This was a privately made design that was proposed to the British military in WW2.
It was first built on a custom chassis, then a second prototype built off the chassis of the Universal Carrier, upon which was an articulating section that would lay flat with it for cross country movement. The driver would be within this section, driving on his stomach. The section could then be raised, allowing a pair of Bren machineguns on the end to fire over cover.
The design was not adopted.
Tank Museum video that includes footage of it driving and adjusting machinegun height.
I mean, it’s cool and all, but I’m thinking they should have put the joysticks on the inside.
Yeah but how would they see the other guy?
So they’re obviously Atari 2600 joysticks. They’re absolutely notorious for breaking because they just had this little plastic ring that was used to basically click the four direction buttons on the circuit board. Thus, the need for multiple redundant sticks, because who wants their machine gun to break in the middle of a battle? We’ve all played enough Combat to know how well that works.
I’m just saying that having to walk along next to it isn’t where I’d be going with that design. It’s like saying “What if we took a tank, and then remove the parts that protect people?”
You may call them joysticks, but they’re there to keep passengers secure, so they don’t fall off when the going gets bumpy.