This two-man tank was designed by Charles H. Martin of
Springfield, Massachusetts, the same inventor behind the Knox-Martin
three-wheeled truck. As a tank, the Model T chassis (still powered by the Model
T engine) would have carried 1,200 pounds of armor and two machine guns and
would be capable of 12 MPH, making it ideal for "quick dashes into the enemy's
country," Popular Science wrote in August 1918.
Interestingly, Popular Science also conjectured that in its
final form, the Model T tank would use treads configured to go completely
around the vehicle rather than straight forward and back. If Popular Science
was correct, then Martin's tank in its final, armored form would have actually
very closely resembled the Ford-built two-man tank.
Could Martin have been working with Ford at the time to
develop his ideas for a tank? Or were the Martin two-man tank and the Ford
two-man tank developed separately?
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