"If anyone has seen a flying tank please contact us. We would like it back," Army spokesman David Webb told Reuters from breezy Wales.

"We borrowed six of the inflatable tanks from the Royal Air Force and would very much like to give six back to them. At the moment we only have five."

The dummy tank, which takes three men to handle, was being used in an exercise involving troops from Britain, the United States, Canada, Belgium and Poland high in the Brecon Beacon mountains.

The annual exercise is supposed to give troops a feel of what it is like to operate patrols deep behind enemy lines.

Inflatable tanks and artillery pieces are staked out in various locations for the patrols to find. Not only are they less lethal than their real life counterparts, they do less damage to the countryside.

However, the violent gales that swept Britain at the weekend killing several people and causing widespread damage also took the tank with them.

"It just took off and hasn't been seen since," Webb said.