Vickers Light Tank Mk VI A

Vickers light tank


The British-built Vickers light tank was designed as a scout and reconnaissance tank; armed with only machine-guns, it was not intended to engage enemy tanks. The Vickers was mass-produced during the 1930s, filling the ranks of the Royal Tank Regiment and mechanized cavalry regiments.


In March 1936 the Australian government ordered ten Vickers Mk VI As; another was also ordered but later cancelled. The tanks arrived in August 1937: five were based in Sydney to form the 1st Light Tank Company while the other five went to Melbourne to form the 2nd Light Tank Company.


The vehicles were used by the militia before the Second World War. In 1940 they were transferred to the School of Mechanisation, Puckapunyal, Vic., and then the Armoured Fighting Vehicles School. Divisional cavalry regiments often trained on Vickers light tanks, in preparation for service in the Middle East.



Specifications


Vickers light tank Mk VIA


Armament: .50-calibre Vickers machine-gun, .303 Vickers machine-gun


Armour: 4-15 mm


Crew: 3


Power plant: Meadows 6-cylinder horizontally opposed petrol engine


Speed (max.): 56 kp/h


Length: 4.5 m


Height: 2.2 m


Width: 2 m


Weight: 5 t
Source:http://www.awm.gov.au/units/subject_21864.asp