Landships II

In response to a request from Eugene I enclose an item I produced some time ago for something quiten different from this forum. I'll dig out an article mentioned elsewhere on this forum and post later.

The British Opperman Scorpion of 1943 was developed by the engineering company S E Opperman of Elstree. The company had been formed in 1860 by Carl Opperman but the Scorpion was its first wheeled vehicle. It was a diminutive one man armoured amphibious vehicle intended for use in 1944 on the invasion beaches, although exactly what its role was intended to be remains unclear. It has been suggested that it was intended for the clearance of beach obstacles. With a crew of one, no armament and no cargo capacity (so it could not carry demolition charges) one must wonder just how it was supposed to achieve this. It was lightly armoured with one quarter inch plate. The circular hatch on the top might indicate that it was intended to fit a turret at some stage; again with a one man crew it is difficult to see how this could have been operated. Whilst it possessed eight wheels, six of which were powered, on a hard level surface only five would be in contact with the ground at any one time. Six wheels were positioned in pairs amidships (two pairs overlapping) and there was a single wheel at each end. The three pairs of wheels were driven and those at each end free rotating. There was no suspension and no steering mechanism. Steering was achieved by differential braking slowing down one or other of the large central wheels. This was initiated by use of a tiller. The lack of suspension meant that pneumatic tyres had to be used, these would have been very vulnerable to gun fire. The machine was powered by a four cylinder Ford 24 bph water cooled engine (this was to prove an area of weakness). A top speed of 25 mph on rough ground could be achieved.
Power in the water was provided by a commercial Anzani outboard motor clamped to a bracket at the rear. The vehicle worked well on firm sand but on very loose sand or gravel tended to dig its self in. It was very good at crossing ditches in which a conventional armoured car would get stuck (trials were carried out against a Dingo). Its performance on water was poor being slow and steerability non existent. It could only get out of the water back onto land if the transition was sloping, any form of vertical bank, even very small would baffle it. On firm ground the vehicle constantly pitched fore and aft giving the driver a very rough ride. Engine cooling proved to be a major problem with the water frequently boiling. Although a mark 2 Scorpion with improved cooling and some suspension was suggested the project did not proceed further than the first prototype.