"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
04/25/2015 at 15:06 • Filed to: SdKfz 254
4
1|
"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
04/25/2015 at 15:06 • Filed to: SdKfz 254 | 4
| 1 |
Have we something for today?
Oh yes.
Something interesting?
Oh yes.
Imagine, if you will, that you are tasked with designing something like !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
You have two choices. You can design an actual little tank, or you can design an armoured car. The little tank will have tracks and good mobility but poor speed and needs frequent maintenance to keep the tracks working. The armoured car has wheels and less mobility but greater speed and has less need of maintenance. It’s also liable to get punctures.
So, what do you do? Well, you could compromise and fit wheels and tracks.
Meet the SdKfz 254. Designed by a Swiss company, Sauber, the 254 was made in small numbers and used by amongst others the Afrika Korps during WW2.
It didn’t start a trend as while it had the pros of both tracked and wheeled vehicles it was also heavy, expensive and complicated with many opportunities for breakdowns.
Sauber were eventually absorbed by Mercedes who closed their last premises in 2003. A spin off of the company, Oerlikon Graziano, make gearboxes for exotic cars.
TheTick247
> Cé hé sin
04/25/2015 at 18:03 |
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Somewhat more of a traditional tracked vehicle, I briefly noticed the M-50 Ontos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M50_Ontos yesterday in a documentary about the Battle of Hue. What little I saw made it seem like it was very nimble and quick. Sort of a go-kart (with 6 recoiless rifles) of the tracked vehicle world.