German Screw Drive tractor

[sapper740]

The original screw propulsion vehicle was designed in 1944, by Johannes Raedel, a member of the German Army and veteran of the Eastern Front. He noticed how tanks would dig out the snow under the tracks and the bottom of the tank became high centered. Raedel convinced Berlin to allow him to build a prototype of a machine that wouldn't get stuck in snow and still be able to tow a substantial load. At that time, Austria was annexed to Germany so Raedel was sent to the Austrian Alpine vehicle test centre at St. Johann in Tyrol. Using only materials at hand he worked from Feb. 10 to April 28, 1944 building his prototype. It was tested extensively and although it was very slow it would pull 2,000 lbs and had good climbing capabilities. I don't know if it ever saw use operationally but it spawned similar designs after the war.

CHIMO! Derek.