could'a, should'a but wouldn'a -- WW1 deMole Tank
While surveying land in Western Australia in 1911, engineer Lancelot deMole came up with his idea for a track-laying vehicle. He drew up plans & submitted them through the official channels to the War Office in England in 1912. DeMole only drew plans for the rolling-chassis as he believed that the War Office had other people more experienced in designing engines, transmissions & armaments for his machine. At the time, his designs were rejected as the British Army had stopped experimenting with "chain-rail" vehicles. DeMole's friends urged him to sell his design to Germany (as the foremost country in vehicle engineering at that time) but he refused on patriotic grounds. When a Tank was needed by Britain in 1914, it seems that all previous submissions of military designs, regardless of merit, were ignored & only a few tracked (mostly American) farming machines were studied. He re-submitted his design in 1916 (& a working 1/8th scale model in 1917) & was again ignored by the Army, even when (tho being classed as unfit) he had managed to join the Army & was then fighting in France. The British Army fought WW1 with an inferior machine.
DeMole should'a approached the First Sea Lord, Winston Churchill, as Churchill was encouraging the Royal Navy to adopt all new innovations from aircraft & remote-control drones to armoured cars. Maybe Landships would'a remained as part of the Navy till today with the Army only having the infantry & artillery.
After 1919, deMole was credited with designing the first practical Tank & awarded some money to defray his costs. Several concepts of his design like bogie-suspension & track-warping on the front bogie/idler for steering, would not be incorporated in armoured vehicles until many years later.
DeMole's 1/8th scale model is now in the Australian War Memorial storage facility (open to researchers who need to apply for access 6mths in advance of their planned visit !).
Here are prototype & production machines had Britain accepted deMole's design in 1912 ...
could'a, should'a but wouldn'a -- WW1 deMole Tank (take 2)
Having his design rejected by Britian in 1912 & again in early 1913, deMole sells it to Germany. They see the slow speed of the machine as no hinderance in infantry support & fortress attacks, they still have the horse cavalry for fast attacks on the plains (trench warfare is still in the future) .... as it turns out the German Panzer-zugs turn the tide of the Trench War in Germany's favour in mid-1915 ..... Britain is still to get it's design onto the battlefield ....