its amazing that a tank so old, looks so new and that is only possible because the tank museum looks after their collection. thanks for another great tank chat.
Skipper nifty the tank museum is honestly one of the best and most well looked after museums I've been to. They're constantly maintaining the vehicles, and any ones that aren't on display are kept in a huge, clean, climate controlled hangar all safe and cozy xD
holy shit I had no idea it was so enormous. there's a tank on display down in Canberra but it's more the size of a huge pickup truck, I wish I could see a behemoth like this in person and appreciate its scale.
Yes, the US sold its remaining Mk VIII's and M1917's (license built FT-17) to the Canadians - who had a total of TWO tanks in 1940. They were sold to the "Worthington Steel Company" of "Borden Ontario" by the ton as "scrap metal" (to comply with the Neutrality Act which forbade the sale of weapons to belligerents) and at scrap prices, too. "Worthington" was Col Worthington of the Canadian Army , commander of the Canadian Tank Corps and "Borden" was its depot, Camp Borden. They were never intended to be combat vehicles but serve as something to train on until they could find something better
Thought it was an AMX-40 at first, a similarly round tank, but it's not. It's actually an artists representation of what the "Panzerkampfwagen X" could have looked like, if it was ever taken further than a silhouette published in a German military magazine to deceive allied intelligence.
Great video as always. The only thing I would suggest is that the camera would pan around the tank to show the front, sides and back more than just in black and white photos.
Grim Reaper the tank is up against the corner of the building, I've been next to it and there's honestly no way to fit around the other side. There's no left sponson in this one
In it's own way, the Mark VIII was quite ahead of it's time, having parts sourced from multiple countries to be assembled in another one. Quite the same process is used by almost all militaries these days, to the point you see Russian tanks with French fire-control units and thermal imagers.
Interesting how they just added a non existing turret to the tank. From a movie standpoint it makes sense but still strange. Also, was it based off the mark viii or vii, because the hull looks about the same in both tanks. Edit: nevermind the viii is a lot longer I guess that's where it's from.
yes, that's right. There was a bit of a fuss apparently. Story goes that they came around to the museum and asked to take measurements ect . The museum is said to have been under the impression that it was for an accurate reproduction of the tank. But , as we all know, it Indiana Jones movies are more about artistic licence.. anyway , some people got pissed off when the film came out and the tank was clearly much wider and had a turret on top . lol. good story anyway.
You're very nearly exactly right. In the 90s, when the moulds had broken for the original Land Raider and the replacement kit had not yet been released, Fred Reed's adaptation of a 1:35 scale Mark IV tank kit became briefly the officially approved substitute for a while. His Deathwing Land Raider was featured in White Dwarf. Difficult to imagine that now. images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/9/24/649892_md-.png
Possibly a stupid question, but how did tanks like this survive and not end up scrapped or used as range targets? Did the Army have a policy of preserving an example or is it just pure luck that one or two things end up forgotten in a warehouse?
Armies, as institutions, tend to be quite historically-minded. They preserve a lot of stuff for educational or even sentimental reasons. But it's also about economics; the scrap value of iron and steel is usually pretty low. For example, it's not unusual to find old muzzle-loading cannon in parks, museums and historic sites. But these are almost always iron guns that had served on ships or in forts. The brass or bronze guns used by the field artillery are long-since melted down, because those metals are much more valuable.
"I wonder if the world, 🗺 war,💥 two,2⃣ Nazi German,🇩🇪 anti-tank land mines ➖ called the tellermine, alongside Panzerbuchse 39 anti-tank rifle, Swiss, 🇨🇭 built,🏢 Solothurn s18-1000 anti-tank rifle and the Finnish,🇫🇮 built,🏢 Lahti 39 20mm anti-tank rifle alongside the Nazi German,🇩🇪 built,🏢 hollowed charge Panzerfaust disposable recoilless rifle and the Nazi German,🇩🇪 reversed,🔀 engineered version of the American,🇺🇸 built,🏢 M1 bazooka anti-tank rocket,🚀 launcher called the Panzerschreck and the Polish,🇵🇱 built,🏢 WZ.35 anti-tank rifle and the Finnish,🇫🇮 and Soviet Russian,🇷🇺 built,🏢 burning,🔥 molotov cocktail,🍹 bottle,🍾 homemade incendiary grenades go up,👆 against the late world, 🗺 war,💥 one,1⃣ British, 🇬🇧 and the commonwealth of nations, French,🇫🇷 and American,🇺🇸 built,🏢 Mark VIII male,👨 tank?"
My dad has been working at the Rock Island Arsenal for over 30 years now. He is retiring later this year. Back before 9/11 the island was mostly open to the public. They even had an open house event every year where you could go into most of the manufacturing buildings and see all the equipment. There was also an open range for shooting M16 rifles and some sort of fair/carnival style events. After 9/11 the island went on lockdown and is still pretty locked up now. Not much public access. If you are not military or a civilian worker with ID cards for the island, you are not getting on. For the most part. There are a few exceptions, but nothing close to as open as it was in the 80's and 90's I grew up in.
One of these is in the base museum at Ft. George G. Meade in Maryland; they have an FT-17 as well (both inside the building; there are a few other, later vehicles outside). Not a large museum, but worth a look.
If you go on Tank Chats on Fort Binning channel about 20 minutes in after the mk5 star and the American version of the Ft17 they have the mk8 Liberty with the Liberty aircraft engine still all original if your interested in finding out more about it mr Fletcher.
the tank at the end of Indiana Jones 3, is actually a replica vehicle made from an excavator, following the hull shape of the Mark VIII but with a turret added on top, if you didn't know, now you do.
My kids kicked there footy over the fence & the neighbours wouldn't give it back so i built a mark V111 tank from scratch and parked it out the front of the neighbours house & suddenly the footy popped back over the fence so i think there a very handy thing to have around the house.
Under the National Defense Act of 1920, tanks were assigned to the Infantry (Cavalry had "Combat Cars", clearly a different breed of vehicle.....NOT), and there were two regiments of Infantry (Tanks) - one heavy and one light. They formed the basis for the 2nd Armored Division when it was raised in 1941. Infantry (Tanks) insignia - page down hglanham.tripod.com/usinfantry/infantry1.html It's a Mark VIII on crossed muskets (They're Model 1795 muskets - the first domestically produced US shoulder weapon - NOT rifles ) " In 1923 Arthur E. Dubois redesigned the infantry insignia to be the Model 1795 musket" BTW, Armor's insignia has an M26 tank superimposed on the Cavalry's sabers en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armor_Branch#/media/File:Armor-Branch-Insignia.png
Thats a beautiful machine. Really loving it. Thank you for the video and info. David are you sunburned? Hope its not high blood pressure and you are doing well.
I think the British tank crews like this tank jusy because the engine was in a separate compartment rather than within the crew compartment so they weren't getting overheated and exposed to toxic fumes
So I used to play Warhammer 40,000 (Did the Imperial Guard) and these fictional tanks had both WW1 Side Sponsons and WW2 Top Turrets. So my question were there any concept or prototypes of tanks that had both the Top Turret and Side Sponsons?
At the start he talks about it being the only working “international” tank but I think that the Sherman’s and especially ones like the grizzly or firefly would also count?
The firefly was built by the Americans independently, then modified by the British, desperately to the Americans. And the Grizzly was Canadian production of the Sherman, with a few modifications. They had no input on the original design. To properly count as an international tank, it has to be designed by, and at least partially built by both nations.
The US engine he mentioned would go on to power quite a few things. From aircraft to zepplins to land vehicles when they were bought from surplus. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_L-12
The Canadian rum-runners bought loads of surplus liberty V-12's to put into boats during prohibition. They could easily outrun anything the US coastguard had on the great lakes at the time, and would bring the booze right up onto the beach in Buffalo and Chicago.
Thank you for this. I'm curious. What's the dome shaped structure on the side of the tank (shown in a few of the pictures) back near the engine compartment?
If you're refering to the domes just behind the sponsons they're machinegun ball mounts when they show the American tank you will see a waterjacket from an old machinegun.
_"...so you're not actually gassing everyone while it's going along, which is rather nice."_
You're the best, Mr. Fletcher.
"And reverse, (shrugs) if need be."
Give that man a swagger stick and make him an officer.
I could freaking listen to this guy describe tank history all day. And I just may O_o
Shkotay D I could listen to him describe vacuum cleaners lol
its amazing that a tank so old, looks so new and that is only possible because the tank museum looks after their collection. thanks for another great tank chat.
Skipper nifty the tank museum is honestly one of the best and most well looked after museums I've been to. They're constantly maintaining the vehicles, and any ones that aren't on display are kept in a huge, clean, climate controlled hangar all safe and cozy xD
David is so British he turns my Coca-Cola into tea and my pancakes with maple syrup into biscuits and marmalade.
Toast and marmalade, old boy. It’s jam and clotted cream with scones 😉
this the most informational Mark VIII video i have seen, thank you for the video.
no
sup mr salty
Does anyone else think that this tank is beautiful?
Yes, very! It got the same flowing shapes as a boat in a dock.
no
I think all WW1 tanks are really beautiful. And scary as all hell.
+Harry B D'oh!
Yeager's (or should that be Jáeger's?) Mustang has 2 drop tanks...
Harry B I mean D'oh! in the style of 'Well spotted' :D
What a luxury! not to be gased by the engine.
ohhh luxury you were lucky to not get gassed, but we were happy in those days
holy shit I had no idea it was so enormous. there's a tank on display down in Canberra but it's more the size of a huge pickup truck, I wish I could see a behemoth like this in person and appreciate its scale.
Gary you think this is big you should see the mark XI, now that one is huge
Gary the maus and or the char 2c
Gary haha gaaaaaryy
At the Outbreak of the second world war Canada bought some US Mark VIII Internationals that were in storage to use them as training tanks
Did they?
Yes, the US sold its remaining Mk VIII's and M1917's (license built FT-17) to the Canadians - who had a total of TWO tanks in 1940. They were sold to the "Worthington Steel Company" of "Borden Ontario" by the ton as "scrap metal" (to comply with the Neutrality Act which forbade the sale of weapons to belligerents) and at scrap prices, too. "Worthington" was Col Worthington of the Canadian Army , commander of the Canadian Tank Corps and "Borden" was its depot, Camp Borden. They were never intended to be combat vehicles but serve as something to train on until they could find something better
David fletcher really is a great man
4:42 I just heard my home-town's name come out of David Fletcher's glorious moustache! I have been blessed this day.
Great Video. Please show us some interiors as well.
ive always wanted to see them
I can´t seem to be able to identify the tank in your profile picture...
Thought it was an AMX-40 at first, a similarly round tank, but it's not. It's actually an artists representation of what the "Panzerkampfwagen X" could have looked like, if it was ever taken further than a silhouette published in a German military magazine to deceive allied intelligence.
Ahh they would BUT IT IS CURSED!
Road-hog123 i knew the turret looked german
Great video as always. The only thing I would suggest is that the camera would pan around the tank to show the front, sides and back more than just in black and white photos.
Grim Reaper the tank is up against the corner of the building, I've been next to it and there's honestly no way to fit around the other side. There's no left sponson in this one
Same
Dude no one watches these videos fortanks, clearly we’re all really here for David Fletcher
Add a small top-mounted turret with a long-barrel 6 pounder to this thing and you'd have the tank from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989). 😎
Awesome tank. I am engaged in search of tanks since 2005. To find the tank is the same as found in a haystack Golko :)
The indomitable Dr. Fletcher. Thank you for your work, and this addition to it.
In it's own way, the Mark VIII was quite ahead of it's time, having parts sourced from multiple countries to be assembled in another one. Quite the same process is used by almost all militaries these days, to the point you see Russian tanks with French fire-control units and thermal imagers.
isnt the tank in indiana jones and the last crusade based off the suspension of the internationl, but had a turret instead?
Yeap, it was based off the Mark 8.
Interesting how they just added a non existing turret to the tank. From a movie standpoint it makes sense but still strange. Also, was it based off the mark viii or vii, because the hull looks about the same in both tanks.
Edit: nevermind the viii is a lot longer I guess that's where it's from.
yes, that's right. There was a bit of a fuss apparently. Story goes that they came around to the museum and asked to take measurements ect . The museum is said to have been under the impression that it was for an accurate reproduction of the tank. But , as we all know, it Indiana Jones movies are more about artistic licence.. anyway , some people got pissed off when the film came out and the tank was clearly much wider and had a turret on top . lol. good story anyway.
Another great video from David Fletcher, thank you.
Fascinating tank, especially to see the evolution in ideas over the iconic marks of tank
Land Raider's granddaddy.
More like a Leman Russ'. The Leman Russ is a B-1 Bis body (mirrored) with the sides of this tank and a T-34 turret.
Land Raider is a dozer actually. It's even mentioned in the lore:D
You'll find that the Malcador Defender is pretty much directly inspired by the MK-VIII, with secondary influence from the Char B-1 Bis.
Wutz dem ummies on about??? Just give me da daka daka
You're very nearly exactly right. In the 90s, when the moulds had broken for the original Land Raider and the replacement kit had not yet been released, Fred Reed's adaptation of a 1:35 scale Mark IV tank kit became briefly the officially approved substitute for a while. His Deathwing Land Raider was featured in White Dwarf. Difficult to imagine that now. images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/9/24/649892_md-.png
Possibly a stupid question, but how did tanks like this survive and not end up scrapped or used as range targets? Did the Army have a policy of preserving an example or is it just pure luck that one or two things end up forgotten in a warehouse?
CommissarBooks thats actually a really good question, sometimes tanks are just given off to seperate groups that hold onto them
Armies, as institutions, tend to be quite historically-minded. They preserve a lot of stuff for educational or even sentimental reasons. But it's also about economics; the scrap value of iron and steel is usually pretty low. For example, it's not unusual to find old muzzle-loading cannon in parks, museums and historic sites. But these are almost always iron guns that had served on ships or in forts. The brass or bronze guns used by the field artillery are long-since melted down, because those metals are much more valuable.
Does your country not have memorial parks with an artillery piece or something on display
Thanks very much for another great video. Glad you are well and busy. Wishing you and all the folks at the Tank Museum well!
For an assignment for class, I built the Mark VIII tank and got an A+. I have loved tanks ever since.
"I wonder if the world, 🗺 war,💥 two,2⃣ Nazi German,🇩🇪 anti-tank land mines ➖ called the tellermine, alongside Panzerbuchse 39 anti-tank rifle, Swiss, 🇨🇭 built,🏢 Solothurn s18-1000 anti-tank rifle and the Finnish,🇫🇮 built,🏢 Lahti 39 20mm anti-tank rifle alongside the Nazi German,🇩🇪 built,🏢 hollowed charge Panzerfaust disposable recoilless rifle and the Nazi German,🇩🇪 reversed,🔀 engineered version of the American,🇺🇸 built,🏢 M1 bazooka anti-tank rocket,🚀 launcher called the Panzerschreck and the Polish,🇵🇱 built,🏢 WZ.35 anti-tank rifle and the Finnish,🇫🇮 and Soviet Russian,🇷🇺 built,🏢 burning,🔥 molotov cocktail,🍹 bottle,🍾 homemade incendiary grenades go up,👆 against the late world, 🗺 war,💥 one,1⃣ British, 🇬🇧 and the commonwealth of nations, French,🇫🇷 and American,🇺🇸 built,🏢 Mark VIII male,👨 tank?"
this tank is my soul animal
Thanks for the video sir!
THANKYOU FOR RECORDING THE TANK CHATS DAVID, BRING ON THE NEXT ONE SOON PLEASE.....
Fantastic vid, can't wait for more!
Thank you Mister Fletcher for talking about this Tank, I've never seen it or heard of it before
I'm really liking this channel. very interesting
I seriously love his moustache!
“…And reverse if need be.”
I could listen to him for hours
most beautiful tank ever built
More from David Fletcher. Best military historian of all time. Show him this.
My dad has been working at the Rock Island Arsenal for over 30 years now. He is retiring later this year. Back before 9/11 the island was mostly open to the public. They even had an open house event every year where you could go into most of the manufacturing buildings and see all the equipment. There was also an open range for shooting M16 rifles and some sort of fair/carnival style events. After 9/11 the island went on lockdown and is still pretty locked up now. Not much public access. If you are not military or a civilian worker with ID cards for the island, you are not getting on. For the most part. There are a few exceptions, but nothing close to as open as it was in the 80's and 90's I grew up in.
Some of the US MK VIII tanks were given to Canada to use for training at the start of WW2.
One of these is in the base museum at Ft. George G. Meade in Maryland; they have an FT-17 as well (both inside the building; there are a few other, later vehicles outside). Not a large museum, but worth a look.
the german-american tank failed but resulted in the leo and the m1 abrahams...so it's legacy was (and is) a succes :)
Ruben de Jong debatable. you could argue that Germany won WWII because they went on to be successful afterwards
Dubsy 102 ehm no....
Exactly.
They were successful because America helped them.
"Helped" by taking in 50% of the best engineers and patents in operation paperclip ?
4:51 The drivers hatch looks like a duck's head between the tracks..
It looks so majestic. like some metal bunker sliding along
Beautiful tank and excellent practical information!.
It's so weird looking.....I love it
3rd of
October I’ll be at Bovington, with back area access!! Can’t wait!!
Thank you, for the fascinating video. It really puts the arms race in perspective.
This man makes it interesting.
If you go on Tank Chats on Fort Binning channel about 20 minutes in after the mk5 star and the American version of the Ft17 they have the mk8 Liberty with the Liberty aircraft engine still all original if your interested in finding out more about it mr Fletcher.
I could listen to this guy all day but man does he put me to sleep
Thanks.
Wonderful to see thank you the video.
the tank at the end of Indiana Jones 3, is actually a replica vehicle made from an excavator, following the hull shape of the Mark VIII but with a turret added on top, if you didn't know, now you do.
Thank you for the great video
My kids kicked there footy over the fence & the neighbours wouldn't give it back so i built a mark V111 tank from scratch and parked it out the front of the neighbours house & suddenly the footy popped back over the fence so i think there a very handy thing to have around the house.
Im looking at this from a table top gamer perspective and all i can see is
LANDRAIDER!!!
TY for the video. IMO, I think it’s a genius idea considering the ditches of WW1.
who supplied the armor?
*top ten questions science still can't answer*
Thank you .
No disrespect to Mr Fletcher, but I do like the other stand in guy talk about tanks once in a while.
he probably drowe it
Nonono, Mr. Fletcher for me any day!
Both of them are very good.
Florin Vancea Not saying who's better, but sometimes a change of host is welcome.
great fascinating vid,you could teach machine gun use to a primary school class and make it nice :)
One of these tanks is at the Ft. Benning, Georgia near me.
Under the National Defense Act of 1920, tanks were assigned to the Infantry (Cavalry had "Combat Cars", clearly a different breed of vehicle.....NOT), and there were two regiments of Infantry (Tanks) - one heavy and one light. They formed the basis for the 2nd Armored Division when it was raised in 1941. Infantry (Tanks) insignia - page down
hglanham.tripod.com/usinfantry/infantry1.html
It's a Mark VIII on crossed muskets (They're Model 1795 muskets - the first domestically produced US shoulder weapon - NOT rifles )
" In 1923 Arthur E. Dubois redesigned the infantry insignia to be the Model 1795 musket"
BTW, Armor's insignia has an M26 tank superimposed on the Cavalry's sabers
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armor_Branch#/media/File:Armor-Branch-Insignia.png
Very good video very in formative
Id love to see him talk about the mark 9 ww1 tank love it the first troop carrier
We need more moustache man talking about old tanks. PLZ cromwell or comet next.
Thats a beautiful machine. Really loving it. Thank you for the video and info.
David are you sunburned? Hope its not high blood pressure and you are doing well.
it was an early example of IKEA tank
comes ready to assemble with an allen key
There is a completely restored Mark VIII at Fort Meade Maryland where it was used by the U.S. Army
This channel is great
Great host. Love the British accent
That would be ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Rock Island, IL.
This is suck a GREAT video series.
I want to see Mr. Fletcher play Battlefield 1
It's huge! Yet he didn't mention any problems with steering the thing.
Ser Garlan Tyrell I've seen videos and it doesn't look to bad
Ser Garlan Tyrell long track length meant you had more grip to whatever track was steering
What do you mean by the terms Male and Female tanks?
There's also hermaphrodite tanks that have both
How did the markings work? The red and white stripes I mean
Very interesting 🤔
The track plates are perfectly sized to roll over human beings easily
That's why we call infantrymen, "crunchies"
forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/23900-squishies-vs-crunchies/
In America these were called liberty tanks as it was powered by a 300hp liberty engine
We shipped most of them to Canada tbh in 40-42 as Heavy Tanks.
that's a big fucking tank like holy shit I want that on battlefield 1, I think that would be awesome
TITAN Production the landship (mark V) is pretty similar
Dubsy 102 except this one is more of a oblong shaped.
Yes but that is pretty much the only difference
Dubsy 102 yeah an better suspensions and engines. That's it.
this tank I amazing
In 2024 Road Island Arsenal refurbished and placed on display a third Mark 8
I'd say the leopard 2A5 is a pretty good multinational tank
Im very interested to tank history
Indiana Jones Tank. Except they just put a turret on top lol
Tank Chats, more like " Mustache Chats"
I think the British tank crews like this tank jusy because the engine was in a separate compartment rather than within the crew compartment so they weren't getting overheated and exposed to toxic fumes
So I used to play Warhammer 40,000 (Did the Imperial Guard) and these fictional tanks had both WW1 Side Sponsons and WW2 Top Turrets. So my question were there any concept or prototypes of tanks that had both the Top Turret and Side Sponsons?
TOG 2 for like a hot minute in one version of its protypes I think
Is this the indiana jones tank?
Yeah it is
At the start he talks about it being the only working “international” tank but I think that the Sherman’s and especially ones like the grizzly or firefly would also count?
The firefly was built by the Americans independently, then modified by the British, desperately to the Americans.
And the Grizzly was Canadian production of the Sherman, with a few modifications. They had no input on the original design.
To properly count as an international tank, it has to be designed by, and at least partially built by both nations.
UK and US are like mother and son, of course the joint design would work.
Wow I had no idea that V12s even existed in 1918,
The US engine he mentioned would go on to power quite a few things. From aircraft to zepplins to land vehicles when they were bought from surplus.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_L-12
The Canadian rum-runners bought loads of surplus liberty V-12's to put into boats during prohibition. They could easily outrun anything the US coastguard had on the great lakes at the time, and would bring the booze right up onto the beach in Buffalo and Chicago.
Was this the one nicknamed the tadpole?
Thank you for this.
I'm curious. What's the dome shaped structure on the side of the tank (shown in a few of the pictures) back near the engine compartment?
If you're refering to the domes just behind the sponsons they're machinegun ball mounts when they show the American tank you will see a waterjacket from an old machinegun.
Aha, TY ty
The belly of the steel beast
As this counts neither as a 'male' tank or a 'female' tank would that make it histories first 'transexual' tank??? Enquiring PC minds want to know!
Hermaphrodite tank
And yes it exist
Please do the panzer one please
i heard they were sent to canada as training verhicles, together with m1917 tanks, is that treu?
Yes, see my earlier posting
Mr. Fletcher epitomizes the positive definition of "droll".
Trying to do some research, were these ever actually deployed to combat zones
Is it just me or does this tank look like a baby duck from the front/top?
Gorgeous bit of kit.