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A small charity in Kent is attempting to raise £2.3 million to restore a Mark IV tank, originally used in World War One, so it can be driven again in time for the centenary of its first role in the conflict.
The tank, which is on display in a shopping centre in Ashford, Kent, could be used as part of a fleet of restored WW1 vehicles that would tour around museums and heritage sites in Europe as part of an educational campaign.
David Ridd, manager of the charity the Tank Foundation, which is based in Yalding, said that he was in the early stages of applying to the National Lottery and the European Union to fund the restoration project.
Ridd said: “This is a massive piece of our engineering heritage – an iconic British vehicle built when the British were at the peak of their game with engineering. If we don’t do something now, in another 10 years it could fall apart.”
There are at least four Mark IV tanks in existence, said Ridd, but the others, which have been preserved in museums, are too valuable and delicate to be driven again.
Ridd said he intended to use annealing, a process of heating and cooling, on the now brittle steel of the Ashford tank to return it to mild steel.
It would then be a case of “rebuilding the empty shell of the tank from the inside out”. Particularly challenging will be producing components such as the Daimler engine and gearbox.
The tank could be ready by 2016, Ridd added, just a year short of the centenary of its first use.
Ridd hopes the project will help to preserve engineering skills.
He said: “We want to inspire another generation to continue to work on the tanks.
As a statement of our engineering heritage, the Mark IV tank is unbeatable.”
A total of 1,220 tanks were built between 1917 and 1918.
After the war most were distributed to towns and cities for public display. The majority of them was subsequently scrapped.