For anyone who has wondered just how small a Renault light tank is...

[Treize69]

...this is me standing next to an original M1918 Light Tank (US licensed copy of the Renault) with my 1 year old daughter.



This is looking at the interior from the open drivers compartment- the radiator is right behind the TC as he crouches in the turret (though that is a modern engine, not the original).



And this is the drivers position buttoned up, with me in it, to give an idea of the cramped interior- I'm tall enough that I could, just by tilting my head back a bit, look straight up at the top of the turret.



No thank you.

[SlipKnt]

YIKES!!!  That is small!

 

[Ack-Ack]

LOL!  Treize69 is wearing a skirt.

[Treize69]

It's a kilt, thank you very much. :-P

[craz07]

who the hell would want to pilot that thing, looks more like sitting duck than tank, btw nice skirt, kind of oxymoronic if you yourself have served, so I salute you if you did and take back what i said about the skirt, but what i'm sure about is it took some brave souls to pilot those things during that awful time

[pipz]

We need that in AH!!!!!!!!!! 

[Ripsnort]

It's a kilt, thank you very much. :-P

As in Walmart with spandex...there are certain people who SHOULDN'T wear kilts... 

[MiloMorai]

LOL!  Treize69 is wearing a skirt.

Some of the most feared soldiers in WW1 wore 'skirts'. The were called the 'ladies from hell'.

The question is, does his wife let him go regimental?

[PR3D4TOR]

who the hell would want to pilot that thing, looks more like sitting duck than tank...

I would much rather be in that thing than charge on foot into machine gun fire at the Somme. French and British tanks were largely unopposed in WWI. The Germans couldn't make an effective response in time.

[BuckShot]

It's a kilt, thank you very much. :-P

It looks to be a tactical kilt at that.

[MiloMorai]

I would much rather be in that thing than charge on foot into machine gun fire at the Somme. French and British tanks were largely unopposed in WWI. The Germans couldn't make an effective response in time.

They just let them breakdown and then pound them with arty.

[Treize69]

I was mainly wearing the kilt for comfort, a 95 degree day with a heat index over 100 is too damn hot. Was way more comfortable than shorts, I'll tell you that.

If you want an idea how thin the armor was on that little thing, look at the edge of the door closed horizontally in front of me in the bottom pic- that was the thickness of the steel basically all around. Was really only protection against small arms fire, even the spalling from MG rounds hitting the same spot in rapid succession could kill the two-man crew. The exposed engine also leaked exhaust fumes into the crew compartment even though it had a proper exhaust sticking out the side, not to mention the heat in a French summer. A near miss from anything bigger than a 75mm round could slice into it with shrapnel or cave in the side from concussion, or rupture fuel line on that exposed engine, setting the thing on fire and roasting the men alive.  Couple that with a speed not much faster than a man can walk over broken terrain, and it's a wonder to me that they could get anyone to volunteer for the Tank Corps.

Oh, and-

[mbailey]

Screw the tank, excellent Kilt (yea, I'm Scottish) 

[Ripsnort]

Screw the tank, excellent Kilt (yea, I'm Scottish) 

I'm Scottish too but at LEAST where the proper attire above the waist. A blues brothers T-shirt does NO Justice to our heritage! 

[mthrockmor]

And yet tanks did some great things in WW1 near the point of attack. They used horses to exploit deep.

Of interest, the commander was the gunner and how he directed the driver was by kicking. Right shoulder, turn right, etc.

Boo