Light tank Mk VIII

The light tank Mk VIII, also known as the Harry Hopkins and given the General Staff specification A25, was a British light tank produced by Vickers-Armstrongs during the Second World War. It was the last of the company light tanks built for the British Army and was meant to succeed the Mk VII Tetrarch, with front hull and turret armour thickened to 38 millimetres, more sloping surfaces, and a longer, wider and heavier hull that made it too heavy for the Hamilcar glider. Production began in June 1942, to be carried out by Metro-Cammell, but it met constant problems and only 100 had been built when it ended in February 1945. Light tanks had been judged a liability by 1941, so none saw combat, and the tanks that were built went to the Royal Air Force for airfield defence. The Alecto self-propelled gun was its one variant.