The weirdest military vehicle ever...

[MicroBalrog]

http://www.kettenkrad.com/

I want one.

 

[Dain Bramage]

As soon as I saw the title, I knew you were talking about the little motorcycle halftrack. There is no other vehicle like it.

I know it was meant as a transport vehicle for air-mobile troops. However, to turn this into a firearms post, we need to know if it was ever fitted with a gun. My gun shop has two MG-34's that would look really good on it.

 

[George Hill]

They go back to WWI I believe. Very old concept, but a strange one at that.
Watch Saving Private Ryan and you will see one in action... or at least a similar type vehicle.

 

[Ian]

Yeah, that's what they use in the end of Saving Private Ryan.

 

[Tamara]

A splendid example of what happens when German engineers get into the schnapps after hours.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Somebody @ the Livermore Rod & Gun has one of them. Saw it @ a club BBQ one year (been missing them for the past 2 years since I'm out of town).

 

[Ed Brunner]

A splendid example of what happens... after hours

You may very well be right.

 

[jimbo]

Well the British must have been hitting the Gin too, because they used the Bren Gun Carrier for much the same purposes, though it is somewhat larger. And the Kettenkrad was a huge step up from German's standardized towing vehicle, the horse.

 

[Tamara]

Well the British must have been hitting the Gin too, because they used the Bren Gun Carrier for much the same purposes

Yes, but the Bren Gun Carrier could A) carry a gun, and B) didn't have a mechanical appendix hanging off the front of it, in the form of vestigial motorcycle bits.

 

[Pendragon]

I nominate the Russian flying boats:

These came very close to full production and would have scared the bejesus out of Americans if they had known their capabilities. How about a LARGE troop transport boat with 250mph+ capabilities?

search on Ekranoplan.

 

[BerettaNut92]

A splendid example of what happens when German engineers get into the schnapps after hours.

You mean like the P7M8?

 

[M67]

I vote for the Antonov KT. If nothing else, it proves that Russian engineers can drink vodka with the best of them. It also indicates that Russian test pilots/drivers have a big pair of... is ????? the word?

edit: Either there is a formatting problem with cyrillic letters, or this site has a more sophisticated "profanity checker" than I thought.

 

[Preacherman]

Yikes! M67, that IS bizarre! I'd never heard of that one... where can I find more information about it? Is it pre-WWII? Fascinatingly wierd...

 

[Triad]

I'm not sure that is very weird. The US looked at something similar, basically replacing the wheels with tracked landing gear. I've seen pictures of it but I can't find the website. It looked something like this.

[EDIT] OK it IS weird. I do a search and find out that what I think is a purpose built glider with tracked landing gear is actually a five ton tank fitted with wings and twin tail booms.

 

[M67]

Preacherman, here is one site: http://www.battlefield.ru/t60_2.html

Just do a search on Antonov and T-60 (light tank).

The landing procedure was apparantly to start the engine, engage the tracks, floor the accelerator and hope for the best. Flight controls were as follows: Elevate the gun to control the glider's elevators, turn the turret to control the ailerons.

Correction of my first post: When I think about it, Antonov is Ukrainian not Russian. I guess Ukrainian engineers drink vodka too...

 

[erikm]

Kettenkrads are fun. They also made good aircraft tugs way back when.

Personally, my vote for the wierdest military vehicle ever probably goes to the french (who else) submarine Surcouf. This half-baked idea was a large (for the time) mounting a pair of 8" naval guns in a turret. Yes, this was a submarine and yes, it could seal the gun barrels before diving.

Then again, there are also the big 'land battleship' tanks some countries experimented with between WWI and WWII.

Cheers,
ErikM

 

[D.W. Drang]

And there I was thinking Gamma Goat...

 

[hksw]

My vote is for the XF-85 Gobblin parasite fighter.

 

[Elmer Snerd]

The Royal Navy built the M-1, a submarine with a 12-inch gun, in 1918.
The premise behind this and the Surcouf was that guns were more accurate and reliable than the torpedoes of the time. The ammo was cheaper and less bulky than torpedoes as well. AFAIK, BFG's on subs never performed well. Smaller deck guns were used successfully during the World Wars to sink smaller ships(and to conserve torpedoes).


http://www.gwpda.org/naval/ks000001.htm
http://www.submarineheritage.com/gallery_mclass.htm
http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Janes_1919/Subs/Subs_119.html

For WMVE, I nominate the Ontos.

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-armour/allied/ontos.htm
http://ontos.homestead.com/ms3.html
http://www.jed.simonides.org/fulltrack/oscar/ontos_series/ontos-series.html

 

[Mike Irwin]

The Kettenkrad was actually a VERY good little utility tractor/general purpose type vehicle.

 

[wingnutx]

Does the motorcycle front end actually do anything? I can't figure out why it's even there.

 

[Tamara]

Does the motorcycle front end actually do anything?

No one's really sure. Not even the designers, after the hangover wore off.

Fritz! Vat ist up mit der motorcycle dangling off der front?
I can't remember anymore, Hans, but it sure looks cool, ja?

 

[George Hill]

I bet there are a lot of Harley Trike Guys out there thinking "Tank Tracks! COOL!"

 

[Mike Irwin]

"Does the motorcycle front end do anything..."

Yeah. It gives the guy a place to sit.

Actually, it would probably do a couple of things, such as keep the weight down, keep the manufacturing costs down, make it perhaps a little more maneuverable if the track steering is tied to the position of the handlebars...

 

[seeker_two]

DUCW or "DUCK"