The Mark IX tank was a British armoured fighting vehicle from the First World War, the world's first specialised Armoured Personnel Carrier. AFV can mean one of two things: Armored fighting vehicle Americas Funniest Home Videos, the ABC television show This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... The M113, one of the most common APCs, on duty during the Vietnam War Armoured personnel carriers (APCs) are light armoured fighting vehicles for the transport of infantry. ...

Mark IX

Illustration of the Mark IX
General characteristics
Length	(31 ft 11 in) 9.7 m
Width	(8 ft 1 in) 2.5 m
Height	(8 ft 8 in) 2.64 m
Weight	27 t
Suspension	unsprung
Speed	4.3mph / 6.9 km/h road ? km/h off-road
Range	? km
Primary armament	2 x .303 MG's
Secondary armament	none, but loopholes for 16 soldiers
Maximum armour	10 mm
Power plant	Ricardo 6-cyl petrol 150 hp, (? kW)
Crew	4: commander, driver, mechanic, machine gunner; up to 30 men could be carried.

The metre is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Système International dUnités). ... The word ton or tonne is derived from the Old English tunne, and ultimately from the Old French tonne, and referred originally to a large cask with a capacity of 252 wine gallons, which holds approximately 2100 pounds of water. ... A hoplite wearing a helmet, a breastplate and greaves (and nothing else). ... Sir Harry Ricardo (1885-1974) was one of the foremost engine designers and researchers in the early years of the development of the internal combustion engine. ... Gasoline, as it is known in North America, or petrol, in many Commonwealth countries (sometimes also called motor spirit) is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons, used as fuel in internal combustion engines. ... The horsepower (hp) is the name of several non-metric units of power. ...

Development

During the first actions with tanks it became clear that often infantry couldn't keep up with the tanks; not because soldiers were too slow - the early tanks themselves could only move at a walking pace - but because of enemy machine gun fire, the reason that tanks were invented in the first place. Often positions gained at very great cost would immediately be lost again for lack of infantry to consolidate. At first it was thought this problem could be solved by cramming a few infantry soldiers into each tank. It soon transpired however that the atmosphere quality in the tanks was so poor that infantry, if not losing consciousness outright, would at least be incapacitated for about a hour after leaving the tank, merely to recover form the noxious fumes.

Therefore, in the summer of 1917 , Lieutenant G.R. Rackham was ordered to design an armoured vehicle specifically for troop transport. At first the design was complicated by the demand that the vehicle should also be capable of being fitted with sponsons, so that it could be turned into a more modern tank in case the Mark VIII design proved to be a failure. This is why the type was designated as a tank, the Mark IX. However, this requirement was soon dropped and in September 1917 construction began by Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. in Newcastle-upon-Tyne of two prototypes of the pure transport vehicle (which could also serve as a supply tank). The prototypes were approved in the following year and 200 vehicles were ordered to be built by the tractor manufacturer Marshall, Sons & Co. of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. At the time it had become clear that even the stretched Mark V* wasn't really suited for infantry transport. 1917 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Newcastle upon Tyne, often called just Newcastle, is a city in the county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. ... Gainsborough is a town in Lincolnshire, England. ... A Mark I tank (moving left to right). ...

Only three vehicles were finished at the time of the Armistice and only 34 were to be built in total.

Description

As there was no time for a completely new design, the Mark IX was based on the Mark V, with the hull lengthened to 9.73 m. The 150 hp Ricardo engine was moved to the front, the gearbox to the back and the suspension girders left out entirely. This created an inner space 4 metres long and 2.45 m wide, enough room for thirty (officially even fifty!) soldiers or ten tons of cargo. To ensure sufficient stiffness for the chassis, the floor was reinforced by heavy transverse girders. The infantry inside had to contend with the control rods for the gears running along the roof and the drive shaft through the middle. No seats were provided for them.

The crew proper consisted of a driver, a commander sitting to the right of him (the first time for a British tank, showing adaptation to the traffic conditions in France), a mechanic and a machine gunner who could man a gun in a hatch at the back. A second machine gun was fitted in the front. Along each side of the hull were eight loopholes, through which the soldiers could fire their rifles, making the Mark IX also the world's first Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Two of the loopholes were in the two oval side doors on each side. A Warrior vehicle with UN markings, during the making of the eponymous film. ...

Despite using thinner (10 mm) armour plate, the weight was still 27 tons and the speed only 4 mph (7 km/h). The tank could also carry supplies in a tray on the roof behind the commander's armoured observation turret (being the highest point at 2.64 metres), while towing up to three loaded sledges.

Rackham tried to improve internal conditions by putting a large silencer on the roof together with ventilation fans; there was no separate engine room however. Because of this lack of compartimentalisation it is questionable whether the project reached its original goal of designing a vehicle capable of delivering a squad of infantry in fighting condition. Ergonomics (from Greek ergon work and nomoi natural laws) is the study of optimizing the interface between human beings, and the designed objects and environments they interact with. ...

Operational History and Project

The Mark IX's were used for some years after the war. The type was named The Pig as the low front of the track looked like the snout of one. One of the first three was used a an armoured ambulance. One other was rebuilt as an amphibious tank by the staff of the test base at Dollis Hill. It already had large bulk; this was improved by fitting drums at the front and sides. Long wooden boards were attached to the track links but at one side of the board only; as they reached the curve of the track they would project out propelling the tank through the water. Pictures were made of a floating tank in Hendon Reservoir at 11 November 1918, the very day of the Armistice. There is an oral tradition that this vehicle was named The Duck, but there is a strong suspicion as to its veracity.

The last Mark IX survives at the Bovington Tank Museum. The Bovington Tank Museum is the foremost collection of armoured vehicles in the United Kingdom, and with almost 300 vehicles on exhibition from 26 countries it is the most wide-ranging collection of tanks and armoured vehicles in the world. ...