Siamese Armoured Unit on Parade in the 1930s: (from Forty) - the picture shows a standard Vickers-Armstrongs Six-ton Tank Type B, with a Vickers Carden-Loyd two-man tankette in the background. Note the French-style uniforms of the personnel (the figure to far right apparently wears the 1935 pattern helmet and two-piece overalls, while the remaining three wear Adrian helmets {presumably with Thai Royal Crest} but the uniforms have standing collars, unlike the French pattern). Note also the Thai script on the lower glacis plate of the Six-ton Tank. Also, the crew of these vehicles was three men - as the figure to left appears to be an officer, perhaps he is a unit commander rather than a crew member?
The full stats for the Vickers 6 ton Type B:
PRODUCTION: 1930-38
CREW: 3 (commander, gunner, driver)
ENGINE: Air-cooled horizontal Armstrong-Siddley V8 4-cylinder (87 b.h.p.) SPEED: 22mph
ARMAMENT: 47mm (3-pdr) gun in turret with co-axial .303" Vickers MG (Duplex mounting).
ARMOUR: Minimum 17mm
WEIGHT: 7.4 tons LENGTH: 15' WIDTH: 7' 11" HEIGHT: 7' 2" GROUND CLEARANCE: 1' 3"
SUSPENSION: 2 sets of double bogeys (on rocker) on each side (cantilever sprung), front drive sprockets, rear idler (drive sprockets higher), 4 return rollers.
TRACK: Manganese steel skeleton type, giving approx. 3,000 miles track life.
The Thai tank above seems to be painted in a single colour.
The Thais used a number (26?) of AA vehicles based on Vickers 6-ton chassis (with a 2pdr pom-pom AA gun). It also appears that there were at least 10 6-ton tanks in service in 1933 (having been ordered on 17 November 1932). Pat Brennan sent me some info and a picture of the Thai AA vehicles (would I be mistaken in thinking that this would be the world's first tracked AA AFV?). The info is from "British Tanks and Fighting Vehicles 1914-1945"; B.T. White. Apparently 26 vehicles were sold to Siam in 1933, the chassis being based on the Vickers-Armstrong 6-ton Tractor (itself a development of the 6-ton Tank, and was further developed into the Dragon, Medium Mk IV). The vehicles were obviously (from the 'photo) built at Elswick on Tyneside, rather than locally modified as I'd first thought. The running gear is the same as the 6-ton tank, and very similar to the Dragon Mk IV. The Thais may have ordered another 10 of these vehicles later. The pic (also from BT White):
Nowfel sent me a comment regarding a "Tankette" article. It is a very brief reference, in an article entitled 'Early armour 1: SP Guns' by DJ Fletcher. The text reads:
"...for the (then) King of Siam [Vickers supplied] a rather unique design based on their famous 6 ton tank chassis. This was an open box type hull, mounting inside a Vickers 2 pdr pom-pom, and some photos also show the machine towing the same gun on a small two-wheeled carriage."
The other vehicle depicted, the Vickers Carden-Loyd two-man tankette, can be seen in the Thailand Railroad Hall of Fame (thanks to Ron Morris for this one - my only picture of an FTW-period Thai AFV which has been preserved).
This vehicle, the fore-runner of many other nations tankettes (CV-3/33, T-27, Renault UE{OK, that isn't a tankette!}, Type 94, etc), was widely exported. Siam/Thailand apparently imported approximately 60 of these, and may have bought further examples from Japan. Stats are:
ARMAMENT: a .303" Vickers RC Class "C" land-serice water-cooled MG, mounted right front, also dismountable (tripod on left front fender)
CREW: 2 (driver & gunner) WEIGHT: 1.5 tons LENGTH: 8' 1" HEIGHT: 4' WIDTH: 6' 6" (over tracks)
ARMOUR: face-hardened, riveted 9mm front & back plates, 6mm sides (all vertical).
ENGINE: Ford Model T 4-cylinder in-line petrol engine (& transmission), 22.5 bhp
SUSPENSION: 4 rubber-tyred bogie wheels each side in 2 pairs, each pair connected by flat leaf spring pivoted to girder track frame, front drive sprockets & rear idlers (at same height).
TRACK: Malleable iron, 5.25" wide
SPEED: 28-30mph MAX GRADIENT: 25 degrees MAX VERTICAL OBSTACLE: 1' 4" TRENCH CROSSING: 4'
WADING DEPTH: 2' GROUND CLEARANCE: 9" RANGE: 100 miles (10mpg).
From Foss & McKenzie, the Thais apparently bought other tanks from Vickers, including the Commercial Vickers Carden-Loyd Light Tank (though I don't know which models - there were 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936 and 1937 variants, which had different turrets and some hull variation - see photos below, all from Foss & McKenzie) and "some" Vickers Carden-Loyd amphibious tanks (again, photo from same source):
Commercial Light Tank, 1933:
ENGINE: Meadows 6-cylinder in-line (88hp), with 5-speed gearbox.
CREW: 2 ARMAMENT: .303" Vickers mg in turret
SUSPENSION: Horstmann type (2x 2-wheel leaf-sprung bogey units on each side, front drive sprockets, rear idler wheels at same height as drive sprockets, with two return rollers on each side)
ARMOUR: 14mm max/4mm min SPEED: 32mph RANGE: 160 miles
Commercial Light Tank, 1934:
ENGINE: Meadows 6-cylinder in-line (88hp), with 5-speed gearbox.
CREW: 2 ARMAMENT: .303" Vickers mg in turret
SUSPENSION: Horstmann type (2x 2-wheel coil-sprung bogey units on each side, front drive sprockets, rear idler wheels at same height as drive sprockets, with two return rollers on each side)
ARMOUR: 14mm max/4mm min SPEED: 32mph RANGE: 160 miles
Commercial Light Tank, 1936:
ENGINE: Meadows 6-cylinder in-line (88hp), with 5-speed gearbox.
CREW: 2 ARMAMENT: .303" Vickers mg in turret
SUSPENSION: Horstmann type (2x 2-wheel coil-sprung bogey units on each side, front drive sprockets, rear idler wheels at same height as drive sprockets, with two return rollers on each side)
ARMOUR: 10mm max/4mm min SPEED: 30mph RANGE: 150 miles
Carden-Loyd amphibious tank:
Following two photographs of amphibious tank from "Profiles":
FIRST PRODUCTION: 1931
LENGTH: 13' 2" WIDTH: 6' 11" HEIGHT: 6' WEIGHT: 3.1 tons
ENGINE: Meadows 6-cylinder in-line (88hp), 4 forward & 1 reverse gear. Propeller-driven afloat.
STEERING: clutch & brake (land) / steerable shroud (afloat)
SUSPENSION: elliptical leaf-sprung
CREW: 2 (driver & gunner) ARMAMENT: .303" Vickers mg in turret ARMOUR: 9mm
SPEED: land 40mph / afloat 6mph RANGE: (land) 150 miles
The amphibious tank had a water-proof sheet-steel hull, with steel-sheathed kapok floats attached. The "shroud" was a truncated conical cylinder around the propeller, moved by connection to driver's steering levers. The British Army found the vehicle to be mechanically unreliable, with the suspension liable to damage and twisting.
The light tanks were fore-runners of the WW2 British light tank Mk.VI, and a version (with a modified turret) of the 1934 model became the Belgian T15 tank. The Soviets bought samples of the amphibious tank, and developed it into their T-37/T-38/T-40 amphibious tank series. The Chinese Nationalists also bought some, and an example is shown in the first colour plate of "Armour of the Pacific War"; Osprey Vanguard 35; Steven Zaloga; 1983.
An armoured car was built by Vickers specifically for Siam in 1931, based on a Morris 2-ton commercial chassis, and having a small, round turret (with MG only?). Apparently there were 6 of these in service by 1941:
Vickers-Morris armoured car, 1931