A38 Valiant
In service Never entered service - Cancelled 1945
A heavily armoured assault tank whose trials were stopped on safety grounds. Famous as a lesson in how not to design a tank.
Built byVickers and Ruston and Hornsby
Development history
The Valiant aimed to pack Churchill-level protection into a much smaller hull. The result was 114 mm of armour on 210 hp, a cramped fighting compartment, a gear change so heavy it injured the driver and steering that required both hands and a great deal of hope. The single prototype trial in 1945 was abandoned as dangerous to the crew, and the report was kept for instructional use at the School of Tank Technology. It survives at Bovington and is recorded here as a cancelled project, not a service tank.
Notable actions
- None - trials vehicle