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164-596: From 1935 the DAF automobile company designed several armoured fighting vehicles based on its innovative Trado truck suspension system. Among these was the Pantrado 2 , an armoured car. From 1936 the Dutch military encouraged DAF to develop this type into the Pantrado 3 , a design more closely meeting army specifications for a reconnaissance vehicle, in order to establish a small indigenous armoured vehicle production capacity. A prototype

328-532: A driver licence , as prewar car ownership had been relatively low in The Netherlands. At first even for this no vehicles were available and an attempt to give basic infantry training instead, failed for lack of rifles. After a few weeks old Dutch Eysink motorcycles could be used — each platoon also would have a motorcycle squad — and then some modern German BMW motorcycles. Also the old Bison and Buffel armoured cars were used, that in 1932 had been built by

492-515: A red lead primer on the cars and then finished them with a semi-gloss coating in the standard colour of the Dutch Army: "army green", that was at the time conceived as a rather dark and dull bronze. The orange triangle Dutch national insignia were absent on the M 39s. Instead during the fighting as a makeshift solution on occasion the Dutch flag was used, sometimes as such, in at least one case painted as

656-457: A "walking beam" to the vehicle that significantly improved its cross-country performance. The Trado III suspension system, an improved version, was a considerable commercial success and applied to many existing and new civilian and military truck types. The armoured vehicle projects had the designation Pantrado in common, a contraction of the Dutch word for "armoured car", Pantserwagen , and Trado . The Trado III -suspension could be fitted with

820-560: A base in The Hague. As another base in the city had already been bombed, the cars were on 10 May initially ordered to seek cover from aerial observation in the Haagse Bos , a park. The German attempt to seize The Hague failed, partly because Landsverk armoured cars destroyed many Ju 52 transport planes and thereby blocked the runway of the main city airfield, Ypenburg . As a result the next waves of planes landed on meadows and roads, dispersing

984-498: A car belt drive system. Over the next few years, the design was developed and refined. In February 1958, DAF demonstrated a small belt-driven four-seater car at the Dutch car show (the AutoRAI ). The public reaction was very positive and 4,000 cars were ordered. In 1959, DAF started selling the world's first car with a CVT, the small four seater DAF 600 . This was the first of a series of models to be released in subsequent years, including

1148-560: A cheaper unit price could be agreed, of at once thirteen vehicles. In view of the delays with the previous production batch, armour and other components had already to be ordered. From February 1940 armour sets were ordered with Ougrée-Marhaye and Zeiss-periscopes with Nedisco. Landsverk was approached about the delivery of thirteen turrets. The Swedish company indicated that at a unit price of 9,800 guilders it could deliver four turrets late October 1940 followed by three turrets per month until January 1941. Fearing future Swedish export limitations,

1312-620: A comeback in the 1930s, with development occurring in several countries that would use them in World War II. The White Motor Company, which had designed armored cars for the United States Army and United States Marines , continued after the First World War to develop armored cars and added tracks for the M2 half-track car and M3 half-track . There were many civilian half-track experiments in

1476-406: A depression of 9°30°°. Optionally coaxial was a Lewis 7.92 mm machine-gun to the left of the cannon that could be decoupled and then was movable within a cone of 30°. It was specially modified, increasing the original 6.5 mm calibre, and called the M. 20 no. 2 . Elevation of the main gun and traverse of the turret were by hand. The commander, sitting on the right, had to load the main gun;

1640-498: A differential, and the axle was changed from a swing axle design to a leaf sprung de Dion axle. It was a major improvement over the (tricky) handling of the swing axles of the earlier 33, 44 and 55 models. Volvo purchased a 33 percent stake in DAF in December 1972, with the intent of taking a larger interest. They increased their holdings to 75% on 1 January 1975, taking over the company and

1804-647: A dispute between Linn and Lombard, led Linn to create the Linn Manufacturing Company, builder of the Linn tractor , for building and putting onto the market his own improved civilian half-track–style machines. Lombard attempted to follow but, for the most part, remained a pulling machine. Linn would later register "Haftrak" and "Catruk" as trademarks, the latter for a half-track meant to convert hydraulically from truck to crawler configuration. Tractors used to tow artillery and designs with front wheels and tracks at

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1968-494: A dummy, an almost exact replica of both armour and weaponry. For test purposes this dummy turret was again removed and replaced with a turret taken from a M36 vehicle. Tests were carried out between 4 July and 23 September 1938 by the 1e Eskadron Pantserwagens , a unit based in North Brabant , comparing it with their regular Landsverk M36. Various terrain types and obstacles had to be negotiated. The results were very favourable for

2132-470: A full range of options included microwave, fridge, and a television/video system. The 95.500 was available as a 4x2 tractor or drawbar rigid, with LHD only, though the Super Spacecab was available on 11.6-litre engined models. The 95.500 is now a very rare truck, which is surprising given the original list price of £87,650. The basic cab design remains in production to this day, latterly as the 95XF and now

2296-452: A further destruction of the Dutch cities, the Dutch supreme commander Henri Winkelman at 16:50 ordered his troops to destroy their equipment and then surrender themselves to the Germans. In the evening of 14 May it was accordingly attempted to disable some DAF M39s by driving them into the sea at Scheveningen . Two vehicles indeed reached the waves, a third got stuck on the boulevard stairway to

2460-448: A home-made armoured car, especially if it were equipped with a Ford engine, as a Ford factory and an extensive Ford service network were already present in the country. In July the Chief of General Staff concurred with this assessment. In response to these views by high-ranking officers, the commission changed its opinion, now officially concluding that "acceptable concepts" had been expressed by

2624-437: A large red-white-blue tricolour on the back of the vehicle. Black military vehicle registration numbers, from III-2201 to III-2212, were applied on a rectangular orange background. No large white identification numbers were used, as did the other Dutch armoured car types. As was usual for Dutch army matériel during most of the twentieth century, no camouflage pattern was applied. The inside was sprayed with an aluminium colour, with

2788-573: A licence to produce them. This resulted in the Army Ordnance Department building a prototype in 1939. In September 1940 it went into production with the military M2 and M3 half-track versions. With the snow and ice of Canada in mind, Joseph-Armand Bombardier developed 7- and 12-passenger half-track autoneiges in the 1930s, starting what would become the Bombardier industrial conglomerate. The Bombardier vehicle had tracks for propulsion in

2952-402: A motor home/traction engine run by an underslung four-cylinder Brennan gasoline engine to travel the unimproved roads of the day, with wheels at the front and tracks at the rear: the first payload-carrying half-track. By 1909 this was replaced by a smaller machine with two wheels at the front and a single track behind, since rural wooden bridges presented problems. Stability issues, together with

3116-556: A number of cars from the personal car pool of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia to half-tracks in 1911. His system was named after him: the Kégresse track , which used a flexible belt rather than interlocking metal segments. He applied it to several vehicles in the imperial garage, including Rolls-Royce cars and Packard trucks. The Imperial Russian Army also fitted the system to a number of their Austin Armoured Cars . From 1916 onward, there

3280-413: A power/weight ratio of 15 hp/ton; an armament consisting of a 37/40 mm gun and three machine guns; a complete protection against any munition below 10 mm calibre; a dual drive capacity; a half-track option; a 6x6 drive; bulletproof tyres; a range of three hundred kilometres; good yet safe visibility; an emitter-receiver radio set; gas-proof armour; gun stabilisation; a smoke screen capacity and

3444-418: A rectangular hatch in front of him, that could hinge upwards to provide an unimpeded view of the road; due to the short nose there were no dead angles in his field of vision. When closed the outside could still be seen via a vision slit, protected by armoured glass and fully closable through a small sliding armour plate. The environment could then be better observed by means of five prismatic blocks placed below

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3608-518: A searchlight. Having received the specifications in November 1936, DAF immediately began the third project, the Pantrado 3 , a somewhat larger vehicle than the Pantrado 2 . Construction of a boiler plate demonstrator vehicle was begun in the spring of 1937. The construction process was inspected in May by the Dutch prime minister Hendrik Colijn who at the time was also interim minister of defence. DAF submitted

3772-459: A short mobilisation phase at Amersfoort was moved to The Hague as had been prearranged in the Case Blue concentration plan. Conscripts should now be quickly trained to form active units. In November the first professional personnel arrived, officers and NCOs, destined for the four DAF M39 platoons. DAF had been asked to provide a two-month training course for about thirty men at the factory itself, but

3936-511: A single squadron, should only be expanded with a dozen more for a second squadron, two additional vehicles to function as command cars for each squadron, twelve vehicles to provide a platoon of three for the reconnaissance unit, a motorised cavalry Hussar regiment, of each of the four infantry corps and finally ten vehicles to be used as matériel reserve and for training: 36 new armoured cars in total. Fourteen Landsverk 180 (M38) vehicles were received between 16 March and 11 November 1938 to equip

4100-501: A small company, DAF made a huge number of prototypes. Also, famous coachbuilders like Giovanni Michelotti and OSI made cars based on DAF mechanicals. For instance, the OSI City Car, which turned into a miniature. There was also Michelotti's "Shellette" beach car, which was later modified to use Fiat 850 underpinnings. The Dutch Royal Family used one of these at their Porto Ercole summer residence. DAF produced its first truck ,

4264-425: A small signal lamp placed on a small pedestal at the back of the turret. For internal communications he could use an electrical-optical installation, allowing him to give orders to the drivers by pushing one of four buttons: "Drive Forward", "Forward Halt", "Drive Backward" and "Backward Halt", causing the corresponding orders to light up on the respective driver consoles. The driver could more mundanely communicate with

4428-400: A track on the lines of the Kégresse track , changing a vehicle into a half-track . The first project, the Pantrado 1 , envisaged a very long type with a good trench-crossing capability, brought about by applying the principle of the articulated vehicle: it was to consist of two fully tracked truck hulls attached back to back, connected by a large horizontal articulated cylinder. The full track

4592-524: A turret production by RDM that indicated it could deliver four turrets by 21 January 1941, four by 21 February and the final five by 21 March. In the documentation of the period it had become common to refer to the new batch as a distinct type: the DAF Pantserwagen Model 40, probably because it was seen as an improved version using the planned 6x6 drive. Because of the German invasion no production of

4756-443: A very conspicuous light-dark contrast between the angled upper hull and the large shadowed part below the rear fender. There were two fuel reservoirs, a main and a reserve tank, below the floor plate of the main compartment, holding a total of 85 litres of petrol; this allowed for a range of about 200-225 kilometres. The numbers given by some sources of a hundred litres and a range of three hundred kilometres, are incorrect. DAF sprayed

4920-413: Is a great advantage over fully tracked vehicles, which require specialized training. Half-tracks thus facilitate moving personnel and equipment successfully across varying terrain. The main disadvantage is the increased maintenance to maintain track tension, and the reduced life span of tracks (up to 10,000 km) compared to tires (up to 80,000 km). The French engineer Adolphe Kégresse converted

5084-735: Is now the Nedcar factory in Born, in 1975 to the Swedish company Volvo Cars , leaving DAF to concentrate on its successful line of trucks. In 1987, DAF merged with the Leyland Trucks division of Rover Group (which included Freight Rover ), and in June 1989 was floated on the Dutch and London Stock Exchanges as DAF NV . The new company traded as Leyland DAF in the United Kingdom, and as DAF elsewhere. DAF Bus

M39 Pantserwagen - Misplaced Pages Continue

5248-577: The M39 Pantserwagen , used developments of this Trado drivetrain . M39 production came too late for World War II – in the invasion of the Netherlands (1940) only three saw combat. After World War II luxury cars and trucks were very scarce. This meant a big opportunity for DAF. In 1949, the company started making trucks, trailers and buses, changing its name to Van Doorne's Automobiel Fabriek (Van Doorne's Automobile Factory). The first lorry model

5412-586: The A30 , in 1949. This truck was upgraded in the following years. Their first attempt into the international market was a failure, the 2000DO . Their next truck was the 1964 2600 , which became a big seller with its well equipped but practical cabin. They also produced a so-called torpedo front tractor. In the 1970s, a new modular tilting cab called the F218 was introduced on the F1600/F2000 range of vehicles. Three years later,

5576-599: The DAF 33 , DAF 44 , DAF 55 and DAF 66 , all using the innovative Variomatic transmission system. In 1967, DAF opened a new plant in Born for car production. The 44 was the first model to be produced there. In 1972, International Harvester of Chicago bought a 33% stake in DAF (with the Dutch government holding 25% and the Van Doorne family holding the remaining 42%), forming a joint venture. This agreement lasted until 1981. DAF sold its passenger car division, along with what

5740-661: The Depotdetachement Bewakingstroepen Cavalerie . In the morning of 10 May these vehicles had been readied and then moved to the headquarters of the Commander Fortress Holland. In the subsequent days they had remained in the city, sometimes patrolling the streets or responding to the many false alarms about presumed Fifth Column activities. In one incident, on 11 May, an M39 had set fire to some railway wagons where, probably groundlessly, German paratroopers were suspected to have hidden. Fearing

5904-617: The Second World War broke out on 1 September; the Dutch Army had mobilised somewhat earlier. The change to a wartime organisation would cause the plan to be abandoned; but it has led to the misunderstanding that the DAF M39s in 1940 were united in this hypothetical 3rd Armoured Car Squadron. In September training within the Cavalry Arm was assigned to the newly formed Cavalry Depot, that after

6068-796: The T45 Roadtrain cab acquired from the Leyland Trucks takeover, fitted with the ATI driveline. Also offered for a short period was the 3200, basically a remodelled 2800 with the corporate style, three bar grille. There is a DAF LF45 hybrid version , which was presented by DAF at the IAA 2010 in Hannover. In August 2011, DAF announced it had built up a 19% stake in Tatra , which will use DAF cabs and Paccar engines. DAF dealers will sell Tatra off-road trucks. DAF cars had

6232-685: The Trado -suspension without regard for ergonomics or fighting abilities. In its rejection the commission was joined by the Inspector of Cavalry, who in June pointed out to the minister of defence that the mere fact that the Pantrado 2 had yet to be developed, precluded any procurement. However, this occasioned the Commander of the Field Army to add a comment emphasizing that it would nevertheless be very desirable to have

6396-553: The 1920s and 1930s. The Citroën company sponsored several scientific expeditions crossing deserts in North Africa and Central Asia, using their autochenilles . After World War I, the US military wanted to develop a semi-tracked personnel carrier vehicle, so it looked at these civilian half-tracks. In the late 1920s the US Army purchased several Citroën-Kégresse vehicles for evaluation followed by

6560-420: The 1943-introduced Schwerer Wehrmachtschlepper , was meant to replace the 3-tonne and 5-tonne capacity models – only some 825 examples were built before the war's end. A common feature of virtually all German World War II half-tracks was the so-called Schachtellaufwerk overlapped/interleaved roadwheel arrangement with a "slack track" system possessing no return rollers under the return run of track, used from

6724-413: The 1st Infantry Division at Rijswijk . On 14 May the car supported an attempt to eliminate the largest remaining pocket of German airborne troops, that had gathered around Major-General Hans Graf von Sponeck at Overschie , together with a Landsverk M38 armoured car from 2e Eskadron Pantserwagens . During the advance the clutch of III-2203 malfunctioned and the car returned to Delft for repairs. Rejoining

M39 Pantserwagen - Misplaced Pages Continue

6888-496: The 95.500 Super Spacecab at the 1994 RAI show. The 95 series cabin had gained height and length, and sat atop Cummins ' 14-litre N14, rated at 507 bhp. ZF's new Aluminium cased 16S221 gearbox was fitted, with optional Intarder. An innovation was the hydraulic gearshift developed with Konsberg of Norway. Within an overall height of 3.85m, the Super boasted an interior height of 2.25m, a luxury bunk with generous stowage space underneath, and

7052-589: The Americans with their M2s and M3s . Half-tracks were widely used as mortar carriers , self-propelled anti-aircraft guns , self-propelled anti-tank guns , armored fighting vehicles and in other tasks. The Germans used a small 2 seater 1/2-ton class half-track "motorcycle", the Sd.Kfz. 2 (better known as the Kleines Kettenkraftrad HK 101 or Kettenkrad for short – Ketten meaning tracks, and krad being

7216-591: The DAF 77, was developed during the transition to Volvo ownership and was ultimately launched as the Volvo 300 series in 1976, firstly as the Volvo 343 three door hatchback with the Variomatic transmission. After initial slow sales, the range was expanded into the 340/360, with a five-door variant and the availability of manual transmission, and the 340/360 range became a sales success, eventually surpassing 1.3 million units by

7380-481: The DAF M39, Van Doorne deliberately strived for modernity. A traditional construction based on some pre-existing truck chassis was unacceptable for that reason alone. A brandnew design however, also had the advantage of being able to apply the most weight-efficient configuration. Partly this was achieved by a welded monocoque design that needed no heavy chassis girders, but also by the use of sloped armour, that could approach

7544-645: The DAF M40 would ever materialise; a proposal by DAF to produce light tanks had already been rejected by the minister of defence in March 1940, despite being favoured by the Army Chief of Staff. The total production of the DAF M39/M40 series would thus be limited to twelve vehicles of the main production series and a prototype; nevertheless these thirteen vehicles present the main bulk of the Dutch prewar AFV-production. In designing

7708-503: The DAF proposal and suggesting DAF might build a prototype. The delay in its report was explained by the great interest the new design had awakened with the commission members! Meanwhile Van der Trappen himself had defended his proposal by writing an article in the authoritative Dutch military magazine De Militaire Spectator , claiming it was much more modern, especially more compact, than the Swedish Landsverk types. In September even

7872-479: The Dutch Army. In February 1936 they submitted a design of a double-ended small 6 x 4 armoured car/half-track, with a transversely mounted engine and a crew of four, to the Commissie Pantserautomobielen , the army commission tasked with selecting possible candidates. The commission initially was very negative about the type. It concluded in May 1936 that the car had simply been designed around

8036-402: The Dutch government to speed up its 1936 modernisation programme for the Dutch armed forces. In view of the limited budget available for armoured vehicles, Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Izaak H. Reijnders decided that most funds should be dedicated to the acquisition of tanks. Therefore the existing number of twelve Swedish Landsverk 181 (named M36 in Dutch service) armoured cars, equipping

8200-440: The Dutch government. The attack did not come as a total surprise; as it had been feared that a German invasion was imminent, Supreme Command had ordered several security measures on 8 May, among which the formation of a small cavalry security force from Delft depot units, the Depotdetachement Bewakingstroepen Cavalerie , to guard The Hague, to which a DAF M39 platoon was added. In the night of 9–10 May, these three M39s were parked at

8364-474: The Dutch steel industry began to lobby for the DAF design. Despite the political pressure the minister of defence in October 1936 decided to reject the Pantrado 2. However, he promised that a complete list of specifications would be provided to DAF, outlining the qualities the Dutch Army desired for any future armoured car design. These included: a weight limit of 6.5 tonnes; six wheels; a maximum speed of 70 km/h;

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8528-533: The Lewis gun. The specifications asked for a stock of 4,000 rounds of machine gun ammunition; also pistols and twenty hand-grenades should be present. For external communications it was intended to equip all vehicles with a radio set. For this it would have been necessary to rebuild the turrets, attaching a bustle at their back, to place the sets in. No vehicle had yet been so modified in May 1940. The commander could also give light signals to vehicles behind him by means of

8692-468: The M36 and M38 included, did not even have bottom armour. The fenders too were made of armour steel, four millimetres thick. The Swedish turret had a lower armour basis: its walls were 7.5 mm thick, its roof five. The small size and light armour resulted in a relatively light vehicle with a loaded weight of somewhat over six tonnes . The pressure was evenly divided over the wheels, the rear axle bearing four and

8856-517: The M39 had been penetrated twice low in the side hull armour, without the projectiles doing any damage or even being noticed; a third round had been stopped by the thin strip of reinforcing steel around the turret base that doubled the normal armour thickness. Rotterdam capitulating as a result of the carpet bombing , III-2203 was withdrawn to The Hague. In The Hague also the five DAF M39s were present, two of them without main armament, that had not been used in

9020-510: The Nedcar plant. Volvo dropped the 33 and 44 models, and later rebadged the DAF 66 as the Volvo 66 , with bigger bumpers and a safety steering wheel. The DAF 46 was developed with Volvo's assistance, and was basically a 44 with the rear axle of a 66 and a single belt Variomatic (half the 66's transmission). A big weakness of this system is that a failed drive belt would cripple the car. The last DAF design, codenamed P900, initially intended to be

9184-565: The Netherlands adhered to a policy of the strictest neutrality, it was hoped that by secret negotiations it could be arranged that the British would send an expeditionary force in case of a German attack and that some communality of equipment would facilitate such future cooperation. Also the army considered British armoured cars to be the best available. However, it transpired that DAF had already developed an indigenous design, which it claimed to be more advanced than any British armoured car. From 1935,

9348-717: The Ordnance Department on the chassis of Morris trucks to assist the security forces in suppressing riots during the Great Depression . The first five DAF M39s received were incomplete lacking armament; they were only used for theoretical instruction before being taken away to be equipped with their cannon. In March they became available again, of one vehicle in the meantime the armour cracks had been repaired by DAF. However, they still lacked machine-guns, gunsights, ammunition stowage and many smaller other fittings and therefore were only usable for driver training; gunnery training

9512-530: The Ordnance Department requested a production licence for the turrets. Landsverk refused to grant it to its rival DAF but agreed to a licence production by the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij , that accordingly inspected an M39 in March 1940. However, DAF also made a turret design, a dummy of which was placed on the demonstrator vehicle. The Ordnance Department estimated it could produce the thirteen 37 mm cannon for 92,000 guilders and

9676-412: The Ordnance Department. By 1 August, 16 September, 7 October and 1 November 1939 respectively three turrets each had to be made available. The intended delivery dates were: the first car on 15 September, the next two on 10 October, three on 1 November, three more on 23 November and the final three on 15 December 1939. The total price was 529,600 guilders ; the prototype was to be delivered by 15 December at

9840-413: The Pantrado 3. Whereas the M36 was incapable of crossing ditches, would get itself stuck on dry sand roads and had great trouble climbing steep slopes, the Pantrado 3 effortlessly overcame these obstacles. Its suspension system allowed for a much smoother cross-country ride. The main drawback was that the gasproof monocoque hull trapped both heat and noise. This affected crew comfort and it was impossible for

10004-599: The Spicer 4-speed transmissions used by the other manufacturers; had IHC Model FOK-1370 front drive axles instead of the Timken front axles used by their competitors; used IHC Model RHT-1590 axles in the rear instead of the Timken axles used by their competitors; and were constructed with fully welded armor with rounded rear corners instead of the bolted armor with square corners used by the other three manufacturers. In August 1944, Allied forces liberated Paris . The first vehicle to enter

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10168-668: The Springfield Works; and in 1945 they built 589 M5A1 and 1 M5A3 units at Springfield Works. The IHC half-tracks differed visibly from the White, Diamond T, and AutoCar units in several ways. The IHC units had flat front fenders instead of fenders with compound curves; used the International Red Diamond 450 engines instead of the Hercules 160AX engines used by the other manufacturers; used IHC Model 1856 4-speed transmissions instead of

10332-399: The United Kingdom. In 1928, Hubert "Hub" van Doorne founded the company Commanditaire Vennootschap Hub van Doorne's Machinefabriek . His co-founder and investor was A. H. Huenges, managing director of a brewery. Van Doorne had repaired Huenges' car several times, and Huenges, pleased with his work, offered to finance him in business. Hub started to work in a small workshop on the grounds of

10496-512: The XF105, although both these developments of the original 95 are totally different machines under the skin. Other vehicles in the DAF range have included the inherited from Leyland Trucks Roadrunner (Badged DAF 600, 800, 1000 on the Continent) which evolved into the 45 Series, the cab of which was used on the 18 ton gross 55, also as a military spec 4×4. An all new medium to heavyweight line up debuted in

10660-493: The airborne troops into many small groups which, unable to be reinforced, in the following days tried to break out towards Rotterdam, the southern part of which city was firmly in German hands. In the confused situation the platoon in the afternoon of 10 May was ordered to convoy a munition truck to Delft. At a Dutch roadblock the commander of one car was killed, both sides mistaking each other for Germans. Finally arriving in Delft, two of

10824-416: The armoured car to break off the attack. The armour of the car during the action easily deflected enemy machine-gun rounds. By noon most of the Dutch infantry was withdrawn to rest and eat; during the afternoon the armoured car again made a probing attack against the cluster of Ju 52s. The commander decided to hold his fire and approached within forty metres of the enemy position, to provoke a reaction. Suddenly

10988-405: The armoured cars were in the late afternoon ordered to support an advance of some depot companies to the south, in the direction of Rotterdam, that soon was blocked by enemy fire. Lacking bulletproof tyres, the cars were held back, only supporting the troops by shelling enemy positions at a distance. Though this was forbidden, one of the cars fired shells in a nine o'clock or three o'clock position of

11152-483: The base. In the same evening of 10 May the third car, III-2203, that experimentally had been fitted with bulletproof Michelin tyres, positioned itself on the southern edge of Delft, without making enemy contact, but in vain trying to shoot down a low-flying German aircraft with the main gun. On 11 May III-2203 was ordered to support an advance over the Delft-Rotterdam highway. At first this met little enemy resistance,

11316-511: The battlefield. In England, starting in 1905, David Roberts of Richard Hornsby & Sons had attempted to interest British military officials in a tracked vehicle, but failed. Holt bought the patents related to the "chain track" track-type tractor from Richard Hornsby & Sons in 1914 for £4,000. Unlike the Holt tractor, which had a steerable tiller wheel in front of the tracks, the Hornsby crawler

11480-530: The beach. DAF Trucks DAF Trucks is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of Paccar . DAF originally stood for van Doorne's Aanhangwagen Fabriek . Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven . Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium. Some of the truck models sold with the DAF brand are designed and built by Leyland Trucks at its Leyland plant in

11644-449: The brewery. In 1932, the company, by then run by Hub and his brother, Wim van Doorne , changed its name to Van Doorne's Aanhangwagen Fabriek (Van Doorne's Trailer Factory), abbreviated to DAF . Huenges left the company in 1936 and the DAF company was then completely in the hands of the van Doorne brothers. DAF developed the Trado conversions to convert 4×2 Ford trucks to an off-road 6×4 drive. One of DAF's few armoured vehicles,

11808-506: The captured vehicles under the designation Panzerspähwagen DAF 201 (h) , some of them upgraded by DAF, until gradually losing them all on the Eastern Front . After the war there were plans to restart production, building two hundred vehicles for Dutch reconnaissance units and perhaps a number for Belgium , but eventually it was decided to use light tanks for this role instead. In 1937 the quickly deteriorating international situation urged

11972-600: The city was an M3 named "España Cañí" and driven by Spanish soldiers fighting under the French tricolor. There followed several days of parades in late August. One parade of 25 August 1944 was down the Champs-Élysées , with Charles de Gaulle leading throngs of Parisians, and French soldiers driving IH half-tracks. Half-tracks were used extensively in World War II, especially by the Germans with their armored Demag -designed Sd.Kfz. 250s and Hanomag -designed Sd.Kfz. 251s ; and by

12136-421: The co-founder of DAF Hub van Doorne and captain engineer Piet van der Trappen had started a number of armoured fighting vehicle paper projects based on their Trado suspension system. The Trado, named after themselves ( Tra ppen — Do orne), consisted of a leaf-springed bogie with two actuated road wheels that could be easily attached to, driven by and rotate on the back axis of any commercial truck, thus adding

12300-480: The commission, clearly impressed by the general performance and the modern exterior, already on 9 September judged the type to be "very acceptable". On some points however, the commission was still dissatisfied. Firstly, it insisted on a front-wheel drive. As deliveries would be delayed by its development, it was accepted that the first batch would lack this feature, but possible later batches should have an improved 6x6 drive system. A second improvement seen as necessary

12464-520: The company vehemently objected. The Ordnance Department concurred: the training should take place at its facility at Delft, the same location the cars were to be completed with armament. For this purpose it prepared a special DAF M39 manual, creating a first draught, the Ontwerp Beschrijving van de Pantserwagen M. 39 , the final version of which however, would not be ready in time to be published. In January 1940 140 conscripts arrived to be trained in

12628-551: The cornerstone of the new plant in the city of Ponta Grossa , in the state of Paraná , Brazil. DAF now has a net worth of 1.7 billion dollars. The first passenger car, the DAF 600 , was presented to the public in February 1958. It featured unitary steel construction, with a front mounted, air cooled two cylinder boxer engine driving the rear wheels through a centrifugal clutch and the Variomatic CVT transmission. The way this

12792-645: The corresponding order 55340/41 is marked as completed in the Landsverk order book on 28 September 1939. Landsverk stipulated that in all sales brochures of the type it should be mentioned that the turret was of Swedish manufacture. DAF circumvented this clause by depicting the demonstrator vehicle fitted with the dummy turret. This vehicle was in July shown to the general public during a large Army exhibition in The Hague . As DAF had never before produced armoured fighting vehicles ,

12956-472: The coveted 'Truck of The Year' award. The 95 featured an all new cab developed jointly with ENASA of Spain called Cabtec, a revised version of the 11.6-litre ATI engine, rated at 310, 350, or 380 hp (metric), and 16-speed ZF Friedrichshafen gearbox. On the Continent, Eaton's Twinsplitter gearbox was an option. A full range of axle configurations were offered, to suit every operating requirement. Much attention

13120-500: The crew members to hear each other. Also on one occasion the Ford V8 engine overheated but this was shown to have been caused by using an outdated cooling system that the Ford company had already replaced on its production lines; subsequently the newer version was installed. A minor negative point was that the exhaust pipe had been fitted on the bottom and easily was damaged in terrain. Nevertheless

13284-416: The demonstrator vehicle was in an advanced stage of manufacture and could quickly be completed as an official prototype. The claim to superiority to British design had been based on the use of a welded monocoque construction combined with a consistent use of the sloped armour principle, which was predicted to lead to a much improved weight efficiency. It would therefore not use an existing truck chassis as

13448-570: The early wars of the Arab–Israeli conflict . Half-tracks continued in use by the Israeli Army where they were deemed to outperform fully tracked and fully wheeled vehicles for non-combat payload tasks such as carrying telecommunications equipment. As of March 2008, 600 half-tracks were still officially listed as on active duty. Many Second World War half-tracks were sold off to civilian users either as surplus stock or later due to obsolescence when

13612-421: The effective protection varied though: the back, sloped at about 30°, was the best protected area with a line-of-sight thickness of about 20 mm, to which a certain deflection effect should be added. The 45° front glacis had an effective thickness of about 14 mm; the sloping effect of the side plates was negligible. The top had a thickness of six, the bottom of five millimetres. Several conventional designs,

13776-444: The end of 1992, the 65, 75 and 85 utilising the same wedge shaped cab. Powered by DAF's 6.24-litre (381 cu in), 8.65-litre (528 cu in) and 11.6-litre (710 cu in) engines, some novel styling details featured, while the 85 Series' cab sat 10 cm (3.94 in) higher on the chassis to clear the WS engine. A short lived model was the 1990 to 1993 80 Series, using

13940-523: The exception of the inside of doors and hatches. Early 1939 it had been planned that the four Hussar Regiments, the intended destination of the DAF M39s, would each provide for the training of their respective armoured car platoons. On 1 January 1940 the 4e Regiment Huzaren based at Deventer would be allotted the necessary professional personnel, followed by 1e Regiment Huzaren at Amersfoort on 1 April, 2e Regiment Huzaren at Breda on 1 July 1940 and 3e Regiment Huzaren at The Hague on 1 October. Once

14104-560: The field army altogether and were guarding the Waalhaven airfield. Thus only a nominal strength was present on paper. However, the 2nd Armoured Car Squadron was split up to provide two platoons to each of the two remaining regiments, 1st and 4th Hussars. When the Battle of the Netherlands started on 10 May 1940, of the twelve vehicles manufactured, four were in Eindhoven with DAF, eight at Delft; of

14268-408: The fight in the afternoon, III-2003 first took a civilian, fled from the village, on board to point out the exact German positions. Shortly afterwards the attacking Dutch troops witnessed the devastating bombardment of Rotterdam, just south of Overschie. Continuing to advance nevertheless, the two armoured cars were suddenly hit by antitank rifle fire and returned to the Dutch lines. It transpired that

14432-405: The first blueprints and a scale model to the commission in July. These showed a number of deviations from the specifications: the design dispensed with the track option entirely and was a pure armoured car. The front wheels were not driven and normal rubber tyres were used. In August 1937 the commission advised that a single prototype would be ordered; Van Doorne and Van der Trappen had indicated that

14596-527: The first car was officially delivered by DAF on 27 November 1939, not only did the turret lack any guns but also the hull machine guns and all visors were absent. Nine vehicles, also in an unfinished state, were delivered in December and the final two on 3 and 5 January 1940 respectively. DAF reduced the price by 1500 guilders per unit to partly compensate for the deficiencies. The cars were moved to an Ordnance Department facility in Delft to be completed. In late January

14760-600: The first vehicle could be fitted with the first 37 mm gun produced for the series and at the same time equipped with a full set of episcopes and periscopes provided by the Nederlandsche Instrumenten Compagnie (Nedisco); it was immediately tested at the gunnery range at Oldebroek . In February, five other vehicles were parked at the Cavalry Depot, officially "fit for military use" but in fact still waiting to be equipped with guns. The delays irritated

14924-522: The four Hussar Regiments some makeshift solution had to be found, to provide them with armoured cars. For the 2nd and 3rd Hussar Regiment the arrangement turned out to be quite minimal: one section was allocated to each but that of the first only contained the Buffel and Bison , the obsolete vehicles that were in fact used for training the M39 crews, and that of the other regiment consisted of two Carden Loyd Mark VI tankettes that in reality had been removed from

15088-528: The front axle two tonnes. Additional protection was provided by two portable fire extinguishers , one of the dry powder type, the other using carbon tetrachloride . The main armament was in the turret, consisting of the semi-automatic Bofors 37 mm Long 34 cannon, that the Dutch called the 4 paw . Though the DAF M39 was primarily intended as a reconnaissance vehicle, the Dutch Army was painfully aware it lacked any heavier armour to back it up, so an armament had been chosen with an adequate antitank-capacity for

15252-401: The front for steering and continuous tracks at the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cross-country capabilities of a tank and the handling of a wheeled vehicle. The main advantage of half-tracks over wheeled vehicles is that the tracks reduce the pressure on any given area of the ground by spreading

15416-456: The front the driver was seated on the left with the machine-gunner at his right. As there was a dual drive capacity, a second driver in the rear could immediately reverse the vehicle in an emergency situation without making a turn; he also could operate the rear machine-gun. To his left was the engine, enclosed by asbestos -reinforced bulkheads that formed a small engine compartment; these could be quickly removed to allow for repairs without leaving

15580-420: The glacis and bottom plates were starting to crack also. According to DAF the defects had been caused by attaching the mounts after the vehicles had been largely finished. The Comissie Pantserautomobielen concluded that, as war was imminent, DAF should be allowed to quickly repair the cracks by rewelding and fitting reinforcement plates but that ultimately the armour plates had to be completely replaced. Besides

15744-461: The gunner to his left loaded the machine-gun. The commander had a periscope having a magnification of 2.5 and a field of view of 28°. The gunner had a (non-rotatable) episcope, also serving as gunsight, with a magnification of 1.75 and a field of view of 40°. The remainder of the armament consisted of the two hull machine guns, one in the front plate, the other in the back plate. They were placed in ball-mounts attached to protruding sections welded to

15908-589: The hauling of logs in the northeastern US, with the Lombard Steam Log Hauler built by Alvin Lombard of Waterville, Maine , from 1899 to 1917. The vehicle resembled a railway steam locomotive, with sled steering (or wheels) in front and at the rear, crawlers driven by chains instead of the driving wheels of a locomotive. By 1907, dog and pony show operator H. H. Linn abandoned his gas-and-steam-powered four- and six-wheel-drive creations and had Lombard build

16072-429: The hubs. As the sloped armour caused a considerable overhang at the nose of the vehicle it was equipped at this point with two rather large unpowered auxiliary wheels, to prevent ditching. If ditched or stuck in soft soil, freeing the cars could be facilitated by two detachable boards, attached on each side above the rear wheels, which position also reduced dust clouds while driving and covered what otherwise would have been

16236-423: The hull, on the lines of certain British tankette -types from the 1920s. Neither Van Doorne nor Van der Trappen had any experience with building armoured vehicles. Besides employing a small DAF-team, they had the assistance of their personal friend, wachtmeester (a Dutch cavalry rank equivalent to sergeant) and mechanic J. Addink. He was very sceptical of the monocoque design, predicting that without reinforcement

16400-400: The ideal envelopment of a given inner space. This was most apparent with the Pantrado 2 design that used many facets to approximate the desired curvature. This would have worked even better through the use of cast armour, but casting would have been too expensive. In fact that was even true for the complex form of the Pantrado 2; the Pantrado 3 therefore showed a simplified hull shape, reducing

16564-530: The image of being slow. The company tried to change this image with entries in rallies and races , such as their entry in the London–Sydney Marathon . They were pioneers with continuously variable automatic transmission called Variomatic . A DAF car was used in Albie Mangle's "World Safari" movie of 1977. Half-track A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels at

16728-686: The largest being the White Motor Company , the original designer, with a total of 15,414 accepted by the War Department. The other manufacturers, Autocar and Diamond T , built 12,168 and 12,421, respectively. These designs were produced under license in Canada, and were widely supplied under the Lend Lease program, with 5,000 supplied to the USSR alone. The fourth manufacturer of American-made half-tracks

16892-642: The last, two were still lacking their main armament and none were fully completed, though some had been equipped with machine-guns. No crews were fully trained. The base at Delft, in between the Dutch seat of government The Hague and the port of Rotterdam, had been seen as a safe rear-area location at the very heart of the Dutch National Redoubt , the Fortress Holland. On the early morning of 10 May however, these two major cities were assaulted by German parachutists and airborne troops attempting to capture

17056-553: The latest, and for free. Later in May twelve turrets were ordered from AB Landsverk for a total price of 218,400 Swedish Krona via the official intermediary of this company in The Netherlands, the NV Rollo, based in The Hague. As the Ordnance Department needed some time to fit these with armament, the agreed Swedish delivery dates predated the delivery to DAF: on 23 June, 9 August, 1 September and 23 September 1939 three turrets each. The actual delivery seems to have been delayed somewhat:

17220-464: The machine-guns for 37,500 guilders. When asked for a price quotation DAF indicated it would cost 47,750 guilders per unit to produce the first three car hulls and 42,640 guilders for the next ten vehicles; but when thirteen were ordered at once the unit price would drop to 41,275 guilders. From this the Ordnance Department concluded thirteen cars could be ready by 1 March 1941 for a unit price of 69,500 guilders. The Commissie Pantserautomobielen preferred

17384-505: The main problem being that the car was fired upon by a fighter aircraft, that the vehicle commander recognised as a Dutch Fokker G.1 . Then several Junkers Ju 52s were encountered, that had landed on the road and were now used by the German airborne troops as cover in the open polder landscape. Of one undamaged plane the DAF M39 shot off the engine; another, stuck in a ditch, was put on fire by some 37 mm HE-shells, fired at distance. The fire generated an enormous black smoke cloud, forcing

17548-420: The maximum speed in the reverse direction was, for safety reasons and because the back drive system had been deliberately made less robust to save weight, indicated by the manufacturer as 50 km/h. In both cases steering was via the front wheels, with a minimum turning radius of 11.15 m (36.6 ft). Both drivers had a full set of standard steering controls, even with separate odometers . Each driver had

17712-958: The military abbreviation of the German word Kraftrad , the administrative German term for motorcycle), to pull small artillery guns, for ammunition haulage, general transport and as a ground towing vehicle for the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter. Built by NSU Motorenwerke AG Neckarsulm and Stoewer Werke Stettin , a total of 8,345 vehicles were produced between 1940 and 1944. Other Wehrmacht models were: Larger German half-track tractors were used to tow anti-tank and field artillery pieces. The largest of these were also used by mechanical engineers to retrieve bogged down vehicles or perform repairs such as engine maintenance. Maultier half-tracks used to transport supplies to forward units were essentially civilian trucks which had had their rear axles replaced by Panzer I or Panzer II running gear. A replacement half-track design introduced later in World War II,

17876-586: The ministry of defence such that in February it asked the Ordnance Department when the type could be operational. It was promised that six vehicles would be completed in March and April each if 110 bulletproof tyres of the Veil-Picard type, which had been ordered in December from Michelin in France after export of the American Seiberling -type had been forbidden, were delivered on the due date of 1 April. In fact

18040-417: The new and advanced type. He proposed to form a special 3e Eskadron Pantserwagens ("3rd Armoured Car Squadron") based at Apeldoorn . It could give a centralised training course but also, an important consideration given the growing international tensions, be used as an emergency third squadron in time of war. While this, rather expensive, proposal was pondered upon by his superiors and the ministry of defence,

18204-480: The number of welds; a comparison has been made with the T-34 design. In cross-section the hull was essentially a hexagon and the intersection formed by the truncating glacis, or sloped frontal plate, was therefore hexagonal too. This was somewhat obscured by the fact that this glacis gradually merged with the front fenders. The front glacis connected to the bottom plate via a narrow strongly curved section. The back plate too

18368-594: The only steel oven capable of casting them happened to be in revision for several months. In November the entire production process was halted for some weeks because of the Venlo Incident : the German Abwehr had abducted two British intelligence officers from Dutch territory and it was feared that the Dutch protests regarding the incident would be used as a pretext to invade The Netherlands; all vehicles were temporarily evacuated to Rotterdam , as Eindhoven , where DAF

18532-663: The outbreak of war on 1 September. France halted export of military goods at the start of the war, including the prismatic episcopes and visors intended to be fitted in the M39. The Dutch Philips company started a crash programme for production of a suitable prism but this would take several months to come into effect. The worst delay was caused by changed Army specifications for the machine gun mounts; these had been received by DAF in April and new drawings were only ready in August. The special steel pieces again had to be produced by Ougrée Malhaye, but

18696-401: The outside world using a vehicle horn . The engine, a liquid-cooled Ford Mercury V8 3.9 litres 95 hp, made a maximum speed of about 75 km/h possible. There were three forward gears and one reverse. An auxiliary gearbox, placed behind the engine, functioned as reversing device and allowed for the dual drive capacity: the rear driver could use the same gears as the main driver. However,

18860-462: The period. The Bofors 37 mm L/34 could defeat almost all German armour in use on 10 May 1940 and the M36, 38 and 39's carried the largest calibre of all armoured cars on that date operational on the Western Front. For the gun an APHE and a HE round were available. The specifications of 1937 detailed that the ammunition stock should be no less than a hundred. The gun had an elevation of 23° and

19024-403: The planned interval of just four months between order and the first delivery had been very optimistic. Production was soon delayed, largely because components were not made available on time. Ougrée Malhaye could only send the armour sets five to seven weeks later than DAF had expected. The electrical components had been ordered from the German manufacturer Bosch but their delivery stagnated after

19188-412: The plates. They too were movable within a cone of 30°. They were of a slightly different modified 7.92 mm Lewis type called the M. 20 no. 1 . The rear machine-gun could be removed and placed in a special mount on the turret roof to function as an anti-aircraft weapon. All three machine guns mounts were extended with a special long armour sleeve to protect the cooling aluminium barrel-casing, typical of

19352-427: The professionals had acquainted themselves with the matériel, a training course would be devised, based on their experiences, for the conscripts, lasting fifteen months. The first DAF M39 platoon would then be active late 1941 or early 1942. In the summer of 1939, the Inspector of Cavalry and Bicycle Forces rejected this plan because the hussar regiments lacked the technical support to ensure a successful introduction of

19516-437: The raised circular top hatch. The blocks could be quickly replaced when damaged. The front of the main compartment also had small side hatches, likewise fitted with vision slits; the back driver had such a small hatch available within the larger hatch at his right. In darkness vision could be improved by two large headlamps on both the front and the back of the vehicle. The front wheel used helical springs and hydraulic dampers;

19680-496: The rear and skis for steering in front. The skis could be replaced with wheels in the summer, but this was uncommon. The Red Army also experimented with half-tracks, such as the BA-30 , but found them expensive and unreliable. Although not a feature on American World War II vehicles, steering could be assisted by track braking, controlled by the steering wheel. In the US, 43,000 halftracks were produced by three primary manufacturers,

19844-462: The rear axle leaf springs. It was connected on both sides to the Trado-system by which all four rear wheels could be driven. Hydraulic brakes were present on all six wheels. It had been intended to fit bulletproof tyres, but as none were available conventional Dunlop Trackgrip terrain tyres were used. Bulletproof tyres would have slightly reduced the maximum speed. Special armoured hubcaps protected

20008-608: The rear began to appear prior to the outbreak of war, often based on agricultural machines such as the Holt tractor . The basic half-track concept was originally showcased by the British during the war. With such tractors, the tactical use of heavier guns to supplement the light horse-drawn field guns became feasible. For example, in the British Army it allowed the heavy guns of the Royal Garrison Artillery to be used flexibly on

20172-414: The second squadron and as command cars; however the Dutch in 1937 also tried to reduce their dependency on foreign manufacturers — especially Sweden, the armour industry of which country was known to have close informal ties with Germany — by employing their own small truck industry, the DAF company. The army had in 1935 first suggested to DAF to produce some British type under licence. Although officially

20336-657: The small Kettenkrad to the nine-tonne capacity Sd.Kfz. 9 vehicle, and most famously used on Henschel's Tiger I and MAN's Panther main battle tanks. Half-tracks were extensively used after World War II until the late 1960s, mostly in form of surplus World War II vehicles. Half-tracks saw combat in the French colonial empire in the First Indochina War and the Algerian War ; in the Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts ; and

20500-442: The summer of 1938 the commander of the 1e Eskadron Pantserwagens while testing the demonstrator vehicle had also expressed his concerns on this matter. Despite the warnings by Addink, Van Doorne pretended that he was unconcerned. Nevertheless the May 1939 contract had contained a warranty clause, instructing DAF to weld all connections tension-free and making DAF liable for all defects of this nature. Late March 1940 during cleaning it

20664-441: The thin plates would crack at their connection welds. Van Doorne however, decided against compromising a main design principle. In April 1938, just eight months after the order, the prototype was finished. It was presented to a delegation of the Ordnance Department which was much impressed. In May the prototype was presented to the Commissie Pantserautomobielen . It demanded that a test programme would be quickly completed because it

20828-460: The time production ceased in 1991. The subsequent Volvo 440/460 /480 and the first generation S40/V40 models were also made at the Nedcar plant, until Volvo sold its interest to Mitsubishi Motors in 2001, marking the end of Volvo's involvement with the former DAF plant after almost thirty years. Today, the plant is now owned by VDL Nedcar , and contract manufactures certain Mini models for BMW . For

20992-411: The turret; the lateral recoil forces distorted the front wheel suspension so severely that the car could no longer be steered. Repair proving impossible, the vehicle was, somewhat prematurely, on 11 May destroyed by its own crew to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Later that evening the second car also showed a defect, probably a main armament malfunction, causing it to be withdrawn the next day to

21156-468: The twelve M39s needed in the four cavalry platoons, a platoon of three was needed for training purposes. Also a matériel reserve of ten vehicles was considered necessary. Postponing a decision about the formation of a possible full new Armoured Car Squadron, in January 1940 the ministry of defence ordered the Ordnance Department to start negotiations with DAF about the production of an additional three cars or, if

21320-458: The type. The crews had not finished their training yet and the vehicles themselves had not all been completed due to delays in the fitting of the armament and repairs necessary because the welded armour plates proved prone to cracking. Therefore only three DAF M39s actually participated in the fighting, in ad hoc-units, engaging German airborne troops and landed transport planes. After the Dutch defeat, German combat units would for several years employ

21484-512: The tyres themselves were prone to deformation after long periods of high speed driving. For this reason it was decided to postpone the choice of tyre type. After the favourable report was received by him in September, the minister of defence in November ordered the Ordnance Department to conclude a final contract with DAF, reaching an agreement on the desired changes. The negotiations soon ran into some unexpected problems. No improved differential type

21648-453: The tyres would never arrive; and bar a single vehicle to which bulletproof tyres had been experimentally fitted all M39s used normal inflatable truck tyres. But a far more serious deficiency would impede operational use. Already in May 1938, after cracks had been discovered in the conventional armour of the M36 vehicles, the ministry of defence had asked DAF whether their type, using untried welding techniques, could also be prone to cracking; in

21812-409: The use of the M36 and M38. As the units employing these types were already at strength, these men were diverted to the, much shortened, M39 training, to eventually raise four platoons, hoped to be ready on 1 July 1940. The armoured cars themselves only began to arrive late February. This delay was used to give a first general driver training to the crew-members, the vast majority of whom did not possess

21976-404: The vehicle was hit from all sides by a hail of bullets, some of these penetrated the thinner turret armour. Now responding with its main gun and hull machine-gun the M39 forced the Germans to take cover, but the gunner suddenly reported: "I am wounded" and sagged bleeding to the floor of the fighting compartment. The car drove back to the Dutch positions to seek medical assistance for the gunner, who

22140-415: The vehicle's weight over a larger area, which gives it greater mobility over soft terrain like mud and snow, while they do not require the complex steering mechanisms of fully tracked vehicles, relying instead on their front wheels to direct the vehicle, augmented in some cases by track braking controlled by the steering wheel. It is not difficult for someone who can drive a car to drive a half-track, which

22304-401: The vehicle. The engine could be accessed from the outside through a small subrectangular hatch in the roof or a large double hatch on the back that also provided ventilation, the slits being protected by conspicuous raised longitudinal covers. As the vehicle was largely symmetrical, it was not always easy to tell the front from the back, especially if the turret was reversed. This Landsverk turret

22468-502: The wider F241 , which featured DAF's characteristic three wiper windscreen, was introduced as the DAF 2800. This design lasted until the introduction of the 95 style cab in 1987. There was also a lighter, narrower version called the 'F198 which was introduced in 1972 on the F1200 and F1400, but this short lived model was replaced after only three years. In 1984, DAF truck production was 13,645; this increased to 14,382 in calendar year 1985. DAF

22632-401: Was 1.73 metres for the front wheels and 1.81 metres for the rear wheels. The general ground clearance was forty centimetres but just 31 cm at the rear axle. It could wade though sixty cm of water. The car had two doors, one at each side. In addition each driver had a circular hatch in the roof of the hull and the turret had a circular hatch in the roof and two large side hatches. A side hatch

22796-639: Was a Russian project by the Putilov Plant to produce military half-tracks (the Austin-Putilov model), along the same lines, using trucks and French track parts. After the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the Soviet Union , Kégresse returned to his native France, where the system was used on Citroën cars between 1921 and 1937 for off-road and military vehicles. The concept originated with

22960-468: Was also available to the back driver. Ventilation for the main compartment was provided by an armoured ventilation grid on the right side, that however only sucked in air when a hatch in the engine bulkhead was opened. All doors and hatches were made gas-tight by the use of rubber rebates. The armour was light, just enough to defeat light machine gun fire. The front side and back plates had a thickness of 10 mm (0.39 in). Due to differences in angling

23124-408: Was also one of the first to introduce an intercooled turbocharged diesel engine into their trucks, which in these years became very evident with their 3600 . Their largest 11.6-litre (710 cu in) six cylinder turbodiesel was based on the old Leyland O.680 motor. It was to be DAF's standard large engine long into the nineties. DAF's 95 series was launched in 1987, and quickly gained

23288-421: Was altered from the 44 by a new front which accommodated the longer engine and radiator, bigger taillights, and a more plush interior. The front suspension was changed from a transverse leaf spring to MacPherson struts with torsion springs and an antiroll bar. The DAF 66 was introduced as a successor to the 55. It featured new, boxy styling of the front, and a new rear axle design. The two drive belts now powered

23452-403: Was available and the assumed Ford 125 hp Lincoln-Zephir V8 engine did not even exist, the commission having misidentified the Ford 112 hp V12 engine. Also no choice could be made for a specific armour manufacturer. In January 1939 the minister urged the Ordnance Department to make greater haste, at the same time determining the number for the first batch at twelve vehicles. Subsequently it

23616-409: Was based, was dangerously close to the German border. By November all turrets had been delivered by Landsverk. However, they had not yet been fitted with any armament because the Ordnance Department had decided to produce the needed 37 mm cannon itself in its arsenal, under a licence obtained from Bofors in June 1937 to equip the earlier M38, and manufacture had met with some serious delays. When

23780-428: Was built and in early 1939 twelve vehicles were ordered of the DAF M39 type, the last of which was delivered in January 1940. The vehicles were destined to equip reconnaissance platoons of four cavalry hussar regiments. For its time the DAF M39 was a modern design with an all-welded monocoque construction of the hull and extensive use of sloped armour . The turret, fitted with a relatively powerful 37 mm cannon,

23944-471: Was common for contemporary armoured cars. However, DAF in the same period did design such more conventional armoured cars, including two proposals for a Ford truck modified into an armed command car, and equipped with the Trado IV-suspension, a Trado system optimised for lighter vehicles. Also an extremely flat, eighty centimetres high, one-man armoured car was designed, armed with a single machine-gun in

24108-425: Was constructed eliminated the need for a differential, with the drivebelts taking up the difference of speed in turns. This acted as a limited-slip differential . The car had independent suspension all around, with MacPherson struts and a transverse leaf spring at the front, and a coil sprung semi trailing arm design at the rear. The first 600s rolled off the production line in the following year. The next model

24272-476: Was decided to fit the new Ford 95 hp V8 Mercury engine and to order armour plates from the Belgian steel manufacturer Ougrée Marihaye . Early May 1939 the contract was signed for twelve units of the "P.T.3" or "M.39", to be delivered before 15 December 1939. DAF would only manufacture the hulls but also be responsible for the final assembly, using turrets to be delivered by Landsverk and armament to be supplied by

24436-403: Was discovered that on three of the six vehicles the welds of the machine gun mounts were cracking. One vehicle was sent to DAF that rewelded the crack and reinforced the glacis by riveting a steel plate behind it. Soon however, it transpired that next to the reinforcing plate a new crack had appeared. In April the number of cars showing cracks had risen to five and on some of these the welds between

24600-469: Was hexagonal but more reclined; it was at its underside joined to a lower back glacis plate, both forming a wedge. The upper and lower side plates also formed wedges. Internally there was a single large inner space, lacking bulkheads separating the driver positions at both ends from the fighting room in the middle. This not being cluttered with girders, the most efficient position for the mechanical parts could be chosen, further decreasing weight and height. In

24764-409: Was hospitalised. At a civil garage in Delft some brake malfunction was repaired. Most ammunition had been expended. On 12 May the commander of III-2203 discovered that all trained crews had been moved to The Hague. Most of that day and the morning of 13 May were used to find a truck and fetch a replacement gunner and new munition from The Hague. In the afternoon the vehicle protected the headquarters of

24928-422: Was intended to order new armoured cars before the end of 1938 to be able to begin equipping units in 1940 as planned. The design was intended to use the Swedish Landsverk turret as there was no Dutch manufacturer capable of producing light guns in the 25 – 40 mm range and it would be more efficient to have a single armoured car gunnery training programme. As no new turret was at the moment available, DAF had made

25092-471: Was of the same layout as the "A types" (the 600, 750, 30, 31, 32 and 33), with the main difference being its 850 cc (52 cu in) two cylinder engine, and its full swing axle rear axle design as opposed to the A type semi trailing arms. The 1968 DAF 55 carried a bigger water cooled 1,108 cc (67.6 cu in) OHV four cylinder engine derived from the Renault 8 Cleon engine. Its body design

25256-428: Was paid to soundproofing; the gear linkage for example was telescopic, whilst in-cab noise levels on the 95 put many luxury saloons to shame. An update in 1991 saw new power ratings of 329, 364, and 401 hp; – a 430 hp variant, along with low deck tractor unit models and revised interior trim, were introduced in the spring of 1992. Two years later, after an intensive study of the ultra long haul market sector, DAF unveiled

25420-416: Was postponed. Most of the training took place at or near The Hague. In April the commander of the Cavalry Depot concluded that under these conditions at best a single platoon could be ready on 1 July and all four no earlier than 1 September. During April the remaining armoured cars were delivered, again incomplete. Of the first cars, four that month had to be sent back to DAF to repair cracks. Meanwhile, for

25584-482: Was produced in Sweden by Landsverk . The type was lightly armoured and relatively fast, with a good cross-country capability. It had been intended to build a second series of an improved type with 6 x 6 drive, the DAF M40, but production preparations were interrupted by the German attack during the Second World War . When the Netherlands were invaded on 10 May 1940 , no operational unit had yet been equipped with

25748-469: Was slightly less modern in appearance, in the form of a truncated cone; the turret originally designed for the Pantrado 2 had been lower and sleeker. In it were the commander and gunner, bringing the total number of crew members to five. The DAF M39 was a rather compact vehicle, 4.75 metres long, 2.22 metres wide and 2.16 metres high. The width of the armoured hull as such, without fenders, was 2.08 metres and its height without turret 1.60 metres. Track width

25912-449: Was split off in 1990 to become a part of United Bus . Following difficulties in the British market, After DAF NV was placed under administration in February 1993, the Dutch operations were sold in a management buyout with the business branded DAF Trucks. In October 1996 Paccar acquired DAF Trucks. DAF Trucks and Leyland Trucks were rejoined in June 1998, when Paccar also acquired Leyland Trucks . On 9 January 2012, Paccar installed

26076-450: Was steered by controlling power to each track. When World War I broke out, with the problem of trench warfare and the difficulty of transporting supplies to the front, the pulling power of crawling-type tractors drew the attention of the military. With tanks coming onto the scene, however, the combination of tracks and wheels seemed impractical when fully tracked or six-wheel, four-wheel drive vehicles were available. The half-track saw

26240-489: Was the 750 , featuring a larger 749 cc (45.7 cu in) twin. Later, DAF produced a more luxurious type called the Daffodil , divided into three models assigned the numbers DAF 30, DAF 31 and DAF 32. The designation 32 was changed to 33 upon the 1966 release of the 44 , a larger middle class vehicle designed by Giovanni Michelotti . The 44 featured a completely new design aesthetically as well as mechanically, but

26404-643: Was the DAF A30 . Through the 1950s, DAF was a major supplier to the re-equipping of the Dutch Army's softskin vehicles, with models such as the DAF YA-126 and DAF YA-328 Dikke Daf . These used the all-wheel drive H-drive developed from the Trado conversions. In late 1954, Hub van Doorne had the idea to use belt driven continuously variable transmissions (CVT), like so many belt-driven machines in factories, to drive road vehicles. In 1955, DAF produced its first draft of

26568-558: Was the International Motor Truck Corporation division of International Harvester . IH built approximately 12,853 half-tracks, which were shipped to Europe for use by British and French troops. In 1942, they produced 152 M5 units and 5 M14 units at the Springfield Works; in 1943 they produced 2,026 M9 units, 1,407 M0A1 units, 4,473 M5 units, 1,600 M14 units, and 400 M17 units, all at the Springfield Works; in 1944 they produced 1,100 M5A1 units and 1,100 M17 units also at

26732-497: Was the use of bulletproof tyres of the Cellastic cushion type. Since these would increase resistance by about 20%, a presumed stronger Ford 125 hp Lincoln-Zephir V8 engine should be installed. Minor changes included a coupled dual drive, an improved differential, a rubber-suspended engine block, improved ventilation and adjustable seats. DAF tested the Cellastic tyres in October; it was shown that performance did not suffer but that

26896-424: Was to be achieved by extending the track over the rubber-tired front wheels. The cylinder could be split, creating two tanks, each with the engine in front and the fighting room, crowned by a gun turret, at the back. This type remained a paper project only. The second project, the Pantrado 2 , was initiated by DAF after it had become clear to them in 1935 that a second batch of armoured cars would soon be procured by

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