The Schofield tank, named after its designer, was a
New Zealand tank design of the Second World War. Developed in 1940 when it seemed that the
Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...
might reach New Zealand and with little likelihood of weapons coming from
Britain, it did not enter service. It was designed to run on either tracks or wheels.
Design and development
When a need for the production of indigenous
armoured fighting vehicles arose in 1940, E. J. Schofield, a motor vehicle dealer for
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
in
Wellington, approached the government with his own design.
Schofield's tank was based on the chassis of a
Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
truck using the suspension from a
Universal Carrier. Wheels normally carried on the hull could be bolted on so that it could use these rather than the tracks. As initially designed it had a crew of three: machine gunner and driver at the front and a second machine gun in a turret at the rear.
The initial design performed badly in trials but the Government sought an improved version. Designed by another member of the original team, the improved model used a better transmission and the turret now contained a
QF 2 pounder gun with a co-axial
Besa machine gun. By the time it was complete, in 1942, New Zealand had received tanks from the UK and US.
The armour plating was provided by the
New Zealand Railways. The four wheels shared drive and idler sprockets with the track, and the move from wheels to track, and vice versa, could be made from within the hull.
In 1943 the improved design prototype was shipped to Britain, where it was evaluated by the
Department of Tank Design. Although not completely critical, the project was advised to be stopped. The tank was stored for a while and scrapped after the war.
See also
*
Half-track
Other Commonwealth Tanks of the Second World War
*
Bob Semple tank
The Bob Semple tank (sometimes referred to as Big Bob) was a light tank designed by New Zealand Minister of Works Bob Semple during World War II. Originating out of the need to build military hardware from available materials, the tank was built ...
– New Zealand improvised tank design
*
Sentinel tank
The AC1 Sentinel was a cruiser tank designed in Australia in World War II in response to the war in Europe, and to the threat of Japan expanding the war to the Pacific or even a feared Japanese invasion of Australia. It was the first tank to be ...
– Australian indigenous tank design
*
Ram tank – Canadian indigenous tank design
*
Grizzly tank
The Grizzly I was a Canadian-built M4A1 Sherman tank with relatively minor modifications, primarily to stowage and pioneer tool location and adding accommodations for a number 19 radio set. They used the same General Steel hull castings as late ...
– Canadian licence built M4A1 Sherman
References
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
Track-and-wheel Schofield's tanks (Russian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schofield Tank
Tanks of New Zealand
World War II tanks of New Zealand
Military equipment of New Zealand
New Zealand design