The vehicle wasnt "that bad" it was just out of date, a few things for those wondering about the unsure bits. Developed in the mid/late 30s, final design in 1938, IE before massive lessons learned. The device on the end of the 2 pounder was a Littlejohn adapter, an amazing bit of kit which performed a squeezebore action, required specific ammunition but effectively it would make a 40mm round become 30mm, it would fire a soft outside hardened internal core round and effectively it doubled to tripled the effective armour penetration of the gun and was simular to APDS in terms of improving a guns ability, however the adapter needed special ammo and could not fire standard ammunition without destroying the gun while it was installed (it was easy to remove though). No problems of explosions due to it being a solid shot round, the adapter for the 2 poounder worked fine, however when simular trials were done for the US 37mm with reguards to the locust and other vehicles, the adapter would suffer heavily and there was too many problems with the concept. 3 man crew. For airborne helping, it was a "good in theory" design, the problem was whenever they showed up, the enemy would start to drop artillery which was bad. The tank wasnt originally intended to go airborne, it was designed for recon iirc, but the design and few produced fit the purpose and were adopted into use as 2 could fit in a glider, most sent IIRC had the 3 inch howitzer, not the anti tank gun. But yeah, the history of the tank. 1938 the war office asks for some for a recon tank role to uparm tank recon which was using machinegun tanks. 1940 the order changes dramatically between 70 and 220 as the recon role is seen to be better suited to armoured cars. 1941 theres an order of between 100-170, some sent to the 8th army in egypt, but it was deemed unable to operate in the high heat in current standard and was not valuable enough to modernise. Was going to be scrapped, however Churchill stepped in as airborne operations become more a concept and the vehicles were given to the airborne armoured recce troop. 1944 deployed on D-Day, limited success mostly due to heavy enemy fire (and drawing fire on whoever they moved to help) and were quickly replaced, the recce troop being given cromwells landing on the beaches for the next while.
The Tetrarch is an awesome little thing. I took it with my Paras to a tournament earlier this year and won first place. Great little cheap support piece.
As I understand it, the Tetrarch was reasonably successfully deployed, in small numbers, in the invasion of Madagascar (Operation Ironclad), supporting the commandos, and around 20 were also actually deployed during the British Airborne landings on D-Day ... although, those that made it to the ground successfully, and intact, didn't perform well ...
guys, I like your videos, but can’t you do a bit of research before recording? Like learn the name of the Littlejohn adapter, learning the number of crew (two man turret, not just the commander) and history of development. Maybe I am a tech nerd for tanks, but it helps the viewer if so much wasn’t left unknown.
It looks to be a nice little kit. Airborne tanks really are not that crazy. When I was in the 82nd Airborne, we had M551 Sheridans (which you mentioned) in the 3/73 Armored (Airborne). We dropped them out of airplanes, just like all of the soldiers and equipment in the Division. Every now and then the chutes would malfunction, and they'd burn in... but its good to have lightly armored vehicles with a big gun to support you, as opposed to no armored vehicles...
One concept involved attaching a tailplane and wings to the Tetrarch. There was also a jeep version called rotabuggy. As others have said, that weird addition is the Littlejohn squeezebore attachment. It dramatically increased muzzle velocity such that the puny 40mm 2pdr became slightly better than the six pounder. The airborne tank that should have been fully developed is the Alecto tank destroyer.
You don't need to come up with a "what if" scenario for Pegasus Bridge, later on the day they air landed a bunch of them just a few km away to the east to support the paras between the Orne and the Dive rivers. Not sure how much use they saw, it apparently took a while for some to get of the landing area as their tracks got stuck on abandoned parachutes if I'm not mistaken.
D-Day. It was actually loud speakers and a record player from what I have read. Also, the Tetrearch and Locusts were used but suffered poorly and were gone by October 1944. Withdrawn from front lines.
I love this little tank. My first ever learn to play game of bolt action I had I ended up playing hide and seek with it chasing around the rear of an inex jagdpanther.
177 completed nov 1940, a small number sent to soviets may 1942 for invasion of Madagascar. Tetrarch name adopted 1943, armament 2pdr or 3in howitzer, secondary weapon 7.92 Besa mg.
D'aww... Look at the cute wittle tank. Also didn't the Mythbusters use a Damascus Barrel with a magnum round which would be the most likely to breach. Or was that another group that tested that.
the Tetrarch was a 3 man crew Weight 16,800 pounds (7,600 kg) Length 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) Width 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) Height 6 ft 11 in (2.12 m) Crew 3 (Commander, gunner, driver)
As much as I love warlord and their games I loathe when they send me a "bag o tank". There's no instructions that come with it, no transfers, nothing that normally comes with a complete box kit. It screams unprofessional to me and actually weighs in on me when I go to add onto my army.
Was it called a 'littlejohn' And anyone mucking about with the barrels of weapons is taking their life in their hads. I think we, maybe,, should just listen to the guy whose an experts?
