You think you can get a T-54 base model and ask Mr. Fletcher to give his opinion on that? Then, next to that base model, is the final T-54 model made before the production was switched to T-55?
If David Fletcher were a doctor: “your rest results are back, Mr. Jones. It’s...well, it’s not ideal.” “What does that mean? Give it to me straight doc, I can take it.” “You have two, maybe four weeks left.” “What?!? I’m gonna DIE??!” “Well I *did* say not ideal.”
I think there might even be an actual use for that tank in war: Let the enemy capture it and hope they copy some of the design elements in their next tank....
@@totallyaploy1824 "An MBE is one of five classes of appointment to the Order Of The British Empire, and it stands for Member Of The Most Excellent Order Of The British Empire. It is the fifth and lowest class of appointment for the Order Of The British Empire."
@@alexl5949 The Americans wanted to build a better tank than the Panzer III and the Germans wanted to build a better tank than the T34 and both succeeded. The Brits wanted to build a better tank than they used in North Africa and the result was the Cromwell. In North Africa it would have been a winner.
Imagine how bad a tank must be if the testing crew calls it a day after a dozen miles, gets out, goes to the next pub and orders a few rounds just to drink the pain of broken wrists, legs and bruised heads away.
It not really a problem; it it wasn't there (serving a necessary function) the incoming shot would squarely strike the side armour, as it is the same shot would strike the ring and be deflected into the same side armour at a somewhat oblique angle (not a bad outcome.) Such shot-traps are bad when you have something frail for the shot to deflect into, the obvious example being shots deflecting downward off badly designed turret faces/gun mantles and passing through the top hull armour. If you want a big turret but don't want the the complexity of hull sponsons or a very wide hull, you need this feature.
I noticed that as well. Maybe if the Valiant was a bit bigger and had a giant wok for a turret it would have been more successful. Or maybe just stick to the Centurion.
@@bigblue6917 given all the problems they had getting the driver to fit, and the bulge on the top of the glacis, I reckon they would have had to make significant changes to develop it successfully like that. Probably something like making it larger, a little longer, maybe an extra roadwheel, move the turret back a little to give space for the drivers hatch, etc. That's quite a redesign, but not unthinkable
@@jamesburt3272 Front on it was the best armor protection you could give a vehicle since there are two planes of sloping. The problem was that when composite armor was coming out the ergonomics of fitting the composites in along with the armor became an issue. If we are talking purely steel structure, it is probably the second strongest layout. The first being the rounded hulls of American vehicles like M60 and M103.
I always love David's understated explanation of problems. I haven't actually heard him say "... that would cause the tank to blow up - which can be a bit of a problem in the middle of a battle". but I'm sure he will one day. He obviously has great trust in his viewers' ability to understand the full implications for themselves.
I love how Davis is such a proper gentleman that when he accidently swears because he's so flustered with the design of this tank, he basically goes "oh goodness, please pardon my language" when it's not that drastic of a swear word. I just love this man to pieces. An evening meal and drinks with this gentleman would be the pinical of my year!
Worth noting that English humour is very different to Irish, Scots or Welsh humour. Assuming the Welsh have humour. Never seen evidence. I know Americans think all British people know the queen. But it's worth remembering the UK is 4 different countries. As dissimilar as the us is to Canada. The Scots would definitely call it a pos. They have a wonderfully direct sense of humour.
A fascinating illustration of just how much a tank design can get wrong! The shot traps and suspension were both definitely things that weren't obvious from the previous look at it. Thanks! I can just imagine a crowbar becoming a standard part of the driver's position just like the infamous Soviet sledgehammer....
@David Fletcher - always a pleasure to listen to you and your incite on historical armored vehicles. I know it takes a lot of work to make these videos. So many thanks to you and your production crew for all their hard work.
Everytime I see a Tank Chat with Mr Fletcher, I can't help but be proud to be British. This man is the embodiment of the British spirit. Doff my cap to you sir! Brilliant chat on an awful tank!
I'm not a fan of the trailing off mumbling of Mr. Fletcher but I'm a HUGE fan of the brutal honesty he provides. Over-all, and overwhelmingly so, I'm a loyal fan of these videos.
That typically droll British sense of humor and the interesting content keeps me coming back, and looking forward to new content, of tank chats. Bravo lads, if a common cause does not unite Britain and America then remembrance of our common roots certainly shall. Tip of the cap to professor Fletcher and the other narrators.
@bujler A year ago I broke my right ankle, and for several months after I got back on my feet my ankle was so stiff I had to be very careful getting in or out of my car, else I’d get my right foot wedged up but good.
@@mickleblade don't wear laces when riding...or use a shoe or boot that has a lace flap that covers them-they make those. Or wear velcro like an old guy, LOL! Glad you didn't get hurt, there's a reason behind traditional biker clothing.
What an incredible machine. Just think, all of the more successful British tanks like the Centurion took direct inspiration from this vehicle about exactly what they shouldn't do when designing them!
At the 5:03 mark . If you look at a valentine design and compare it to the Valiant design. You can see roughly the same hull design with the obvious hull and turret design difference to up armored and up gun from the valentine design. In the design you can see the changes in the way how armor design changed with a variant pike nose type of armor that the IS-3 have .
You know, I had an excellent book about Tanks by Kenneth Macksey and illustrated by John Batchelor when I was a boy (I highly recommend it.). It just seemed to be written in a way that made it interesting to both laymen and youngsters. But reading it aloud the other day to my 13 year old son, I was hearing David Fletcher's voice saying the words and I started to imitate his manner without meaning to. I am convinced that if Mr. Fletcher read it aloud to children, his audience would sprout mustaches and maroon trousers by the end of the book.
@Pete Hall “Tank vs Tank?” Great big hardbound book, lots of full page drawings and maps? I got that as a gift in my teens, read it back and forth until the binding disintegrated, then brushed glue all along the spine to put it back together and donated it to free library.
MAN BRUTALLY MURDERS TANK AND ALL THOSE INVOLVED WITH IT'S DESIGN "Now I know I've talked about the Valiant before in one of the surveys of the five worst tanks. It hasn't got any better, it's still as awful as it always was." "A lot of the people who write about it say if you look at it, you can see a lot of the Valentine in it. Well, I've looked at it, and I can't see any of the Valentine in it. But that's neither here nor there, I suppose." "They say the suspension is very much like the Valentine. Well, I don't believe it is at all." "That alone is an indication of how dreadful the tank was, the fact that nobody wanted to complete it." "I think it's the worst tank in this museum at the moment."
I believe that (2:00) is a type of "double-wishbone" suspension, usually used in sports/racing cars. It's completely stupid to try to use it in a tank as the wheels will move laterally with suspension travel, which is less than ideal when you want them all to be in line because of the tracks. If you went over a large bump on one side, you could conceivably get a slight track warping effect (like the steering on the Tetrarch), if the tracks were flexible enough that is. In general, it seems like a lot of the problems of this tank were because they tried to make it too small. If it were made even a foot longer, I'm sure a lot of the issues would have been easy fixes.
Thankyou for the video, despite all its design faults I rather like the look of this tank, particularly the cast front glacis plate. Gives it a streamlined look.
The amount of british snarky understatements when talking about flaws in this thing really shows with what passion Fletcher dislikes that thing. Poor Valiant, even the Germans probably wouldn't have abused it that hard if they had ever fought her in WW2. By the way, are we going to get another "worst tanks" list? The last one was quite informative (nevermind it's always a joy to listen to Mr. Fletcher tear into all the flaws) and I believe it only be fair if the Bottom 5 British Tanks got a bit of company from other nations (I'm sure there's a whole catalogue for Fletcher to choose from in the German side of vehicular hick-ups), or perhaps if not enough variety by nations is available, it could be sorted by what kind of purpose they were supposed to fulfill and then have a Bottom 5 Amphibious Tank or alike. Pretty please?
At first I was thinking, well, every major tank youtuber has already featured this tank. What else can you say? But actually, it turned out quite interesting. Thank you.
It's baffling it wasn't cancelled at the design stage before however many men spent however many weeks constructing the prototype. Surely the inoperability should have been apparent from the blueprints?
This tank poisoned our water supply, burned our crops and delivered a plague unto our houses, which obviously wasn't ideal. - David Fletcher, probably.
Would you be willing to cover the Valentine in greater detail, its combat effectiveness over the years, what the Germans thought of it etc? How many kills did they get? etc
@@EvMund Valentine =/= Valiant,, good sir. The Valentine is my fave tank but its never covered beyond "it was mechanically reliable and its armor was ok".
This is pretty good for the Valentine in action, as well as the other I tanks in WW2 - www.amazon.co.uk/Through-Mud-Blood-Bryan-Perrett/dp/0709148224/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=through+mud+and+the+blood&qid=1567195579&s=books&sr=1-5
Hi David, I don't know if you read the comments on these videos but in case you do I have a question: I have always presumed that the problems we had with getting a bigger turret ring to take better armament resulted from the requirement for the vehicle to fit on Britain's railway transport system which severely limited the width designers could work with. Is this correct at all and what enabled this to eventually be overcome?
It was hopeless but at least it remained just a prototype, I watched a video by the Chieftain about two tanks by Marmon-Herrington that were perhaps even worse but were actually manufactured in series and saw a very limited service.
It does look valentinish to be fair. It also looks like a poor attempt at a small Pershing or a child's drawing of a tank. Great video as usual DF! Correction sir, in the tall turret stakes, not much beats the Charioteer!
Very good video, as usual, but as cool as that dreadful tank is how much cooler is that Ram behind you? Looks like it's mostly intact, could it be brought to functional status without too much difficulty?
Boris needs to award this man a knighthood for his service to England. Now, if they'd lengthen the tank by 2', and widened it by 1', as well as adding a turret basket, most of the issues might have been resolved.
The schematics at 5:00 look quite interesting to a layman like me; the rudimentary pike nose and a couple of other differences seem to suggest almost a different tank.
Double wishbone suspension seems like it would be a big problem for a tank, as a this type of suspension moves side to side through its vertical travel. I don’t think the turret ring being wider than the hull is a major issue, at least not on its own. I think the Centurion was like this, and I know the Conqueror was as well and I’ve not heard anyone bring it up, and I think there were some soviet tanks like this as well. It possible this tank has something about it that makes such a design a problem, though.
From what I heard, there was a tank class that took the tank out (and or its blueprints) and the class had to write down every problem they can find with the tank. So it does serve some sort of purpose as a really bad tank.
I think the suspension system is pretty advanced for its day, it appears to be the same as a modern day unequal length A arm type which is quite common on todays vehicles, albeit not tanks.
Unfortunately my memory for names is useless, but I read somewhere a few weeks ago where someone fairly senior in the army stated that "this tank, with a lot of hard work and good will, could be merely bloody awful". Might be one of those apocryphal quotes though.
I think there was great potential, the fundamentals were there part wise and that massive turret ring offered great upgrade potential, it was just the ergonomics and finer engineering finishes that needed polishing which if it had one developer rather than three it might well have received in a more prompt timeframe.
I seriously NEED a round table discussion with Drachinifel, David Fletcher, Lindybeige and the Chieftain about why the French are weird The first three also bring fantastic facial hair to the table.
Lindy is an idiot. Unless you're using his presence as a baseline for stupidity then I wouldn't let him make toast, lot alone "contribute" to a discussion.
iatsd I've got to agree. I used to love his videos, but too often he presents opinion as fact, and bends the truth to fit his narrative. What did it for me was his video on jungle warfare, where he outright treats Australian contributions as if they were British. No one, man for man, had more success in the jungle than the Australians. We had militia battalions butt heads with a Japanese jungle division and hold their own far better than they had any right to.
I think the suspension design is quite advanced. It looks like a modern unequal length A arm suspension found on most modern vehicles today albeit not tanks.
Nah chavs are way way better than pikeys. I know a lot of good hard working nice chavs. Can’t say the same about pikeys. In fact in my town they had a fist fight in my children’s playground.
@@4TheWinQuinn Chavvies are mostly harmless. Bit weird and annoying at times but not like pikies, who are are usually aggressive, steal things, carry knives etc.
It hasn't go any better it still as aweful as it always was... When a David Fletcher video pops out you feel is an instant hit! This time you confirm that at 0:24...
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Nice! you have the worst tank of the war in the foreground and the best tank in the background.
You think you can get a T-54 base model and ask Mr. Fletcher to give his opinion on that?
Then, next to that base model, is the final T-54 model made before the production was switched to T-55?
Bad tank if it is worth that atall...Thanks....Kentucky USA..!
Aye aye sir
My dream is to sit in a tiger, Churchill and a Sherman
you should make a t-shirt with David Fletcher's stache and writing "that wasn't ideal, really". i would buy one.
I second that...I would wear it alot!!
Sign me up.
Take my money!
I'd buy it
Hear, hear!
The gun got maximum elevation and depression, but the driver just got maximum depression.
"A guns deppresion is only as good as the gunners deppresion"
- Sun Tzu, probally
LOL!!!
They call it an assault tank. My guess is that's because it's an assault on ergonomics, engineering common sense, and drivers feet!
And it takes valiant men to even get that thing moving lol
🤣
Hahaha!!!! So you're saying it assaulted it's own crew. Job done...........for the enemy.
I though he said Insult tank. It´s a insult to the concept of a tank.
@@exploatores It looks like a kid's drawing of a tank. Sounds like it was designed by kids too.
If David Fletcher were a doctor: “your rest results are back, Mr. Jones. It’s...well, it’s not ideal.”
“What does that mean? Give it to me straight doc, I can take it.”
“You have two, maybe four weeks left.”
“What?!? I’m gonna DIE??!”
“Well I *did* say not ideal.”
Or "it could be worse, you could have just 3 weeks to live". :)
I'm sure that 4 weeks are not optimal.
Well he would give you your road speed only and max front armour
"it hasn't gotten any better" I love Dave.
Can someone get knighted twice?
I think there might even be an actual use for that tank in war:
Let the enemy capture it and hope they copy some of the design elements in their next tank....
Bird_Dog they would at least take out the test driver in the process of analysing the bloody thing
"What's wrong with this tank?"
"Yes"
@@Jan_372 " No "
I think Mr Fletcher has just explained that for you. I could just watch it again, if only to here Mr Fletcher talk👍.
@@Jan_372 well the wheels are reasonably round...
It has fairly decent armor thickness.
@@Jan_372 Well, it is "not ideal" is the most common thing said about it!
>gear breaks arms
>well it's not ideal
spoken as a true Englishmen :D
I've had worse
Also the less than ideal wrist breaking thing
" We've covered the Valiant before. It hasn't got any better. " Thanks for the laugh, as well as the serious info.
David Fletcher got his MBE for being a master of understatement, even for a Brit!
Well, somewhat of a master, anyway.
What does a MBE mean?
@@totallyaploy1824 "An MBE is one of five classes of appointment to the Order Of The British Empire, and it stands for Member Of The Most Excellent Order Of The British Empire. It is the fifth and lowest class of appointment for the Order Of The British Empire."
@@lewisirwin5363 nice one , well reasonably alright!
"For rather good achievements in the use and display of understatement."
They called it an 'Assault Tank' to keep the Americans happy! Priceless.
That part made me snort
Building a good tank would have made us happy
Brass 'n Barrels Firearms Channel, British and American doctrine were to different to build similar tanks. The Americans didn’t understand this
I don't know why giving something an inspiring name upsets the British so much. I believe the spitfire was going to be called the bloody ' wren'
@@alexl5949 The Americans wanted to build a better tank than the Panzer III and the Germans wanted to build a better tank than the T34 and both succeeded. The Brits wanted to build a better tank than they used in North Africa and the result was the Cromwell. In North Africa it would have been a winner.
"it tended to get in the way of the gun (which was rather a nuisance)." - long live david Fletcher.
Imagine how bad a tank must be if the testing crew calls it a day after a dozen miles, gets out, goes to the next pub and orders a few rounds just to drink the pain of broken wrists, legs and bruised heads away.
I had not noticed the oversized turret ring. Now it hurts.
Many tanks seem to have them, though usually it's not as obvious.
@@sergarlantyrell7847 Is it? Great, now I am going to be looking for that.
And it is going to hurt even more.
It not really a problem; it it wasn't there (serving a necessary function) the incoming shot would squarely strike the side armour, as it is the same shot would strike the ring and be deflected into the same side armour at a somewhat oblique angle (not a bad outcome.)
Such shot-traps are bad when you have something frail for the shot to deflect into, the obvious example being shots deflecting downward off badly designed turret faces/gun mantles and passing through the top hull armour.
If you want a big turret but don't want the the complexity of hull sponsons or a very wide hull, you need this feature.
They named the tank after any crew who willingly climbed into it.
It's surprising, but I had never noticed that this tank is an early example of the pike-nose, like the later IS-3
I noticed that as well. Maybe if the Valiant was a bit bigger and had a giant wok for a turret it would have been more successful. Or maybe just stick to the Centurion.
@@bigblue6917 given all the problems they had getting the driver to fit, and the bulge on the top of the glacis, I reckon they would have had to make significant changes to develop it successfully like that. Probably something like making it larger, a little longer, maybe an extra roadwheel, move the turret back a little to give space for the drivers hatch, etc. That's quite a redesign, but not unthinkable
@@RugnirSvenstarr A few tank designs got stretched during their production, the M4A4 comes to mind, so quite doable.
It's almost like the pike nose isn't as good an idea as it seems - unless it's in a computer game :-)
@@jamesburt3272
Front on it was the best armor protection you could give a vehicle since there are two planes of sloping. The problem was that when composite armor was coming out the ergonomics of fitting the composites in along with the armor became an issue. If we are talking purely steel structure, it is probably the second strongest layout. The first being the rounded hulls of American vehicles like M60 and M103.
He's the king of the understatement. Shot bouncing and going into the hull "thats just not good"
Paul Baba
Or the gear can break your wrist “that’s not ideal”
"not ideal"
I absolutely love that way of saying that it was awful or terrible
Look it up in the dictionary. It says there exactly like that.
I always love David's understated explanation of problems. I haven't actually heard him say "... that would cause the tank to blow up - which can be a bit of a problem in the middle of a battle". but I'm sure he will one day. He obviously has great trust in his viewers' ability to understand the full implications for themselves.
i cant state often enough how much i would loved to have Mr fletcher to be my history teacher in school....he is just awesome
I love how Davis is such a proper gentleman that when he accidently swears because he's so flustered with the design of this tank, he basically goes "oh goodness, please pardon my language" when it's not that drastic of a swear word. I just love this man to pieces. An evening meal and drinks with this gentleman would be the pinical of my year!
I'd like to see a beardstache triple threat battle between David Fletcher, David Willey and Irving Finkel.
What about Wilfred Brimely?
@@skipper4126 wilford brimley counts too i suppose.
Irvin Winkler doesn't have a beard?
@@con_boy Finkel man Finkel, he is pretty much David Fletcher from the British Museum
ruclips.net/video/FbuZGCYDpQU/видео.html
Thanks for alerting me to another great British eccentric to go watch video's from. It's good to know we're still producing them :)!
David Fletcher and his subdued British humour kill me. Awesome. In American Army we would have called this a POS.
Sorry for the ignorance but what does POS stand for
@@yogibear5995 Piece of Sh#t
Thanks
Worth noting that English humour is very different to Irish, Scots or Welsh humour.
Assuming the Welsh have humour. Never seen evidence.
I know Americans think all British people know the queen. But it's worth remembering the UK is 4 different countries. As dissimilar as the us is to Canada.
The Scots would definitely call it a pos. They have a wonderfully direct sense of humour.
Dear Mr Fletcher, your Tank Chats are always a real treat, wish you all the best, and two thumbs up from Hungary!
A fascinating illustration of just how much a tank design can get wrong! The shot traps and suspension were both definitely things that weren't obvious from the previous look at it. Thanks!
I can just imagine a crowbar becoming a standard part of the driver's position just like the infamous Soviet sledgehammer....
Valiant is the trait of the designers who put the tank forward for testing.
Behold!!! The moustache has spoken, and it speaks the truth
@David Fletcher - always a pleasure to listen to you and your incite on historical armored vehicles. I know it takes a lot of work to make these videos. So many thanks to you and your production crew for all their hard work.
Perfectly acceptable description of the tanks rear end. Thank you for giving me a laugh.
Take it to a vet, needs those glands popping.
God, i would love to have tour through the museum, with Mr. Fletcher as the chatty guide.
Everytime I see a Tank Chat with Mr Fletcher, I can't help but be proud to be British. This man is the embodiment of the British spirit. Doff my cap to you sir! Brilliant chat on an awful tank!
Mat Cooper well said, sir.
I'm not a fan of the trailing off mumbling of Mr. Fletcher but I'm a HUGE fan of the brutal honesty he provides. Over-all, and overwhelmingly so, I'm a loyal fan of these videos.
That typically droll British sense of humor and the interesting content keeps me coming back, and looking forward to new content, of tank chats. Bravo lads, if a common cause does not unite Britain and America then remembrance of our common roots certainly shall. Tip of the cap to professor Fletcher and the other narrators.
I was thinking about this tank just today. Mainly because I managed to get my foot stuck under my cars clutch pedal, somehow.
Did you have to cut your foot off?
@bujler
A year ago I broke my right ankle, and for several months after I got back on my feet my ankle was so stiff I had to be very careful getting in or out of my car, else I’d get my right foot wedged up but good.
Well that’s not ideal.
I once got a shoe lace wrapped around the gear lever on a motorcycle, had a very worrying moment the the traffic lights...
@@mickleblade don't wear laces when riding...or use a shoe or boot that has a lace flap that covers them-they make those. Or wear velcro like an old guy, LOL! Glad you didn't get hurt, there's a reason behind traditional biker clothing.
I wonder if they can get the Valiant to tow a rota-trailer?
David Fletchers reaction would be priceless.
He'd probably say they were made for each other. :-)
LOL XD
What an incredible machine. Just think, all of the more successful British tanks like the Centurion took direct inspiration from this vehicle about exactly what they shouldn't do when designing them!
At this tanks triel the Centurion was already a year in devellopment and probaply less than a year awaa from mass production.
Davids lectures are the most absorbing. What a gent.
I love the tank museum and I love you David Fletcher. You always keep me entertained thank you so much. 🇬🇧
Mr Fletcher's presentations are the best!!
I love this guy. He's the epitome of British Great Uncle indignation and sass while being so classy and cool
At the 5:03 mark . If you look at a valentine design and compare it to the Valiant design. You can see roughly the same hull design with the obvious hull and turret design difference to up armored and up gun from the valentine design. In the design you can see the changes in the way how armor design changed with a variant pike nose type of armor that the IS-3 have .
"If you like the tank chats..." said on a chat about the Valiant. We all know what's coming. :P
I love David's casual trash-talking, it's brilliant.
You know, I had an excellent book about Tanks by Kenneth Macksey and illustrated by John Batchelor when I was a boy (I highly recommend it.). It just seemed to be written in a way that made it interesting to both laymen and youngsters. But reading it aloud the other day to my 13 year old son, I was hearing David Fletcher's voice saying the words and I started to imitate his manner without meaning to. I am convinced that if Mr. Fletcher read it aloud to children, his audience would sprout mustaches and maroon trousers by the end of the book.
@Pete Hall
“Tank vs Tank?” Great big hardbound book, lots of full page drawings and maps?
I got that as a gift in my teens, read it back and forth until the binding disintegrated, then brushed glue all along the spine to put it back together and donated it to free library.
I’d pay good money to listen to Nick Moran review the drivers position 😂
Hes talked about it on lindybeige's channel
andypants1000 does he climb in it?
@@matthayward7889 Folding him up enough to get in might be difficult, i think he'd have to get out in installments.
voice of raisin 😂😂😂
Oh yay, the tank is on fire.
MAN BRUTALLY MURDERS TANK AND ALL THOSE INVOLVED WITH IT'S DESIGN
"Now I know I've talked about the Valiant before in one of the surveys of the five worst tanks. It hasn't got any better, it's still as awful as it always was."
"A lot of the people who write about it say if you look at it, you can see a lot of the Valentine in it. Well, I've looked at it, and I can't see any of the Valentine in it. But that's neither here nor there, I suppose."
"They say the suspension is very much like the Valentine. Well, I don't believe it is at all."
"That alone is an indication of how dreadful the tank was, the fact that nobody wanted to complete it."
"I think it's the worst tank in this museum at the moment."
Love listening to DF
Always happy to learn new things 😃
That suspension is called ‘double wishbone’ suspension. It is and was used on sports cars: it stops track changes as the wheel moves up and down.
I believe that (2:00) is a type of "double-wishbone" suspension, usually used in sports/racing cars. It's completely stupid to try to use it in a tank as the wheels will move laterally with suspension travel, which is less than ideal when you want them all to be in line because of the tracks.
If you went over a large bump on one side, you could conceivably get a slight track warping effect (like the steering on the Tetrarch), if the tracks were flexible enough that is.
In general, it seems like a lot of the problems of this tank were because they tried to make it too small. If it were made even a foot longer, I'm sure a lot of the issues would have been easy fixes.
What a treasure to find this channel. The material has kept me busy for hours. I think i will buy my wife some tank socks lol
Another great video! Thanks so much!
Adds new meaning to the saying "valiant attempt."
This guy is great subbed.
Thankyou for the video, despite all its design faults I rather like the look of this tank, particularly the cast front glacis plate. Gives it a streamlined look.
God bless this man... I absolutely love him...
The amount of british snarky understatements when talking about flaws in this thing really shows with what passion Fletcher dislikes that thing. Poor Valiant, even the Germans probably wouldn't have abused it that hard if they had ever fought her in WW2.
By the way, are we going to get another "worst tanks" list? The last one was quite informative (nevermind it's always a joy to listen to Mr. Fletcher tear into all the flaws) and I believe it only be fair if the Bottom 5 British Tanks got a bit of company from other nations (I'm sure there's a whole catalogue for Fletcher to choose from in the German side of vehicular hick-ups), or perhaps if not enough variety by nations is available, it could be sorted by what kind of purpose they were supposed to fulfill and then have a Bottom 5 Amphibious Tank or alike.
Pretty please?
They did a video not long back of the 5 worst foreign tanks. Quite a good selection.
At first I was thinking, well, every major tank youtuber has already featured this tank. What else can you say? But actually, it turned out quite interesting. Thank you.
That's awesome. Looks like this tank has double wish bone suspension!
Could you do a tank chat on the t72...bit of focus on the transmission/steering!! One of my favourite things on tracked vehicles!
We love you Mr Fletcher!!!!
It's baffling it wasn't cancelled at the design stage before however many men spent however many weeks constructing the prototype. Surely the inoperability should have been apparent from the blueprints?
Thank you and your team for the great information on the tanks
This tank poisoned our water supply, burned our crops and delivered a plague unto our houses, which obviously wasn't ideal. - David Fletcher, probably.
Would you be willing to cover the Valentine in greater detail, its combat effectiveness over the years, what the Germans thought of it etc?
How many kills did they get? etc
Looool did you watch the whole video and still think this tank was put into action?
@@EvMund Valentine =/= Valiant,, good sir.
The Valentine is my fave tank but its never covered beyond "it was mechanically reliable and its armor was ok".
@@drbedlam9786 sorry I didn't words very good, carry on!
This is pretty good for the Valentine in action, as well as the other I tanks in WW2 - www.amazon.co.uk/Through-Mud-Blood-Bryan-Perrett/dp/0709148224/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=through+mud+and+the+blood&qid=1567195579&s=books&sr=1-5
I think it's a mistake to put such emphasis on Kills. Fighting other tanks was only a minority of all the things armoured vehicles were for
I have to pause David Fletcher videos frequently in order to stop laughing so I can hear the next thing he says 😅😂 🤣
I don’t think this tank is ideal at all
Hi David, I don't know if you read the comments on these videos but in case you do I have a question: I have always presumed that the problems we had with getting a bigger turret ring to take better armament resulted from the requirement for the vehicle to fit on Britain's railway transport system which severely limited the width designers could work with. Is this correct at all and what enabled this to eventually be overcome?
I love all this videos and I have watched almost all of them
It was hopeless but at least it remained just a prototype, I watched a video by the Chieftain about two tanks by Marmon-Herrington that were perhaps even worse but were actually manufactured in series and saw a very limited service.
Thank you very much. Truly enjoyed.
Great show
It does look valentinish to be fair. It also looks like a poor attempt at a small Pershing or a child's drawing of a tank. Great video as usual DF! Correction sir, in the tall turret stakes, not much beats the Charioteer!
If I had a bar near The Tank Museum, this man would never have to pay for a pint.
Very good video, as usual, but as cool as that dreadful tank is how much cooler is that Ram behind you? Looks like it's mostly intact, could it be brought to functional status without too much difficulty?
its nice to see the famed interior of the valentine finally!
I think you should sell not only David Fletcher - MBE T-Shirts, but also his red pants.
I would buy both.
Boris needs to award this man a knighthood for his service to England.
Now, if they'd lengthen the tank by 2', and widened it by 1', as well as adding a turret basket, most of the issues might have been resolved.
The schematics at 5:00 look quite interesting to a layman like me; the rudimentary pike nose and a couple of other differences seem to suggest almost a different tank.
Fascinating, that this ever got beyond the design stage.
very nice episode
Mr. FLETCHER is a great presenter. I could hear him describe things all day.
Wow, I finally found a Tank thats cause Depressions....unbelievable😄 Great Video Love the Tank Chats
Double wishbone suspension seems like it would be a big problem for a tank, as a this type of suspension moves side to side through its vertical travel.
I don’t think the turret ring being wider than the hull is a major issue, at least not on its own. I think the Centurion was like this, and I know the Conqueror was as well and I’ve not heard anyone bring it up, and I think there were some soviet tanks like this as well. It possible this tank has something about it that makes such a design a problem, though.
From what I heard, there was a tank class that took the tank out (and or its blueprints) and the class had to write down every problem they can find with the tank.
So it does serve some sort of purpose as a really bad tank.
Thank you , Mr Fletcher
The suspension looks similar to a double wishbone type found on some cars
Assault tank you say?
Assaulting all common sense, when making a tank. xD
I think the suspension system is pretty advanced for its day, it appears to be the same as a modern day unequal length A arm type which is quite common on todays vehicles, albeit not tanks.
Unfortunately my memory for names is useless, but I read somewhere a few weeks ago where someone fairly senior in the army stated that "this tank, with a lot of hard work and good will, could be merely bloody awful". Might be one of those apocryphal quotes though.
I think there was great potential, the fundamentals were there part wise and that massive turret ring offered great upgrade potential, it was just the ergonomics and finer engineering finishes that needed polishing which if it had one developer rather than three it might well have received in a more prompt timeframe.
Just in time for Lunch - Thank you!
I seriously NEED a round table discussion with Drachinifel, David Fletcher, Lindybeige and the Chieftain about why the French are weird
The first three also bring fantastic facial hair to the table.
YES!
Lindy is an idiot. Unless you're using his presence as a baseline for stupidity then I wouldn't let him make toast, lot alone "contribute" to a discussion.
iatsd I've got to agree. I used to love his videos, but too often he presents opinion as fact, and bends the truth to fit his narrative. What did it for me was his video on jungle warfare, where he outright treats Australian contributions as if they were British. No one, man for man, had more success in the jungle than the Australians. We had militia battalions butt heads with a Japanese jungle division and hold their own far better than they had any right to.
When has Drach shown his face?
@@jamesharding3459 he did a video with Chieftain as well as a video with Military history visualized and military aviation history
I think the suspension design is quite advanced. It looks like a modern unequal length A arm suspension found on most modern vehicles today albeit not tanks.
Looks wise I like the cast look of the tank with the thick turret. Might have been worth persisting with it.
I wish I was as English as him, unfortunately I was born and remain a chav.
chavs are english too, my man
Nah chavs are way way better than pikeys. I know a lot of good hard working nice chavs. Can’t say the same about pikeys. In fact in my town they had a fist fight in my children’s playground.
Even if you're in the gutter you can still gaze at the stars.
@@4TheWinQuinn Chavvies are mostly harmless. Bit weird and annoying at times but not like pikies, who are are usually aggressive, steal things, carry knives etc.
Jamie Morgan yes, an English virus 🦠
As bad as this tank was, it is fascinating to see that the triagular sloping features at the front made it to the Soviet IS series tanks.
Thank you for a practical review.
It hasn't go any better it still as aweful as it always was... When a David Fletcher video pops out you feel is an instant hit! This time you confirm that at 0:24...