Tanks in World War I
The continued need for four men to drive the tank was solved with the Mark V which used Wilson's epicyclic gearing in 1918. Also in 1918 the French produced the Renault FT, the result of a co-operation between Estienne and Louis Renault. As mentioned before, it had the innovative turret position, and was operated by two men. At just 8 tons it was half the weight of the Medium A "Whippet" but the version with the cannon had more firepower. It was conceived for mass production, and the FT became the most produced tank of World War I by a wide margin, with over 3,000 delivered to the French Army. Large numbers were used by the Americans and several were also lent to the British.
Ace (military)
The term "tank ace" is occasionally applied to tank crew. For instance, Sydney Radley-Walters' obituary published in "The Globe and Mail" in 2015 described him as the "best Canadian front-line tank ace" of World War II. Robert Kershaw in his book "Tank Men" refers to a "Tank Ace" being the minority of tank commanders that accounted for the most amount of destroyed enemy armour, saying it is roughly analogous with flying ace. Soviet tankers with over five kills, such as Dmitry Lavrinenko and Zinovy Kolobanov, have also been referred to as "tank aces".