The Mk.VIII light tank was externally very different from Tetrarch, with a new long flat top deck and a new steeply sloping glacis of 38mm in thickness, which greatly improved the protection of the frontal arc. The turret was lower, with sloped sides and a new gun mantlet. Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage & Wagon Co Ltd. built 92 units from June 1942 to February 1945. The name Harry Hopkins was assigned along with the A-25 numeral in June 1942, and this was the name of the American President Roosevelt’s chief diplomatic advisor who maintained a close relationship with Winston Churchill as administrator of the Lend-Lease program.The Harry Hopkins never saw action although few were sent to the service, so it is unknown what their behavior on the battlefield would have been. It had the same suspension as the Tetrarch tank and its performance was very similar despite being somewhat heavier. This increase in size and weight prevented the Mk.VIII from being airborne by the Hamilcar gliders. The gun was the same installed in the Tetrarch tank and had a 7.92mm coaxial machine gun as secondary armament.There were plans to equip the Mk.VIII with wings to turn it into a “flying tank” that could land directly on the battlefield, but all plans were canceled when the prototype crashed during the first tests. Other more conventional projects were studied, like an assault gun called “Alecto“, that did not go beyond the prototype stage. It was also designed an engineer’s vehicle equipped with a dozer blade designated as “Alecto Dozer“, of which a few units were manufactured.
