnaissance, skirmishing, artillery observer, artillery observation, and supplementing landing operations in a fire support role of expeditionary warfare, expeditionary forces where larger, heavier tanks are unavailable or have difficulties operating safely or efficiently. The fast light tank was a major feature of the pre–World War II army buildup, where it was expected they would be used to exploit breakthroughs in enemy lines created by slower, heavier tanks, with the goal of disrupting communications and supply lines. Numerous sm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Light Tank Mk VI
The Tank, Light, Mk VI was a British light tank, produced by Vickers-Armstrongs in the late 1930s, which saw service during the Second World War. Development history The Tank, Light, Mk VI was the sixth in the line of light tanks built by Vickers-Armstrongs for the British Army during the interwar period. The company had achieved a degree of standardization with their previous five models, and the Mark VI was identical in all but a few respects. The turret, which had been expanded in the Mk V to allow a three-man crew to operate the tank, was further expanded to give room in its rear for a wireless set. The weight of the tank was increased to , which although heavier than previous models actually improved its handling characteristics, and an engine was added to the model to increase its maximum speed to . It had the Horstmann coil-spring suspension system, which was found to be durable and reliable, although the fact that the tank was short in relation to its width and that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers Light Dragon
The Vickers Light Dragon was a fully-tracked British field artillery tractor made by Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd from 1929 to 1935. Designed to tow small-calibre field guns, it complemented Vickers' Vickers Medium Dragon, Medium Dragon tractor, which pulled medium to heavy artillery. There were three main versions, Light Dragon Marks I-III. The first two were based on the chassis of Vickers Light Tanks Marks II and III, and the Light Dragon Mark III used the running gear of the Vickers-Armstrongs DA50, an early version of what became the Universal Carrier. Mark I The Vickers Light Dragon was manufactured at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich Arsenal and was intended to tow the QF 18-pounder gun. The chassis and running gear came from the Light tanks of the United Kingdom#Tank, Light, Mk II, Vickers Light Tank Mk II, which first appeared in 1929. There were four large spoked road wheels in pairs, using Horstmann suspension with horizontal coil springs, and three return rollers. The front spr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Arsenal
The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich is an establishment on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England, that was used for the manufacture of armaments and ammunition, proof test, proofing, and explosives research for the British armed forces. It was originally known as the Woolwich Warren, having begun on land previously used as a Warren (domestic), domestic warren in the grounds of a mid-16th century Tudor house, Tower Place. Much of the initial history of the site is linked with that of the Office of Ordnance, which purchased the Warren in the late 17th century in order to expand an earlier base at Gun Wharf in Woolwich Dockyard. Over the next two centuries, as operations grew and innovations were pursued, the site expanded massively. At the time of the World War I, First World War the Arsenal covered and employed close to 80,000 people. Thereafter its operations were scaled down. It finally closed as a factory in 1967 and the Ministry of Defence m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers Armstrong
Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, with the remainder being divested as Vickers plc in 1977. It featured among Britain's most prominent armaments firms. History Vickers merged with the Tyneside-based engineering company Armstrong Whitworth, founded by William Armstrong, to become Vickers-Armstrongs. Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers had developed along similar lines, expanding into various military sectors and produced a whole suite of military products. Armstrong Whitworth were notable for their artillery manufacture at Elswick and shipbuilding at a yard at High Walker on the River Tyne. 1929 saw the merger of the acquired railway business with those of Cammell Laird to form Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon (MCCW); Metro Cammell. In 1935, before rearmament began, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Preselector Gearbox
A preselector gearbox is a type of manual transmission mostly used on passenger cars and racing cars in the 1930s, in buses from 1940–1960 and in armoured vehicles from the 1930s to the 1970s. The defining characteristic of a preselector gearbox is that the gear shift lever allowed the driver to "pre-select" the next gear, usually with the transmission remaining in the current gear until the driver pressed the "gear change pedal" at the desired time. The design removed the need for the driver to master the timing of using a clutch pedal and shift lever in order to achieve a smooth shift in a non-synchromesh manual transmission. Most pre-selector transmissions avoid a driver-controlled clutch entirely. Some use one solely for starting from a standstill. Preselector gearboxes were most common prior to the widespread adoption of the automatic transmission, so they were considered in comparison to the " crash gearbox" type of manual transmission. Preselector gearboxes were often m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bovington Tank Museum
The Tank Museum (previously the Bovington Tank Museum) is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about north of the village of Wool, Dorset, Wool and west of the major port of Poole. The collection traces the history of the tank with almost 300 vehicles on display. It includes Tiger 131, the only working example of a German Tiger I tank, and a British First World War Mark I tank, Mark I, the world's oldest surviving combat tank. It is the museum of the Royal Tank Regiment and the Royal Armoured Corps and is a charitable organization, registered charity. History The writer Rudyard Kipling visited Bovington in 1923 and, after viewing the damaged tanks that had been salvaged at the end of the World War I, First World War, recommended that a museum be set up. A shed was established to house the collection but was not opened to the general public until 1947. George Forty, who was appointed director of the museum in 1982, e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leaf Spring
A leaf spring is a simple form of spring (device), spring commonly used for suspension (vehicle), suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, it is one of the oldest forms of vehicle suspension. A leaf spring is one or more narrow, arc-shaped, thin plates that are attached to the axle and chassis in a way that allows the leaf spring to flex vertically in response to irregularities in the road surface. Lateral leaf springs are the most commonly used arrangement, running the length of the vehicle and mounted perpendicular to the wheel axle, but numerous examples of transverse leaf springs exist as well. Leaf springs can serve multiple suspension functions: location, springing, and to some extent damping as well, through interleaf friction. However, this friction is not well controlled, resulting in stiction and irregular suspension motions. For t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Carrier
The Universal Carrier, a development of the earlier Bren Gun Carrier from its light machine gun armament, was one of a family of light armoured tracked vehicles built by Vickers-Armstrongs and other companies. The first carriers – the Bren Gun Carrier and the Scout Carrier which had specific roles – entered service before the war, but a single improved design that could replace these, the Universal, was introduced in 1940. The vehicle was used widely by British Commonwealth forces during the Second World War. Universal Carriers were usually used for transporting personnel and equipment, mostly support weapons, or as machine gun platforms. Design and development The origins of the Universal Carrier family can be traced back generally to the Carden Loyd tankettes family, which was developed in the 1920s, and specifically the Mk VI tankette. In 1934, Vickers-Armstrongs produced, as a commercial venture, a light tracked vehicle that could be used either to carry a machi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carden-Loyd Mk
The Carden Loyd tankettes were a series of United Kingdom, British tankettes of the Interwar period, period between the World Wars, the most successful of which was the Mark VI, the only version built in significant numbers. It became a classic tankette design worldwide, was licence-built by several countries and became the basis of several designs produced in various countries. Development The Carden Loyd tankette came about from an idea started, as a private project, by the British military engineer and tank strategist Giffard Le Quesne Martel, Major Giffard LeQuesne Martel. He built a one-man tank in his garage from various parts and showed it to the War Office in the mid-1920s. With the publication of the idea, other companies produced their own interpretations of the idea. One of these was ''Carden-Loyd Tractors Ltd'', a firm founded by Sir John Carden and Vivian Loyd and later purchased by Vickers-Armstrongs. Besides one-man vehicles they also proposed two-man vehicles whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carden-Loyd Tankette
The Carden Loyd tankettes were a series of British tankettes of the period between the World Wars, the most successful of which was the Mark VI, the only version built in significant numbers. It became a classic tankette design worldwide, was licence-built by several countries and became the basis of several designs produced in various countries. Development The Carden Loyd tankette came about from an idea started, as a private project, by the British military engineer and tank strategist Major Giffard LeQuesne Martel. He built a one-man tank in his garage from various parts and showed it to the War Office in the mid-1920s. With the publication of the idea, other companies produced their own interpretations of the idea. One of these was ''Carden-Loyd Tractors Ltd'', a firm founded by Sir John Carden and Vivian Loyd and later purchased by Vickers-Armstrongs. Besides one-man vehicles they also proposed two-man vehicles which turned out to be a more effective and popular idea. V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Tank Corps
The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is an armoured regiment equipped with Challenger 2 main battle tanks and structured under 12th Armoured Brigade Combat Team. Formerly known as the Tank Corps and the Royal Tank Corps, it is part of the Royal Armoured Corps. History First World War The formation of the Royal Tank Regiment followed the invention of the tank. Tanks were first used at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette in September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme in the First World War. They were at first considered artillery, and crews received artillery pay. At that time the six tank companies were grouped as the Heavy Section of the Machine Gun Corps (MGC). In November 1916 the eight companies then in existence were each expanded to form battalions (still identified by the letters A to H) and designated the Heavy Branch MGC; another seven battalions, I to O, we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
