Greetings Folks, This is for Roger as he asked to see one.. Taken inside the Land Warfare Museum, Duxford.. I've been fixing a few of the pictures I took here, and finally I have shots of the gun-pits that are well lit! And better still, in focus! Also, shots of the Comet Tank from above.. Anyway, this is the very rare Vickers MK IVA Light Tank, mainly so rare because most were lost at Dunkirk or just shot from under their crews! And this was the upgraded version by the way, armour at its thickest was 0.55inch! Production of this tank began in 1936 and 1,682 had been build before it ended.. When the Mk VI was first produced in 1936, the Imperial General Staff considered the tank to be superior to any light tank produced by other nations, and well suited to the dual roles of reconnaissance and colonial warfare. And indeed it was, but as we now know the next war was not going to be a colonial war... It performed perfectly in its designed role, in such Countries as India and the Middle East.. Delays in the production in a replacement meant that the MkIV went into WW2 as a totally out of date tank.. When the Second World War began in September 1939, the vast majority of the tanks available to the British Army were Mk VIs; there were 1,002 Mk VI Light Tanks, 79 Mk I and Mk II Cruiser Tanks and 67 Mk I Infantry Tanks. When the Battle of France began in May 1940, the majority of the tanks possessed by the British Expeditionary Force were Mark VI variants; the seven Royal Armoured Corps divisional cavalry regiments, the principal armoured formations of the BEF, were each equipped with 28 Mk VIs. The 1st Armoured Division, elements of which landed in France in April, was equipped with 257 tanks, of which a large number were Mk VIB and Mk VICs. The 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, which formed part of the division's 3rd Armoured Brigade, possessed by this time 21 Mark VI light tanks. Most were lost.. The Mk VIB was also used in the North African campaign against the Italians late in 1940 with the 3rd Hussars and the 7th Armoured Division. Late in 1940 the British had 200 light tanks (presumably the Mk VIB, possibly some IVA's) along with 75 cruiser tanks (A9, A10, A13) and 45 Matilda IIs. An attack by the 3rd Hussars on 12 December 1940 resulted in the tanks getting bogged down in salt pans and severely mauled. The 7th Armoured Division had 100 left on 3 January 1941 and 120 tanks on 21 January at which time they were used in flanking far into the rear and gathering up scattered Italian troops, sometimes joining or leaving the main attacks to the Cruiser and Matilda II tanks. The 2nd RTR continued to battle the Italians with light tanks as late as 6 February 1941. Being widely used by the British Army, the tank participated in several other important battles. The Mk VIB made up a significant amount of the tanks sent over to the Battle of Greece in 1941, mostly with the 4th Hussars. Ten Mk VIB tanks fought with the 3rd The King's Own Hussars during the Battle of Crete. The same armoured unit had previously embarked three MK VIB tanks for the Norwegian Campaign but they were lost in transit to a German aircraft attack.. The M3 Tank though at least it had a 37mmm gun suffered the same problem, under armoured and against any German tank, the best defence was to run.. Same went for the Vickers.. So as you can imagine this is a very rare example.. And yes, it was armed with Vickers Machine Guns.. Zoom is on! Rob