那些死在图纸上的异端坦克设计：英国篇

　　So Part 1 had some silly and not so silly French designs, France has more to come but there were requests for some British ones. So here they are:

　　在本系列的第一部分中，我介绍了一些愚蠢或不那么愚蠢的法国设计。法国的这类坦克可以介绍的还有很多，但有人希望能看到英国的。以下就是：

　　Yay, a flying tank, why not? Leslie Baynes and Alan Muntz and Company from Middlesex drew up this design in July 1943 for the rapid transport of armour to the front. This is an actual tank though, the Harry Hopkins with the distinctive hull shape and who knows: with this design, maybe we can have some stock modules for the Harry Hopkins now (SS: Harry Hopkins LT has a problem with modules in WoT). So maybe not so useless after-all.

　　嗯，飞行坦克，为什么说“不”呢?这是莱斯利·贝恩斯(Leslie Baynes)、阿兰·蒙茨(Alan Muntz)和一家来自米德尔塞克斯的公司于1943年7月设计的，目的是能将装甲车辆快速运抵前线。它实际上就是有着独特车体外形的哈里-霍普金斯坦克(译注：Mk.VIII轻坦，A25)。根据这张设计图，也许我们可以暂时为将要加入游戏的哈里-霍普金斯坦克找到一些白版模组(SS：在坦克世界里出哈利·霍普金斯坦克的话，目前有一些模组上的问题)。所以这或许并非完全无用。

　　“But wait Vollky I thought this was going to be silly tanks….” Have no fear; England shall provide.

　　等下伙计，我觉得这个设计看来很愚蠢。不过别担心，汤米从来不缺奇葩。

　　It’s 1944 and we have lots of old ‘Bren Gun Carriers’ – what’s better than to make very costly and complicated changes to them, fit more frontal armour and a folding roof, so the troops can lay down to fire small arms at those pesky Germans?

　　在1944年，我们有大批陈旧的布伦机枪车。加厚它们的前装甲，并加装折叠式顶盖，还有什么会比这个昂贵又复杂的改装更好的呢?这样步兵就可以趴在里面用轻武器射击恼人的德国佬了

　　Yes, it’s the good old carrier, re-thought by Isabel Smeaton and a Polish man called Stanislaw Sochaczewski in late 1944. But who knows, one day when we get some Polish content, maybe with a small gun this could even make it to the game. Alright alright, those are far too sensible, lets lower the standards a little.

　　这是一辆不错的老式运载车，这由伊莎贝尔·斯米顿(Isabel Smeaton)和一个叫斯坦尼斯拉夫·索哈特斯基(Stanislaw Sochaczewski)的波兰人于1944年提出的一个改装方案。或许有一天出波兰车的时候，在上面装个小型火炮就可以把这玩意放进游戏了，又有谁知道呢。好吧好吧，这些方案都理智得没啥意思了，那么让我们把标准放低一点。

　　It’s 1940, Britain needs mobile armour for home defence, why not armour the tractors? In June 1940, the Aldersley Engineering Company of Wolverhampton decides that what Britain needs is a slow underpowered tractor fitted with crude armour plating and no gun for one man crew to use. Better known as ‘Operation Target Practice’. I think even the Home Guard in those desperate times was glad not to have this.

　　在1940年，英国需要用于本土防御的装甲车辆，那么为啥不把拖拉机武装起来呢?在1940年6月，位于伍尔夫汉普顿的阿尔德斯利工程公司断定英国需要的是这样一种装甲车，在动力不足的低速拖拉机上安装简陋的装甲板，只有一个乘员，因此没有火炮。说“打靶行动”可能知道人要多一些，对，它就是这个项目的别称。我想即使在那个令人绝望的年代，英军也绝不会想用这玩意儿来保家卫国。

　　Second tractor-tank here is from John Beavan from Ayrshire from September 1940, but it’s not just an armoured tractor like the other, no, this is an amphibious armoured tractor, which with its high centre of gravity would most likely simply roll over in the water. No weapon is specified for the hapless single crew member, condemned to death using this.

　　这第二个武装拖拉机是由艾尔郡的约翰·比文(Johan Beavan)于1940年9月设计的。不过这并不是一辆普通的武装拖拉机，这是一辆两栖武装拖拉机。不过其重心如此之高，看来很可能会在水中翻车。只有一个乘员，没有为其指定武器，反正这倒霉蛋就是去送死的。

　　So, that was an unarmed tractor, we need some armament. What better way of bringing this armament to the front than fitted to an 8 wheel drive armoured car? How this vehicles was to steer adequately I don’t really understand, but I’m sure the designer Stanley Opperman had thought of it back in 1942. Strange as it looks, I wish this had been built – if anything, we could see how the incredibly complicated drive mechanism had to be serviced.

　　以上是没武装的拖拉机，我们需要一些有武装的车。你有办法在这辆八轮装甲车的前部装上武器么?这辆车是如何操控的我百思不得其解，不过我想设计者斯坦利·欧普曼在1942年就想出了办法了。由于它的外形实在是猎奇，我倒是很希望这辆车被制造出来，如果能这样，我们就能看看这无比复杂的驱动装置是如何逼疯检修人员的了。

　　Now, in 1916, John Oxley of Newcastle (a man, who designed several armour plated things around that time) decided to create this armoured plated vehicle based on three spherical triangularly arranged wheels, which is reasonable, considering some of the stranger armoured cars of the era. I however have to wonder, how such a talented engineer figured out that this tiny propeller was really necessary or sufficient for the design. Although I have to admit that those wheels look good.

　　这是1916年，来自纽卡斯尔的约翰·奥克斯利(Johan Oxley，在当时曾设计过数种装甲车辆)的一个设计，使用了三个呈三角形布置的球形轮子。考虑到那个年代是还有更离奇的装甲车，这个尚算合理。但是，让我惊奇的是，这么一个有才能的工程师居然认为在这个设计中，如此微小的一个螺旋桨就够用驱动整个坦克了。不管怎么说我得承认这轮子看着挺棒。

　　Frederick Cunard of Liverpool designed this ‘Mobile Redoubt’ beast in 1919 with specific importance placed on making the centre of gravity in the middle of the vehicle and the giant central drive wheel, quite where the fighting space was to be isn’t clear.

　　来自利物浦的佛里德里克·丘纳德于1919年设计了这个“移动堡垒”式的怪兽。这辆车的看点在于重心在车体中部，那里有一个巨大的中央驱动轮。但是，完全看不出乘员应该呆在哪作战。

　　Looking like some Victorian idea for an armoured paddle steamer, this oddity comes from July 1940 by Geoffrey Gibbs and Thomas Tusting, who designed this “effective and easily manipulated armoured vehicle”, although clearly the fun of changing parts for one of the 4 inner vehicle tracks was lost on both of them. It’s a good job that the miniscule propeller is supplemented by the tracks for propelling itself in the water too, because otherwise this design would just be unworkable.

　　这看上去就像一艘维多利亚女王时代的装甲明轮船。这个怪物是杰弗里·吉布斯(Geoffrey Gibbs)和托马斯·特斯丁(Thomas Tusting)于1940年7月设计的，他们想设计一辆“高效且易操作的装甲车”，不过假如他们享受过为四条内部履带更换零件的乐趣之后，就会知道这是扯谈。还好，作为履带的补充，他们还设计了小型的螺旋桨用于水中的推进，不然的话，就是完全不切实际的。

　　They say to save the best for last and even in 1916, this one was quite obviously silly. Percy Atherton of London, working in Punjab, decided that this was the answer to modern warfare. A giant (and I do mean ‘GIANT’) steam-powered wheeled land battleship with wheels 300 feet in diameter, thus enabling it to cross trenches up to 50 feet wide and to “cross the English channel with its maximum depth of 120 feet” – and that even allowing for 30 feet of sinkage into the sea bed would only reach the axles. Of course such sinkage isn’t too hard to imagine in the land either, given the specified weight of mere 2700 long tons, spread across the “several floors” of the superstructure. A variant he suggested without a drawing (shame) was just for a pair of wheels with a trailing section like the Tsar wheel design.

　　俗话说，最好的留在最后。即使是1916年，这个设计也是愚蠢透顶。当时在印度旁遮普工作的伦敦人帕西·安瑟顿(Percy Atherton)认为这个设计能够满足未来战争的需要。一个蒸汽机驱动的、硕大无朋的陆地战舰。轮子直径达300英尺，可以跨越宽达50英尺的战壕，并能“跨越最深达120英尺的英吉利海峡”。甚至行走装置在陷入海床30英尺的情况下，海平面也仅仅够到轮轴的高度。考虑到其只有区区2700长吨(1长吨=1.0160469088吨)重，以及“多层甲板”的上层结构，可以想象在陆地上要陷下去几十英尺也并非难事。他另外还有一个没有图纸(真可惜)的设计，类似于沙皇战车，只有一对大轮子和一个尾段。