A Tank Video

[Bombardier]

Great video solthum

Tanks

[Drone_pilot]

excellent videosolthum

[John A Silkstone]

The Worlds first tank was made in Great Britain, and was designed by a committee headed by Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Dunlop Swinton, an engineer, writer and veteran of the Boer War. In 1914 he proposed the construction of a "power-driven, bullet-proof, armed engine, capable of destroying machine guns and crossing country and trenches by breaking through entanglements".

After many delays the new vehicle was eventually assembled. The actual construction was done by the firm of Fosters of Lincoln in Lincolnshire, who had experience in building heavy tractors. The firm used many of its standard components used in their tractor production. Other parts were build at Marshall’s foundry in Gainsborough, later to become known as ‘Track Marshall’s. The tank was named ‘Little Willie’ after the German Kaiser and weighed: 14. 7 tons, its armour was 12mm thick with a road speed 5Km, it had a crew of 4 – 6 men and had no armament and was run by a 105 h.p. Daimler engine.

The tracks were manufactured on an American design and the body was made in boiler plate. The tank was to be equipped with a centrally mounted turret and a 40mm gun. It never came this far. The first trials starting on September 10 1915 and showed that the running gear was not up to the job. The tracks would sag or fall off whenever they attempted to cross a trench.

The designers scurried back to the boards, and came up with a much improved track; however, this did not solve another basic problem, namely the unstable and top-heavy nature of the vehicle. A complete redesign was called for and the MK I was born with a completely new track design.

Silky

[Drone_pilot]

And the name tank comes from?

When the "Tanks" were ready to be shipped to France/Belgium they were packed in crate's and marked water tank spares.

[Reloader]

I wonder what Lt-Col Swinton would think of his brainchild's modern-day descendants? I bet he could never have dreamed of what they would become.