Medium Tank Mark A Whippet, Photo Book (2003).pdf

Photography

William C. Marshall < mechinf@netactive.co.za >

(photos 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9 , 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 27, 29 , 37 ,

51 , 53, 55 , 57, 58, 59 & 60)

Jakko Westerbeke < jakko@xs4all.nl > (other photos)

bers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 27, 29, 37, 51,

William Marshall; unless otherwise indicated, all

other photographs and remaining illustrations in

Westerbeke.

This document may be freely distributed, on the fol-

lowing conditions: that no changes or modifications

are made to the document in any way; and that no

profit is made off the distribution.

Writing, design, layout, etc.

Jakko Westerbeke < jakko@xs4all.nl >

www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/afv

Thanks to

Paul Owen for discovering some of the South African

Whippets history.

Arno Riedel for the stowage bin dimensions.

Other images

Technical stuff

Front cover map from a reproduction World War I

trench map Zillebeke. 28 N.W. & N.E. 3 (parts of)

Edition 3. E .

Front cover Whippet drawings from unknown

source, via William C. Marshall.

Hotchkiss machine gun photograph on page 4 from

Janes Infantry Weapons 1975 by Major F.W.A.

Hobart, editor (Macdonald and Janes, 1974).

Pocketbond Ltd.

Icons taken from one or two of KDE 3.0 s icon sets.

All of these used without permission but also without

commercial intentions.

Most of the photographs in this net.book were taken

using a Fujifilm Finepix 6900Zoom digital camera,

while the computer graphics were created with

POV-Ray 3.5 and the KPovModeler 0.20 and 1.0

front-ends for it. The document was laid out in

Palatino Linotype, Futura XBlk BT and

CombiNumerals using QuarkXPress 4.1 for

Windows. The PDF was created with Adobe Acrobat

Distiller 3.01 and worked on using Acrobat

Exchange 3.0.

Medium A Whippet

The Medium Tank Mark A, or

Whippet as it was more common-

ly known, was

what can be

described as a

second-gener-

ation British

tank of World War I,

being of completely different

design to the heavy tanks built from 1916 onward.

Some 200 Whippets were constructed by William

Foster & Co., and after its introduction in March 1918,

it was used until the end of the war and beyond.

front and rear of the tank by means of coil springs

with hooks. Photographs of these covers in use are

rare, however.

At the very front of the vehicle was the fuel

tank, which was not really more than a sheet

metal drum encased in an angular, armour-

plated box for protection. Although its posi-

tion put the fuel as far away from the crew as possi-

ble, it had the disadvantage of at the same time put-

ting it as close to the enemy as possible

Behind the fuel tank, in the hull proper,

was the engine cooling system, which drew

air through louvres in the hull sides and

forced it back over the engines and transmis-

sion, and out a large slot in the hull rear plate.

Located aft of the cooling system were the

twin Tylor engines themselves, producing

33 kW each. Their exhausts were equipped

with mufflers, and fitted outside on either

side of the engine compartment. The mufflers were

wrapped in asbestos rope, with a sheet metal cover-

ing over this.

The engine compartment was accessed

through two large doors in the front bonnet.

Each of these had a smaller hatch set into it,

that could be used for routine maintenance to

the engines. It is not entirely clear if there ever was a

bulkhead between the engines and the crew compart-

ment. Surviving vehicles do not appear to have one,

but it could have been removed from them at some

pointnone of these tanks is anywhere near com-

plete, after all.

2 -

Layout

Unlike the earlier British tanks, which had

rhomboid-shaped hulls with the engine in the

middle, the tracks running all around the hull,

and the armament fitted in so-called spon-

sons sticking out the sides, the Medium A had its

engines at the front, under a long bonnet or hood, low

track units on either side of the hull, and a high cab at

the back carrying only three crewmembers. (The pro-

totype had a revolving turret like that used on Austin

armoured cars, but this was considered too advanced

and so was replaced by a fixed cab on production

vehicles.) Armor varied between 5 and 14 mm in

thickness, sufficient to protect the crew from machine

gun fire and shrapnel.

5 -

2 -

The tracks were carried on long, low track

units that were mainly constructed from rivet-

ted steel plates, between which a large front

idler wheel, 16 small roadwheels, five return

rollers, and a rear drive sprocket were located. The

idler was fairly high off the ground, the whole

arrangement making the Whippet somewhat remini-

scient of a small boat sailing up against a wave. The

whole suspension is unsprung, though the idler can

be adjusted by means of large screws to adjust the

tracks tension. The track itself was a simple affair,

like that of all British tanks of the period, consisting

of steel plates rivetted to chains that actually run

around the wheels. Aside from a

curved section that overlapped the

next link, and the eight rivets per

track, the track plates had no profile

whatsoever with which to provide

traction on the ground.

Although no mudguards

were fitted, a canvas track

cover could be installed over

each track, hanging from

angle iron brackets at the

The crew compartment, or cab, was at the

back of the tank. It most likely had a wooden

floor, though apparently no surviving

Whippets have one, with the transmission

underneath, and only provided a seat for the driver.

This was at the right front of the cab, with the remain-

ing two crewmembers (commander and gunner)

standingor, more likely, hunchingin the cab dur-

ing combat. Although originally designed for four

crewmembers, the interior was found to be too

cramped for this, and the crew was

reduced to three as a result.

Ammunition racks were

fitted behind the drivers seat

and on the left of the cab. A

stowage bin was also fitted at

the right rear, and the machine guns

could be stowed on the left rear wall

of the cab when the tank was outside

the combat area.

Basic data

Length 6.09 m

Width 2.61 m

Height 2.74 m

Weight 14,225 kg

Speed 12 km/h

Range 65 km

Crew Commander, driv-

er, gunner

5 -

3 -

2 -

3 -

5 -

Medium A Whippet

Access to the tank was by a door in the rear

of the cab, and a hatch in the cab roof. This

hatch was not really intended as an entry

point, though; rather, it was for use by the

commander, to guide the driver when driving the

tank behind the lines.

Some Whippets had large

stowage bins on the back of the

cab, but wartime photos do

not show these, or even

traces of them, on all tanks.

The illustration at right is

not entirely accurate, but

does provide an impres-

sion of what they

looked like on the

real tank. The bins

appear to have con-

sisted of angle iron frames with panels (wood, per-

haps?) fixed inside them, and a diagonal bracing rod

running to the cab side for support.

Most tanks do seem to have had lengths of

steel strip rivetted to the cab sides and roof

and the hull rear, onto which grousers were

hung. These were wooden blocks with metal

fittings, which could be attached to the tracks to

improve traction in soft ground, but it appears there

are no known photos of Whippets with these actual-

ly fitted to the tracksthough many photos do show

them hanging from the stowage rails.

knocked out, or stalled for some reason, the tank

would only drive round in circles

Armament

The Whippets armament consisted entirely of

Hotchkiss machine guns, most likely the No. 2

Mk. 1* variant developed for the Tank Corps. This

weapon was based on the French Fusil

Mitrailleur Hotchkiss Modèle 1909, but

fired British .303 caliber (7.7×56 mm

rimmed) Mk VII ammunition instead of

the French 8×51 mm round. Additionally,

like the Modèle 1914 Hotchkiss, the No. 2

Mk. 1* was able to use the standard

Hotchkiss metal strips that held 30 rounds

each as well as ammunition belts. These

were actually a series of three-round strips

connected together with hinges, and not like the

modern ammunition belts were each round is indi-

vidually linked to the next.

1 -

The Whippet carried four of these machine

guns, one per ball mounting in the crew com-

partment (one to the front, one to either side,

and one to the rear). Some sources indicate

each tank was to have only three guns, the idea being

that the crew would swap them around as needed, but

because there are four machine gun stoware bracket

inside the vehicle, this seems unlikely. A total of 5,400

rounds of ammunition was carried for the machine

guns, in racks at the right rear, left and front of the cab.

The guns covered most of the area around the

tank, but additional pistol ports were provided

around the cab for the crew to use their revolvers

against targets that could not be

reached by the machine guns.

Drive train

There was one engine for each track, mak-

ing the Whippet difficult to control but giving

it an unprecedented (for

tanks) speed of some

12 km/h, which lead to its nick-

namewhippet being a kind of

dog bred for its running speed.

This was not without its problems,

though. As each engine drove one

track through a gearbox and a

chain drive to a sprocket at the

rear of the track, making it go in a

straight line was very difficult

because the driver had to control

both engines throttles perfectly at

the same time. This was only a

minor drawback compared to the

other main consequence of this drive layout,

however: although some sources suggest

each engine could be switched to drive

both tracks, most indicate

that this was in fact not pos-

sible. The result was that if

one engine or drive was

Hotchkiss .303

No. 2 Mk. 1*

Service

Length 119 cm (with

shoulder stock)

Unloaded weight 12.25 kg

Rate of fire 500 rounds per

minute (cyclic)

Magazine 30 rounds or

50-round belt

Operation Gas

Cooling Air

The Medium A was intended for

an exploitation role: once a break-

through had been achieved in the

German lines by other forces, the

medium tanks would use their

speed to push through and attack

the enemy in the rear.

Whippets first saw action

at Mailly-Maillet Wood in

France on 26 March, 1918, with the

3rd Battalion of the British Tank

Corps. However, this was in a counter-attack

against attacking German forces, who had

launched their great offensive 5 days before,

and for the next few months Whippets

would have little opportunity to be used in

their intended role.

5 -

6 -

Medium A Whippet

Only in August, when the Allies finally managed to

advance while the Germans retreated, did Whippets

start being used for purposes like the ones they were

built for.

The German army captured at least two Whippets

intact, but does not appear to have used them in com-

bat, preferring its own LKIII (Leichte Kampfwagen III)

design, which however never even reached prototype

stage before the end of the war.

After the Armistice of 11 November, 1918, some

Whippets were deployed to Russia in 1919, as part of

the Allied attempt to bolster the anti-Bolshevik

forces, and apparently a few were also sold to Japan

in the 1920s. By this time, the British army had dis-

posed of most of its Whippets, though some seem to

have remained in use until the 1930s.

The photos

The photographs in this net.book are of three dif-

ferent Whippets preserved to the present day. One,

named Caesar II, can be seen at the Tank Museum at

Bovington Camp in the U.K. It is missing some of the

external fittings that would have been present in

1918, but otherwise appears to be in good condition.

The second photographed vehicle is an unnamed

one serving as a memorial at the South African

National Defence Forces Military College in the

Thaba Tshwane suburb of Pretoria City. This vehicle

is unusual in that it has been fitted with different

machine gun mounts than are normally seen on

Whippets, though the origins of these is a bit of a

mystery.

Finally, the third vehicle is number A347, at the

Army Museum in Brussels, Belgium. To anyone with

an interest in the First World War, a visit to this muse-

um is certainly worth the tripits collection of uni-

forms, weapons, equipment and artillery of the peri-

od is simply superb. The Whippet in the collection is

of interest because it is displayed with its rear door

open, allowing a view of the interior, and because it

appears to be in the original paint and markingsbut

also because some of its armour has been shattered

by the impact of a large-caliber shell.

Colors & markings

The exact colour of British tanks in late World War I

is open to debate; most sources give it as either brown

or a brown-green (olive drab-like) colour. Almost all

the British tanks in the Tank Museum at Bovington are

painted a light shade of olive drab, but these have all

been repainted at various times in the past 85 years.

An earth-brown colour seems just as likely, though

they might also have been green. The Whippet at the

Brussels Army Museum, for example, is a dark green,

and appears to be in its original paint. However, as the

white and red markings on this tank make clearly evi-

dent, its paint has discoloured over the years,

making it a bit unreliable as a definite guide.

Markings on most tanks consisted of

white/red/white vertical stripes painted

onto the front of the track units; these were

the colours of the Tank Corps, and appeared

on most other British tanks as well. Some

Whippets also had the front of the fuel tank

or even the entire engine deck painted the

same way.

Serial numbers were carried by most tanks, painted

in white on the cab sides and/or rear. These usually

started with a capital letter A, and were followed by

a three-digit number, all known ones being between

200 and 400. (Since some 200 Whippets were built, it

is reasonable to assume numbers 200 through 399

were used, but there does not appear to be definitive

proof for this.)

Other markings seem to have varied per tank. Many

were named, and some carried large identification

numbers.

In German service, the tanks were painted in a cam-

ouflage pattern of grey, sand and brown (or green),

with large iron cross markings on the sides.

Colours and markings for the Japanese Whippets

are not known.

Modelling the Whippet

The easiest way to build a model of

a Whippet is from the 1:35th scale kit

by Emhar (a 1:72nd scale version of

this kit was announced but not yet

available at the time of writing).

Though basically accurate, the kit is

a bit simplistic and not overly well-

detailed. Fit of parts could be better,

too, but its poorest feature is the

tracks, which are downright awfuleven if nothing

else is added to the kit, fitting replacement tracks will

improve it no end. Even if you want to use the kit

tracks, they are nearly impossible to glue down prop-

erly. However, a little work will turn this kit into a

good modelall it really needs is detail work and the

refinement of some parts. For those wanting to add

the missing stowage bins, their approximate dimen-

sions are 14 mm high and wide, with the right (star-

board) bin being 15 mm long on both sides, while the

left is 25 mm on its outboard side and butts up to the

hull rear on the inboard side.

Accurate Armour made a complete kit of the

Whippet in resin and metal in the early 1990s, but this

is no longer available due to the Emhar kit being

released in 1994. However, they do have a set of resin

tracks and grousers to enhance the Emhar kit.

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