Mark VII Tank

"They have a tank!"

―Indiana Jones spying on the Nazis

The Mark VII Tank was a large tank of World War I vintage. It possessed a main forward-facing cannon, as well as two mounted sponson guns on each side of the vehicle.

History

A Mark VII tank was given by the Sultan of Hatay to the Nazi expedition sent to find the Holy Grail in 1938. It was used to defend the Nazi convoy on its way to the Canyon of the Crescent Moon.

On the way to the Grail Temple, there was an ensuing fight on the tank. As Indiana Jones was busy fighting Colonel Ernst Vogel on the top of the tank, his father, Henry and Marcus Brody were making their escape. The tank was destroyed shortly after the Hatay driver was indirectly killed by a Nazi soldier knocked unconscious by Brody. With nobody at the controls, the tank drove aimlessly off a nearby cliff, killing everyone aboard except Indiana Jones.

Behind the scenes

Special effects artist George Gibbs originally visited a museum to negotiate renting a small French World War I tank, but ultimately decided to create one. The Mark VII Tank was a replica vehicle built on an old excavator chassis. It was based on the real-world Tank Mark VIII which possessed no main top turret. The replica measured 36 feet (11 m) long and weighed 28 short tons (25 t).

The Tank idea was used from the Chris Columbus' unmade Indiana Jones and the Monkey King script, which was one of the scripts that were considered for the third Indiana Jones film before it became Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. However, in Columbus' script, that tank was large enough to raze an entire jungle.

Appearances

• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade novel
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade junior novel
• LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (Non-canonical appearance)

Sources

• Titanium Series diecast collectibles

External links

• Mark VII Tank on Wikipedia