Matilda - Duck or Empress??

The Matidla mk2 names after Donald ducks auntie or something or the Empress???

Always assumed it was Empress Matilda, but according to wikipedia (must be true then!!) its named after one of Donald Ducks rellys. Sounds silly to me (not that the Briish would ever give ther itanks stupid names) but I cant think of any other Briish tanks named after monachs (less you count Churchill).

Kev

 

No, but there was the anti-monarch.....the Cromwell

 

The Matidla mk2 names after Donald ducks auntie or something or the Empress???
Kev

I thought it derived from the nickname of the Infantry Tank Mk.I - which really did look a bit like a duck in side view. When the much-enlarged and 2-pdr armed Infantry Tank Mk.II was introduced to the same role, the name continued, and was (IIRC) ultimately made official, even though the thing no longer looked ducklike...

Regards,
MikB

 

No, but there was the anti-monarch.....the Cromwell

You also had the Cavalier and the Covenanter. Stangely not the Roundhead (I suppose it didn't begion with a 'C', like the Crusader, Cromwell, those two above).

Also there was the Valentine, why?

 

You also had the Cavalier and the Covenanter. Stangely not the Roundhead (I suppose it didn't begion with a 'C', like the Crusader, Cromwell, those two above).

Also there was the Valentine, why?

I know this one, i know this one.

Cos some meaningfull date, like the first prototype or something was Feb 14th.

Kev

 

Disapointing. You know when you make an assumption that turns out to be false?? Much more impressive that whe was named after the great Empress Matlida, who my all accounts seems to be one of English histories characters, not after some ducks Auntie...

spose its quite funny and not at all surprising considoring other Britsh tank names efforts. A lot better than Yank tank names, at least we think of new ones.

Kev

 

Whole blasted mythology here:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_McDuck

Looks like Matilda was around long before Walt Disney drew Donald...

Regards,
MikB

 

And another snippet here:-

http://www.expage.com/tanksuk3

Regards,
MikB

 

What puzzles me is why the Matilda 2 got the same name as the original Matilda, as they certainly weren't birds of a feather, It's obvious to anyone with eyes that they came from different nests

 

so whats the verdict then

Stephen and Matilda, Empress Matidla, maud or whatever, or ducks auntie?

Kev

 

"
Rob Bell | Top 5 Tanks | Institution of Mechanical Engineers | The Tank Museum
"
From: 19 Jul 2019 - approx 13mins - Matilda from about 9 mins in.

Edit: Incidentally: Matilda I (tank) - Wikipedia has... "General Hugh Elles, the Master-General of the Ordnance, is credited with giving the tank the name Matilda "due to the vehicle's diminutive size and duck-like shape and gait."[3] However, the codename "Matilda" for the project was created for Vickers at the time of drawing up the specification in 1935."

Whereas.... Matilda II - Wikipedia

Has... "The heavy armour of the Matilda's cast turret became legendary; for a time in 1940–1941, the Matilda earned the nickname Queen of the Desert."

Perhaps Ducks that became Empresses

 

It was indeed the Matilda 1 (A11) that was named after a cartoon duck - because of the motion its track suspension made. However Donald's family was not the only dynasty of cartoon ducks nor was Walt the only cartoonist to draw ducks. Some cartoons are not animated and it appears that the original Matilda was a strip cartoon character possibly one of Gus Mager's. The name was adopted as a code name when the A11 was still under development and is nothing to do with King Stephen's nemesis

PS it could have been worse - imagine going to war in a Daffy II!

 

I wonder when the nickname "Queen of the Desert" was first applied. Was it a newspaper article that coined it, or soldiers?

 

There is a ref. on wiki for that:
Fletcher, D. (1994). Matilda Infantry Tank 1938–45. New Vanguard (8). Illustrated by P. Sarson. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 1-85532-457-1.

To.... Matilda Infantry Tank 1938–45
(Cyrillic oddities ;- there for some strange reason)
Though I don't think it actually spells out there a prior WW2 "source"