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It's main points of design were long and low set tracks, each driven by it's own 45-hp engine. The steering was done according to a very novel metod. The driver sat behind a standard steering wheel, the turning of which directly affected the throttles of the two engines, thus increasing or decreasing the speed of the tracks, thus making turning a simple and straight-forward affair. In theory that is. In reality it was a system very difficult to master. For example, if the turn was too tight, one engine easily stalled, which brought the whole tank to an abrupt halt. First it was thought to equip the tank with a turret, but to facilitate production it was instead equipped with a fixed crew compartment, housing 3 or 4 men, manning 3-4 Hotchkiss MG:s. |
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The Whippet had poor trench-crossing capability, but with it's 13-14 km/h the Whippet WAS faster than the other tanks, and when used in the role it was originally intended for, it could make quite an impression. One such Whippet, "Musical Box", belonging to B Coy, 6th Battalion, commanded by lieutenant CB Arnold, took part in the big attack on August 8, 1918, overtook the slow Mk V:s, routed a German Artillery Battery and on it's own penetrated to the rear of the German lines. Quoting Mitchell: "From this on the loneley Whippet, with it's bold crew of only three men, carried on a war of it's own. It shot down retiring infantry, attacked horse and motor transport, and regularly terrorized the bewildered Boche." This went on for eleven hours, and then the tank was first immobilized, surrounded and then destroyed by fire from field artillery. Arnold and one of his crew survived, and were taken prisoners. The Whippet was also used in the Russian Civil War, first by the Whites (as the model above), and later, when captured, by the Red Army. |
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is made from EMHAR:s excellent kit. I have made a number of additions, most noticably the stowage boxes. It has been painted to portary a Whippet in White Army service during the Russian Civil War, specifically the tank A371 "Sphinx", that was employed in the great attack on the Kakhova bridgehead in early september 1920, and that was captured there by the Reds, after being knocked out by artillery.
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is made from a Retromodels resin kit. Apart from additional spuds and stowage, it is made up straight out of the box. It is made up to represent a generic Whippet, as seen on the west front in 1918. It has a couple of errors, though. The Hotchkiss MG:s are of the wrong type, and I now think that the Brown colour should have been Green...
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Pretty
soon the extreme slowness of the early tanks was identified as a problem. of course, they were initially thought of as weapons of breakthrough only, but
some experts started talking about using tanks for exploitation as well,
working together with the cavalry. This, however, required a faster tank. The
result was the MK A "Whippet" - or, as it was initially known, after
it's designer: "The Tritton Chaser".
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