Vickers Light Dragon

There were four large spoked road wheels in pairs, using Horstmann suspension with horizontal coil springs, and three return rollers.

Like the Carden Loyd tankettes, the Light Dragon Marks I and II used clutch-brake steering, which suffered from the unfortunate habit of sometimes turning the opposite way to what an inexperienced driver intended when travelling downhill.

The suspension springs are horizontal like on the Mark I, but there are only two return rollers, similar to the Vickers Light Tank Mk IIA.

The two return rollers are protected by triangular flanges, which do not appear on the Light Tank Mk III.

The front sprockets are spoked, with solid rear idlers - the reverse of the Light Dragon Marks I and II.

For identification purposes the Light Dragon Mark III has the rear sprocket set high, and the suspension springs form a triangle shape - in contrast with the Light Tank Mk IV, which has the rear sprocket on the ground and suspension springs both pointing the same way.

Distinctive forward-sloping mudguard wings cover the tracks at the front of the vehicle, in common with the Machine Gun Carrier Mk I.

[4] The steering, probably the invention of Sir John Carden and his assistant Leslie Little, was a great improvement on the earlier Dragons.

When the driver turned the steering wheel a small amount, both front bogies were pushed sideways which bent the tracks.