Sir John Carden , 6th Baronet Sir John Valentine Carden , 6th Baronet MBE ( 6 February 1892 – 10 December 1935 ) was an English tank and vehicle designer . He was the sixth Baronet of Templemore , Tipperary , from 1931 . Work . Born in London , Carden was a talented , self - taught engineer , with an ability to put his ideas to practical use . From 1914 to 1916 , he ran a company that manufactured light passenger - cars under the brand " Carden " . The company ' s first model was a cyclecar , with seating only for the driver . During the First World War , Carden served in the Army Service Corps and gained the rank of Captain , acquiring experience with vehicles such as tracked Holt tractor s . After the war , he returned to car manufacturing but sold his original design and factory to Ward and Avey who renamed it the AV . He then designed a new cyclecar and started manufacture at Ascot but at the end of 1919 sold the design to E . A . Tamplin who continued manufacture as the Tamplin car . A further design followed with a two seat fibreboard body . Carden even sold one of these to King Alfonso XIII of Spain before selling the company to new owners in 1922 who renamed it the New Carden . Two or three years later , Carden met car - designer Vivian Loyd and the two started a small company in Chertsey named Carden - Loyd , working on light , tracked vehicles for military use . Carden was reportedly described as an " introvert engineering genius " , while Loyd was conversely described as an " extrovert engineer - salesman " . What brought the pair real success was a tankette design : the first Carden - Loyd One - Man Tankette , which was designed in 1925 . In the next two years , it was developed into Mark s I , II and III , and later , two - man tankette models Mark IV and Mark V . All were built in small numbers but were very promising , and , as a result , Carden - Loyd was bought by Vickers - Armstrongs in March 1928 . Carden himself was employed by Vickers as the technical director . The pair continued developing their tankette model , eventually creating their best - known design , the Mark VI . It became the first successful design for that vehicle type in the world , and a classic one , several hundred being produced and exported to 16 countries . Many foreign tankette models developed later were said to be inspired by the Mark VI . Carden and Loyd also designed light tank s , such as the well - known Vickers - Armstrongs Commercial Light Tanks series ( used , for example , in Belgium ) and the British Army ' s Light Tanks , including Light Tank Mk VI ( one of Carden ' s last designs ) . The pair also developed the world ' s first amphibious tank , the Vickers - Carden - Loyd Amphibian Tank , and played a role in the development of the Vickers E tank model . Aside from tanks , Carden and Loyd also developed several light artillery tractor s and carriers , including the VA D50 model , which was a prototype of the Bren Carrier . Carden ' s interest in flying also led him to build an ultralight plane based on the French " Flying Flea " , using a modified Ford engine uprated from 10 bhp to 31 bhp . In 1935 , Carden started Carden Aero Engines Ltd . , an aircraft engine manufacturer . A partnership with L . E . Baynes led to the founding of Carden Baynes Aircraft Ltd . , which produced gliders of Baynes ' design fitted with auxiliary engines . John Carden was killed in an air crash near Tatsfield , Surrey on 10 December 1935 , while flying on a Sabena airliner .