Rare WW2 M22 Locust - Hamilcar Mark I glider - Footage.

Rare WW2 M22 Locust - Hamilcar Mark I glider - Footage.

The M22 Locust, was developed in 1941 after the British War Office requested that the American government design a purpose-built airborne light tank which could be transported by glider into battle to support British airborne forces, after the Mark VII Tetrarch wasn't really designed for this purpose, so the M22 would replace the Tetrarch. A prototype was developed in 1943, The T9 or later called the M22 was produced from late 1943 and early 1944, But by this time the design was considered to be obsolete, but nonetheless they would see action with the 6th Airborne, but mechanical problems led to the tanks being withdrawn in favour of the Tetrarchs previously used by the regiment.
They would see action in Operation Varsity in 1945, but the tanks did not perform well in action, several were damaged during the landing and one was knocked out.
After the war 830 were produced, even due they were almost never used, and some were sold to the Belgium army, which used them as command tanks.

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■ Information obtained from several sites.
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■ preservedtanks
■ pantser.net
■ the.shadock.free.fr/Tanks_in_France

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