Alongside their work for the British armed forces Vickers-Armstrongs produced military equipment for foreign buyers. Their earliest commercial tank designs failed to sell, but in 1928 they produced a masterpiece.
Known as the ‘six- tonner’ it was a remarkable design, with a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine driving to a gearbox and track sprockets at the front of the tank. There were two main variants; some tanks were supplied with two machine-gun turrets (Type A) while others carried a larger single turret (Type B) like our exhibit.
Following trials the British Army turned it down, but the tank was a major export success – it sold all around the world, from South America to Japan and was even studied by the United States Army. By 1939, the Mark E was the second most common tank in the world.
It was also built under licence in Russia (known as the T-26,) and influenced tank design in many other countries.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, the British Government impounded all commercial tanks still in the factories, and the remaining stock of six-tonners (of which our vehicle is one,) were used by British forces for training.
The Tank Museum’s vehicle
Vickers-Armstrongs was building this tank for export to Siam (now Thailand) when the Second World War broke out. It was seized by the British Army for use as a training tank.
