FLIRT II-MK IV FEMALE TANK

FLIRT II. William Foster & Co. Ltd, a city of Lincoln engineering firm, was approached by the Government in 1915 to build an armoured vehicle which could cross the war-torn trenches and battlefields of France during the great war. The firm’s Managing Director, William Tritton, and his chief draughtsman William Rigby, duly obliged and created Little Willie.The machine, which still exists is currently on display at the British Tank Museum in Bovington. ''Flirt II'' is on loan from the tank museum, Bovington to the Museum of Lincolnshire Life. She would have carried a wooden-rolled fascine secured with chains over the front roof as a large trench filler. Mark IVs were the first tanks fitted with unditching beams by field workshops. A large wooden beam, reinforced with sheet metal, was stored across the top of the tank on a set of parallel rails. If the tank became stuck, the beam was attached to the tracks (often under fire) and then dragged beneath the vehicle, providing grip.Around 460 mk IVs were used during the battle of Cambrai in November 1917.Also included in this gallery are couple of pictures illustrating a German field gun, one of a complete battery captured by the 1st Battalion, Lincolnshire regiment at the battle of Marne, 8th September 1914. click the 'House' icon top left of this page to direct you to survivor79 main page. Under the Berne Convention Act of 1988, all images within this gallery are copyright protected Michael Hill. Not for commercial use without prior permission. parksie@ntlworld.com