The Inf Tank Mk III was designed in 1939 based on the existing fully tracked Valentine and was in use from 1939 to 1940.
General Details
Specifications
Operational Date(s)
1939 - 1940
Quantity Produced
350
Weight
16 tonne
Crew
3
M.G's small
1
M.G's large(>10mm)
n/a
Length
5.46 mtr
Width
2.65 mtr
Height
2.31 mtr
Engine Details/Performance
Max Road Speed
15 mph
Max Cross Country Speed
8 mph
Range Road
90 miles
Range Cross Country
36 miles
Fuel Type
Petrol
Fuel Capacity
unknown
Horse Power
135 hp
Power/Weight
8 hp/tonne
General Information
The Inf Tank Mk III was designed in 1939 based on the existing fully tracked Valentine and was in use from 1939 to 1940.
The vehicle was powered by AEC 'Petrol' petrol powerplant producing 135 HP which could drive the vehicle on roads at up to 15 mph with a range of about 90 miles before refuelling. Its cross country performance was good providing a max speed of about 8 mph and a range of about 36 miles.
It was armed with 1 light machine gun. Its main armament consisted of an Ordnance Q.F. 2pdr which could penetrate 67 mm of flat plate at 200 metres
The Infantry tank MkIII the Valentine was a redesigned A10 to provide an infantry support tank which could move slowly with the infantry to provide AT and machine gun support.
The turret had power traverse with a 2pdr A/T gun. The armour was good for this size of vehicle.
Armour Details
Turret
Front
65mm
@
0°
(65mm)
Side
60mm
@
0°
(60mm)
Rear
60mm
@
0°
(60mm)
Top
10mm
@
90°
(10mm)
Superstructure
Front
30mm
@
68°
(80mm)
Side
60mm
@
0°
(60mm)
Rear
60mm
@
0°
(60mm)
Top
10mm
@
90°
(10mm)
Hull
Front
60mm
@
21°
(64mm)
Side
60mm
@
0°
(60mm)
Rear
60mm
@
0°
(60mm)
Top
10mm
@
90°
(10mm)
Armour (x)mm @ (y)° (Effective mm @ 0°)
Effective Armour - Maximum 80 mm - Minimum 10 mm
Weapon Details
Ordnance Q.F. 2pdr
History
Used both as an Anti Tank gun and as a Tank gun the 2pdr was first used in Belgium in 1939. The majority of the British guns were captured by the Germans at Dunkirk and given their designation of 4.0 cm Pak 192(e) or 4.0 cm Pak 154(b). However the 2pdr manufacture was continued but was slowly replaced by the 6pdr from 1942.
Manufactured
1936 - 1944
Calibre
40mm
Length
L/50
Rate of Fire
22 rpm
Ammunition Details
Name/Id
Calibre Weight MVelocity
Explosive Content
AP(AP)
40mm 1.08Kg 792M/Sec
Quoted Penetration 53mm@455m
Range(Mtr)
100
200
400
800
1200
1600
2000
2400
Flight Time(Secs)
0.13
0.27
0.56
1.26
2.17
3.37
5.06
7.58
Penetration(mm@30°)
64
58
51
41
33
25
19
13
Penetration(mm@0°)
74
67
59
48
39
30
22
16
Hit Probability(%)
98
98
98
93
60
25
6
2
Hit probability is based on a static 2 x 2.4 metre panel at 0 degrees(vertical) at the range specified.
The data that has been used to create these records has come from Wikipedia, The Lone Sentry, The Bundes Archive
and numerous books and websites that have provided the detailed information that has not been available anywhere else. The
information we use to calculate the penetration tables, flight times and the hit probability comes from the Gun Calibre,
the Shell Mass(Kg) and the muzzle velocity, plus range reductions to allow for gravity and wind resistance. This calculation
originally came from a pre-war Krupp calculation which has been modified, and seems to fit the actual test results.