Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

Technology Model - Vickers Mk 2 Medium Tank

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Overview

Handcrafted model of a Vickers medium Tank Mk II

The Vickers Medium Mark II was a British tank built by Vickers in the Inter-war period. It was derived from the Vickers Medium Mark I, was developed to replace the last of the Medium Mark Cs still in use. Production and rebuilding ran from 1925 until 1934. The tank was phased out of service from 1939, replaced by the Cruiser Mk I.

Historical information

The Vickers Medium Mark II and its predecessor the Vickers Medium Mark I replaced some of the Mark V heavy tanks. Both tanks equipped the Royal Tank Regiments until they were phased out starting in 1938. The tanks saw their first combat use when two were used against the Mohmands on the Northwest Frontier of British India during the Mohmand campaign of 1935. In November 1939, some Medium Mark IIs were sent to Egypt for experiments being conducted by Major-General Sir Percy Hobart and his Mobile Division (Egypt), but the Vickers Mediums in Egypt were also phased out before Italy declared war in June 1940. The Mediums were used for initial instruction in driver training.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-54-921

Inscriptions and markings

The Vickers Medium Tank Mk II featured several improvements over the Vickers Mark I: a higher superstructure with the driver's visor on top of it instead of in front of it; an improved suspension protected by armour skirts; and Rackham clutches, providing a primitive form of mechanical servo-control. Due to a slightly higher weight its rated speed was somewhat slower than that of the Medium Mark I, at 21 km/h compared to 24 km/h.
The Mark II used the same chassis, suspension and transmission as the Medium Mark I but had a new superstructure. The Mark II was equipped with a 47 mm 3 pdr gun and four machine guns in the turret. The back of the turret had a slope so that the machine gun there could be used against aircraft. There were two Vickers machine guns, one in each side of the hull to the rear.

Contextual Information

Australia’s first tanks were a quartet of Medium Mk.II’s ordered in 1927, and arrived in 1929. These tanks were slightly modified as Australia did not use the Hotchkiss machine-gun. Therefore, the ball mounts that would normally be on the turret were replaced with Vickers guns in exactly the same locations. The AA machine gun and the bevel in the turret for this mount were removed. In addition, the Vickers guns had a much larger breech. In order to accommodate this, the bevels on the side of the turret were significantly reduced in size.
Between 1930-1937, these were the only tanks Australia had in the 1st Tank Section. They were used solely as training machines for the Australian Army to gain experience of operating tanks.
One such example exists in the Royal Australian Armoured Corps Tank Museum, Puckapunyal.

The models in this collection were crafted from scratch by Mr Tom Runeckles. They were periodically displayed at the Museum before their eventual donation as part of the Mobility and Firepower story.

Links to additional resources

On Line Tank Museum

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

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