YES, the Very First Tank was constructed in Austria, the Burstyn Motorgeschütz, from the Year 1911...(!)
Info and Animation(!) here: http://www.doppeladler.com/kuk/burstyn.htm
Michael
Burstyn Motorgeschütz - The Very First Tank!
From that site: Burstyn had the idea during 1911, but for lack of money the construction of a prototype was refused by the army and by the war ministerium. So, technically it is not the first tank ever produced (leider!).
Anyway the idea iwas very interesting and it had a more "modern" aspect than most WW1 tanks (except the tails).
Anyway the idea iwas very interesting and it had a more "modern" aspect than most WW1 tanks (except the tails).
Sorry, it was not built, so it remained only a project (the first project of a tank, but not the first tank). Reading more carefully the text, I've just noted that it was refused not only by the austrian war ministerium, but also by the german one, in both cases because it would be expensive. In fact the site says
"Burstyns statisch und dynamisch vollkommen berechneter Entwurf wäre allen Panzerfahrzeugen des ersten Weltkrieges überlegen gewesen und hätte das Kräftegleichgewicht der Kriegsparteien stark verschoben - wenn er realisiert worden wäre",
that is, Burstyn's tank would have been superior to all tanks of WW1 and would have modified the force balance among the was partecipants... "if it would have been built"(!)
So, no prototype was ever built: now remein only a patent, the project and a modell in the museum in Wien.
Curiously, Burstyn was present at the presentation of Daimler armoured car prorotype in Wiener Neustadt during 1905, but that armoured car was also refused because it would have been expensive and... useless: as the Kaiser said "so etwas nicht für eine militärische Verwendung zu gebrauchen wäre." (that is: it was not usable to military usage)
Conclusion: it was the very first project of a tank but not the first tank because it was never produced even if, on paper, it was technically superior of most early tanks.
Tschuss.
"Burstyns statisch und dynamisch vollkommen berechneter Entwurf wäre allen Panzerfahrzeugen des ersten Weltkrieges überlegen gewesen und hätte das Kräftegleichgewicht der Kriegsparteien stark verschoben - wenn er realisiert worden wäre",
that is, Burstyn's tank would have been superior to all tanks of WW1 and would have modified the force balance among the was partecipants... "if it would have been built"(!)
So, no prototype was ever built: now remein only a patent, the project and a modell in the museum in Wien.
Curiously, Burstyn was present at the presentation of Daimler armoured car prorotype in Wiener Neustadt during 1905, but that armoured car was also refused because it would have been expensive and... useless: as the Kaiser said "so etwas nicht für eine militärische Verwendung zu gebrauchen wäre." (that is: it was not usable to military usage)
Conclusion: it was the very first project of a tank but not the first tank because it was never produced even if, on paper, it was technically superior of most early tanks.
Tschuss.
-
- Patron
- Posts: 8459
- Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 2:41 pm