WWII Sizaire-Berwick Wind Wagon - photo

[Altair]

The Sizaire-Berwick Wind Wagon was a prototype WWII armored vehicle developed for use in the sandy terrains of North Africa. It was powered 110hp Sunbeam aircraft engine, has a crew of two, and was fitted with a 7.71mm Vickers machine gun. Only one was made.




Previously:

Hobart's Funnies - photos
WWII Ford GPA 'Seep' - photos
WWII flying tractor: LeTourneau D4 Flying Tournapull - video
1942 Goliath/Beetle tank tracked mines - GIF, video, and photos
WWII Churchill tank converted into mine clearer

[Frank S]

Stealth it was not. I imagine the dust cloud behind it could be spotted for a 100 miles

[bruce.desertrat]

"Only one was made."

Wasn't that generally true of the A-Team builds???

[Toolmaker51]

"Only one was made."

Because crew fabricating the original died laughing; and on hiring replacements, none believed it was real.

[tonyfoale]

Interesting that the engine is tilted down at the front. That will create a downward component of the prop force, which will press the vehicle down on to the sand. That would increase wheel drag and the tendency to dig in. In sand, that is the opposite of what you need, it would be best to try to float over the surface, especially with those narrow tyres.
That is assuming that the drive is only from the prop. The machine does have a normal engine compartment at the front, maybe that is a relic of the base vehicle or does it retain wheel drive capability? If so, was it intended to use wheel drive and aero drive together or was wheel only for use on hard surfaces?

[Frank S]

In thinking about my first post I may have struck upon its intended use the Navy used to use fog generators to mask their positions and movements. why couldn't this have been used as a dust cloud generator for land based operations to do much the same as the fog generators did? The problem with that analogy though is one vehicle would be useless it would require possibly 100 of more to hide a brigade sized unit and dust is 100 times more destructive and detrimental than the oily diesel laden artificially generated fog. So all in all I'd say there is probably a real good reason why only 1 was ever built it just wasn't practical as a reconnaissance vehicle it could not be relied on to traverse loose sand as in the dunes due to the narrow tires, even as a dust cloud generator it would better serve the enemy as a locator beacon than to camouflage a units movement it wouldn't be able to tow an artillery piece or even a trailer with supplies so what good was it.

[desbromilow]

In thinking about my first post I may have struck upon its intended use the Navy used to use fog generators to mask their positions and movements. why couldn't this have been used as a dust cloud generator for land based operations to do much the same as the fog generators did? The problem with that analogy though is one vehicle would be useless it would require possibly 100 of more to hide a brigade sized unit and dust is 100 times more destructive and detrimental than the oily diesel laden artificially generated fog. So all in all I'd say there is probably a real good reason why only 1 was ever built it just wasn't practical as a reconnaissance vehicle it could not be relied on to traverse loose sand as in the dunes due to the narrow tires, even as a dust cloud generator it would better serve the enemy as a locator beacon than to camouflage a units movement it wouldn't be able to tow an artillery piece or even a trailer with supplies so what good was it.

- Or maybe use it in reverse - use one car to make enough dust to make the enemy believe 100 cars were in a particular location, and then have that one car as a diversion/ feinting force, and allow your main column of troops to engage from a unforeseen vector of attack.

[Frank S]

- Or maybe use it in reverse - use one car to make enough dust to make the enemy believe 100 cars were in a particular location, and then have that one car as a diversion/ feinting force, and allow your main column of troops to engage from a unforeseen vector of attack.

The desert Patrols of N Africa in WWII used similar tactics sending out Jeeps dragging long poles behind them with chains bolted to them to create a dust cloud as a diversion while a tank unit very slowly made its way across the desert into a firing position