Target Trolley Development

The Trust has been granted permission to reproduce personal correspondence and official documents from the Coward family archive.

H. E. R. Coward was Chief Machinist, Royal Engineers from January 1939 until the end of WW2.

Mr Coward's main duties during this time included the inspection, installation and maintenance of mechanical equipment and plant such as central heating, domestic supplies, centralised cooking and sewerage and waterworks at Military barracks and camps.

And in particular, whilst he worked at the Artillery Firing Ranges at Lydd, Kent he was instrumental in the design and manufacture of the highly successful combined throttle & servo brake operating and control gear which was fitted to a Wickham made automatically operated, mechanically driven, anti-tank target trolley, which has since become the standard for use on the anti-tank ranges in the British Isles.

Image of H. E. R. Coward from the Coward family archive reproduced with permission.

We have created a number of articles telling the full story of Mr Coward's work with D. Wickham & Co to develop the Target Trolley during the early years of World War Two. Please select an article from the following list.