Motor War Car was the first armored car ever built. It was designed in 1902 by F.R. Simms and a single prototype was built by Vickers & Maxim. The vehicle was an improvement over Simms' earlier design known as "Motor Scout" which was the first armed (but not armored) vehicle powered by a gasoline engine.
The vehicle had Vickers armor 6 mm thick, was powered by 16 hp Daimler engine giving it maximum speed of around 9 miles per hour (14.5 km/h). The armament consisting of two Maxim guns was carried in two turrets with 360° traverse, some sources also mention a single QF 1 pounder pom-pom.[1][2]
It had a crew of four. Simms' Motor War Car was presented at the Crystal Palace, London, in April 1902.[3]
Another armoured car of the period was the French Charron-Girardot-Voigt 1902, presented at the Salon de l'Automobile et du cycle in Brussels, on 8 March 1902.[4]
Notes
- ^ Macksey, Kenneth (1980). The Guinness Book of Tank Facts and Feats. Guinness Superlatives Limited. pp. 256. ISBN 0851122043.
- ^ Tucker, Spencer (1999). The European Powers in the First World War. Routledge. pp. 816. ISBN 081533351X. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=gv3GEyB19wIC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=%22Motor+War+Car%22&source=web&ots=JqgaStq67G&sig=6x8oCdFDRrwPo7uBCIk47aipCyw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result.
- ^ Armoured Fighting Vehicules of the World, Duncan, p.3
- ^ Gougaud, p.11, L'Aube de la Gloire, Les Autos-Mitrailleuses et les Chars Français pendant la Grande Guerre, 1987, Musée des Blindés, ISBN 2904255028.
References
- Armoured Fighting Vehicules of the World Volume I, Cannon Books, 1998, ISBN 1899695028
External links
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