New Zealand Schofield Tank Type II

In 1940 New Zealand was in much the same situation as Australia in that they were unlikely to get any armoured vehicles from the U.K. so had to look to themselves for their own armoured vehicles. The only true tank to reach prototype stage was designed by E.J.Schofield of General Motors Wellington, and was based on the chassis of the GM 6 cwt truck. Armour plate for the hull and turret was produced New Zealand Railways at Hull Valley Works. The turret was open topped and mounted a 2 pdr gun and co-axial Besa MG. The truck wheels shares common stub axles with the drive sprockets and idlers , and the change from wheels to tracks was affected by pivoted arms operated from the hull rear. When operating on wheels the track had minimum ground clearance and were kept clear of the ground with chains. The Schofield tank was completed in August 1940 , but production was never started. Then in mid 1943 the tank was shipped to Britain for evaluation tests, and remained in Britain until after the war were it was last seen , the exact circumstances of it's fate is unknown but was probably scrapped soon after the war.