Moore, Craig. Tank Hunter: World War One. The History Press, Stroud 2017. ISBN: 978-0-7509-8659-5. White. B. T. British Tanks 1915-1945. Ian Allan Ltd., Hampton Court 1963.
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His Majesty's Land Ship Centipede
The inventive Walter G. Wilson came up with an almost brilliant idea to solve the problem of trench overrun. Like most such ideas, it was essentially simple. Wilson combined the advantages of large-diameter wheels, with a vehicle cab sandwiched between them, and the advantages of a caterpillar belt. He fitted the virtually unaltered Little Willie hull with diamond-shaped sidewalls, extending beyond its outline, and "girdled" them all around with caterpillar tracks consisting of 90 links each. To maintain steerability on solid ground, he again used the "finesse" of a convex lower running gear (See No. I Lincoln Machine). The contact area of the tracks in this case was only about 1.2 - 1.5 m and increased steadily in soft ground. Interestingly, this idea was conceived by Wilson, before the Little Willie was finished, who was actually pre-ordained to be the test vehicle for the new tracks and running wheel suspension. A wooden mock-up with large sidewalls was completed in September 1915. After approval, the new vehicle went into production, and on 3 December 1915 it took its first test run. Based on the results, some partial modifications were made and the full completion did not take place until 26 January 1916. Four days later, on 30 January 1916, it could be officially presented. The vehicle was officially designated as His Majesty's Land Ship HMLS Centipede (Centipede). But the name Big Willie or the more familiar The Mother was also used, to symbolise that this was the first vehicle of a nascent new category.
Sources: David Fletcher; British Mark I Tank 1916; Osprey New Vanguard 100 ISBN 1841766895 Jacek Stolarz; Czolgi Brytyjskie 1914-1918; Militaria 30 David Fletcher; The British Tanks 1915-1919; Crowood Press Ltd; ISBN 1861264003
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Reklama
The HMLS Centipede, or The Mother, differed from the other production Mark I vehicles by its denser riveting. The company manufactured the boilers and used spacers on the prototype for a watertight joint. The second difference was the different arrangement of the running wheel calipers. On the HMLS Centipede, the line started with a single wheel, then a vertical strip of riveting, while on the Mark I there was a pair of calipers (wheels) at the beginning.
See picture from Hatfield Park tests
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