Vickers Medium Mk III
In service 1930 (trials) - 1938
A fast, well-laid-out three-turret medium of 1930 that cost too much to buy, but whose layout influenced tanks worldwide.
Built byVickers-Armstrongs
Photograph pending. No clearly licensed photograph of this vehicle was found.
Development history
The Medium Mk III combined a 3-pdr in a proper three-man turret with two auxiliary machine-gun turrets, sprung suspension and a reliable 180 hp engine - on paper the best tank in the world in 1930. The Treasury refused to pay for it and only three were built, serving with the Experimental Mechanised Force as command vehicles until 1938. Its influence was out of all proportion to its numbers: Soviet and German designers studied it, and its turret layout can be traced through the T-28 and T-35.
Variants
One canonical record, 2 recorded variants.
Medium Mk III prototype
1930Three-turret layout with 3-pdr main armament and sprung suspension.
Medium Mk III command tank
1934Used as a brigade command vehicle with extra radio equipment.
Notable actions
- Experimental Mechanised Force exercises