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Landships II -> Landships WW1 Forum -> Tanks -> WW1 One man tank concept
Post Info TOPIC: WW1 One man tank concept
Centurion


Legend

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WW1 One man tank concept
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An E J T Tapp observed tanks in action in WW1 and conceived the idea of a one man machine gun armed vehicle with the operator prone but able to raise himself and the machine gun for action (sound familiar?) He apparently documented his idea and sent it to the appropriate authorities who after due consideration finally took up the idea in 1937 (MOD moving with its usual lightning speed!)


The devolopment was under the supervision of Martell who intervened before the first prototype vehiclewas completed and altered the design to a two man AFV. This was built as our old friend the Praying Mantis using a Loyd carrier as the base.


So the Mantis was originally a WW1 design (although obviously not based on a Loyd). It would be interesting to see what Tapp's original idea looked like.



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Vilkata


Brigadier

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Fantastic!!

That is some amazing information. I wonder if it was actually armored? The first Carden-Loyd was a prone driven, tracked vehicle, but it didn't mount any armor at all. Likewise, the Belly Flopper that you so graciously posted the picture of, operated along the same principle - the prone position of the occupants being their only means of protection.

Can you narrow down the date that E J Tapp actually documented his design? Also, do you suppose he actually drew up blueprints, or simply wrote an essay on how such a vehicle could be employed? I wonder if he ever even made drawings of the thing.

It is further interesting that Martel had a hand in designing the Praying Mantis! I had always thought Martel gave up working in the AFV field to focus on his work at the war office. Is this indeed the Martel of "Morris-Martel One-Man Tank" fame ? (You spelled his name with an extra 'L', so I don't want to jump to conclusions.)

Thank you again for posting this!

---Vil.

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Centurion


Legend

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My spelling was ever at the level that Chaucer would have appreciated - erratic. Yes its 'one man' Martel


I have very little extra info - Tapp ( I got his initials transposed they were  E T J) was a machine  gun officer and he thought in terms of an armoured machine but as to dates I have nothing more than it was during WW1. The level of detail of his suggestion is unknown (to me). It appears that when nothing got done he eventually contacted Swinton (by then  both a Sir and a General) who manged to get some rear ends kicked. It seems that the one man Mantis got as far as trials in 1939 and it was as a result of these that Martel ordered the switch to 2 man



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aka Robert Robinson Always mistrust captions
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