Just putting Boston's peculiar unidentified machine from 'name that vehicle in here so I can find it more easily: It's got 'Scorpion' written on it. We think it's British. It seems to have had an outboard motor. It definitely qualifies as a 'strange vehicle'. (I can't even work out how the wheel arrangement works...) Just found some more info.. after my amphibious search marathon.. From 'The Observer's Fighting Vehicles Directory of World War II' by Bart Vanderveen The Opperman Scorpion was a private venture, designed to be either a small armoured vehicle or 30-cwt load carrier, It had two wheels in the centre, overlapping smaller ones fore and aft, and a single wheel mid-front and mid-rear. Water propulsion of this most unusual vehicle was by out board motor.
A little more digging about the Opperman Scorpion. The company built small horticultural vehicles, and later a couple of small cars. There is a little more information here http://www.isetta-owners-club-gb.com/rare_6.htm
Did some follow up on this fascinating monster. This website seems to have the business. Including film of it in action. Snowcruiser
Did some follow up on this fascinating monster. This website seems to have the business. Including film of it in action. Snowcruiser I hadn't registered the scale of the thing. Massive!
I know, it looks for all the world like a Gerry Anderson model. I Couldn't believe that they actually built and ran it.
Apologies to those that also hang about on ww2f but I had to share this Steam powered plane that one gent posted there: YouTube - The Besler Steam Plane The Besler Steam Plane 1933 - the first (and probably only) plane which successfully went into the air under steam power! Steam Aeroplanes.
Great shot....there's only one left? Well, not many were made, of course. I recall that the drivers were engineers, the gunners from the artillery, and the engine crew from the Navy, and they had a tendency to break down and overheat. Not very effective. Very glad a reproduction was made. Now we need photos and a war movie! No movie sadly but the always good Panzermuseum.com now has some decent shots and an article on the German A7V Replica: Panzermuseum.com - A7V Assault Tank (And are in the process of sorting many more pictures in general by the look of things.)
Is it a car? Is it a plane? No! It's a wartime prototype Tatra V855 sledge: From the rather good: www.tatraworld.nl
It may just have generated enough breeze to move the plank my locks had basically become... but possibly not.... All gone now...
Luckily, some things don't get past the drawing board: A manned pandjandrum! Glad this one never made it to Normany (either)!
Have we had the Soviet Jet train yet? Soviet Union techonlogy had some interesting ideas back in the day. Here is one from 1970s where two jet engines from Yak-40 airplane were put on a train car so it could reach speeds of up to 250km/h which is around 180mph >>> Soviet Union jet train…