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Little Willie was a prototype in the development of the British Mark I tank. Constructed in the autumn of 1915 at the behest of the Landship Committee, it was the first completed tank prototype in history.
Little Willie is the oldest surviving individual tank, and is preserved as one of the most famous pieces in the collection of The Tank Museum, Bovington, England.
The Daimler Armoured Car was a successful British armoured car design of the Second World War that continued in service into the 1950s. It was designed for armed reconnaissance and liaison purposes. During the postwar era, it doubled as an internal security vehicle in a number of countries.
When the British Daimler Company took over BSA in 1939 they inherited two superb armoured vehicle designs. One was the famous Dingo scout car, which was already in production, the other this armoured car, which was still in the design stage.
This car was on display at Duxford.
The car at Duxford has mismatching chassis and turret numbers and was built using parts obtained from range wrecks in the late 1970s.
There is also a Daimler Mark II Armoured Car at the Bovington Tank Museum.
The Tank Museum’s example is a Mark II. It is painted in the markings of a unit that served in the successful counter insurgency operations against communist terrorists in Malaya in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The multi-barrel smoke grenade launchers fitted to the turret were a post-war modification.
This M10 Tank Destroyer in winter camouflage was on display at Bovington Tank Museum. This is a British variant armed with a 17 pounder anti-tank gun.
The M10 tank destroyer was an American tank destroyer of World War II. The prototype of the M10 was conceived in early 1942, being delivered in April of that year. After appropriate changes to the hull and turret were made, the modified version was selected for production in June 1942 as the 3-inch Gun Motor Carriage M10. It mounted a 3-inch (76.2 mm) Gun M7 in a rotating turret on a modified M4A2 Sherman tank chassis.
I have a few 15mm Flames of War Self Propelled, Achilles, of the British variant of the American M10 Tank destroyer armed with the powerful British Ordnance QF 17 pounder anti-tank gun in place of the standard 3″ (76.2 mm) Gun M7.
The M3 Scout Car (known as the White Scout Car in British service) was an American-produced armored car. The original M3 Scout Car was produced in limited numbers, while the improved M3A1 Scout Car saw wide service during World War II and after.
This M3A1 Scout Car was on display at Bovington having been restored from a wreck.
This Somua S35 was on display at the Bovington Tank Museum.
The Somua S35 was a French cavalry tank of the Second World War. Built from 1936 until 1940 to equip the armoured divisions of the Cavalry, it was for its time a relatively agile medium-weight tank, superior in armour and armament to both its French and foreign competitors, such as the contemporary versions of the German Panzerkampfwagen III. It was constructed from well-sloped, mainly cast, armour sections, that however made it expensive to produce and time-consuming to maintain. During the German invasion of May 1940, the Somua S35 proved itself to be a tactically effective type, but this was negated by strategic mistakes in deploying its units.
I have a few of these in 15mm scale including a Flames of War Objective.
This Marmon-Herrington Mark VI Armoured Car was on display at Bovington Tank Museum.
The Marmon-Herrington Armoured Car was a series of armoured vehicles that were produced in South Africa and adopted by the British Army during the Second World War. RAF Armoured Car companies possessed them, but seem never to have used them in action.
The Mark VI was a return to the 8-wheeled design. Powered by two Mercury V8 engines with an eight-wheel drive steered on the front and rear wheels. Two prototypes were built, one with a 2 pounder and other with a 6 pounder gun in an open-topped three-man turret with electric powered traverse and protected by 10 to 30 mm of sloped armour. Additional armament consisted of 2 or 3 machine guns. The two-pounder equipped version was sent to the UK for assessment, the transmission proved unreliable suffering several axle failures. The 2-pdr is now in the Bovington Tank Museum, the other in South Africa.
This, hidden in the darkness of the Tank Museum is the Light Tank Mk II.
Here is a photograph of the same tank, taken ten years earlier, painted in a brown camouflage pattern.
Only sixty vehicles were produced.
The M 14/41 was a four-crew medium tank that served from 1941 in the Royal Italian Army.
This M14/41 Medium Tank was on display at the Tank Museum in Bovington.
Captured versions of the M14/41 Medium Tank were used by British and Australian troops in the desert.
I do like the Italian tanks for World War Two and have thought about building a 15mm force using them, along with the P40 Heavy Tank Mid-War Monster.
One tank that did interest me at Bovington was the Centurion Mk I.
The Centurion was the primary British main battle tank of the post-Second World War period. Introduced in 1945, it is widely considered to be one of the most successful post-war tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing combat in the front lines into the 1980s.
Development of the Centurion began in 1943 with manufacture beginning in January 1945. Six prototypes arrived in Belgium less than a month after the war in Europe ended in May 1945, so too late to see action.
Of course in any alternative history scenario where the war continued after May 1945 in Europe, the Centurion Mk I would have seen action. Likewise in a another alternative history scenario where either Stalin decided to press West after defeating Nazi Germany to take over Western Europe, or the Western Allies decided to “liberate” Eastern Europe from the yoke of Stalin’s communist oppression, again the Centurion Mk I would have seen action.
I remember when Battlefront put up the details about their 15mm Australian Mk5 Centurion for Vietnam. I wrote the following thought:
My first thought when I saw the Centurion Mk5 was how close was it to the early versions, could I get away with using it for my Late War British forces in say a 1946 scenario? Only a handful of Mk1s were made when in November 1945 the Mk2 started coming off the production lines. The Mk3 did not enter production until 1948, so for a 1946 scenario, it would be the Mk2. The main difference between the Mk5 and the Mk2 would the main weapon, with the Mk5 having the L7 105mm gun, whilst the 1945 version had the QF 20 pdr. Though it would appear from the Battlefront site that the Australian Army Centurions were armed with the QF 20 pdr.
Simon in a comment in response, said:
Nice thought, but too many differences. For a start, different turret shape: no bustle, smaller, different-shaped stowage bins. No long-range fuel tank on the back, completely different engine deck. The ANZAC Mk V had a 105mm gun, the 20pdr had no fume-extractor and no muzzle-brake. These are just off the top of my head! However, if it’s a what-if scenario, who cares?
You can now get a 15mm Centurion MkI from Butlers’ Printed Models.
Ah the wonders of 3D printing.
The Centurion actually first first entered combat with the British Army in the Korean War in 1950, in support of the UN forces.
The Carro Veloce 33 or L3/33 was a tankette originally built in 1933 and used by the Italian Army before and during World War II. It was based on the imported British Carden Loyd tankette.
This Carro Veloce L3/33 was on display at the Bovington Tank Museum.
This is the flamethrower variant, which was captured in North Africa. It carried 500 litres of flame fuel in a special trailer (which you can see behind the tankette). The flame fuel was delivered by a pump, driven off the gearbox, which gave it a flaming range of about 35 metres. However crews were warned not to use the flamethrower when travelling at full speed (26mph) as they might set themselves alight.
There is no evidence that they were used in battle One of the things I find seeing these kinds of armoured vehicle in the “flesh” is how small they are. I am surprised anyone can sit in that let alone two crew. It must be really cramped and having the flamer fuel pumped through the centre of the tankette, wouldn’t be surprised by the reluctance of these being used.