Have been doing some research on the US artillery tractors produced in 1918 and afterwards.
1. The 5- and 10-ton artillery tractors had armoured covers for the engine, oil tank and one of the petrol tanks but I haven't
been able to find how thick the armour plate was - anyone know?
2. The Holt civilian Holt 75 was rebadged as the the 15-ton artillery tractor, the Holt 120 as the 20-ton artillery tractor.
Although I've been have to find the handbooks for the 5- and 10-ton tractors online the handbook for the 15-ton appears
elusive. I found an online copy of the 15-ton in the UWisconsin library - available only to staff and students but nowhere else.
Anyone run across these?
And here's a fun fact about the artillery tractors - the 2.5-ton was a lash up intended to copy the French idea of having light tractors
towing 75mm field guns. The whole thing was done in a rush and it failed - it had a Cadillac car engine and transmission which constantly
overheated and suffered from engine failures. Only 116 were produced and although it was shown that a Liberty truck engine worked well the
tractors lost out to horses as the Field Artillery branch rushed back to the 19th century.
Regards,
Charlie
I found the armour thickness in an obscure corner of a manual - it's 1/4inch (about 6mm) for the 10-ton tractor.
And - just for a giggle - a 5-ton tractor with a "must have" attachment for those days when the traffic
is just so bad.
