Tank Chats #13 Praying Mantis

Some tank designs didn’t rely on large cannons and heavy armor to do their jobs. The Praying Mantis tried to tackle a problem that ground infantry had to face—shooting over walls while protected from return enemy fire.

In 1943, this tank was designed in the UK by County Commercial Cars Ltd. It featured a long arm with a gun on the end, which could be elevated to fire over obstacles. The crew would lie within the long arm and operate it from there. The first prototype needed only one man to operate it, but this version of the Praying Mantis was rejected because it placed too much work on a single person. The second prototype was built for a two-man crew, a driver and a gunner.

It didn’t work out as well as hoped. The controls were somewhat finicky, which made maneuvering the tank tricky. If that wasn’t bad enough, the crew lying in various degrees of elevation while driving around gave them motion sickness. The idea was abandoned in 1944.
https://givemeliberty01.com/tag/8-praying-mantis-tank/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Carrier

@ col mikel COL Mikel J. Burroughs @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen C. @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen F. @ ltc frank LTC (Join to see) @ ltc john LTC John Mohor @ capt marty Maj Marty Hogan @ smsgt doc SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas @ tsgt joe TSgt Joe C. @ sra christopher SrA Christopher Wright @ sra chris SrA Chris "Shadow" McGee 1SG Christian Chenard @ msg andrew MSG Andrew White @ ssg pete SSG Pete Fleming @ sgt david SGT (Join to see) @ sgt david SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth @ sp5 mark SP5 Mark Kuzinski SCPO Morris Ramsey @ po2 robert PO2 Robert M. @ po3 tom PO3 Tom Howard Alan K.