Other Vehicles -

5Feb

By WW2No Comments

Zündapp KS 750

The Zündapp KS 750 is a World War II-era motorcycle and sidecar combination developed for the German Wehrmacht (armed forces) before and during the Second World War, by the German company Zündapp G.m.b.H. After entering service in 1941, over 18,000 were built through 1944, and deployed on all major German battlefronts, for use in a variety of roles. The KS 750 was an integral design, featuring not one but two driven wheels – both the rear wheel and the sidecar wheel were shaft driven, powered by a 751 cc (45.8 cu in) (bore 75mm, stroke 85mm), overhead valve, flat twin engine. Development In 1937, the German Oberkommando des Heeres ('OKH' or Army High Command) requested the development of a motorcycle with the following criteria: A payload of 500 kg (1,100 lb), ...

17Jan

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Military Motorcycles

Norton 16H

The Norton 16H is a designation given to British motorcycles made between 1911 through to 1954 with various modifications and refers to a single cylinder Norton 490cc side valve engine with a bore and stroke of 79 x 100 mm. The H denotes the Home model as distinct from the Colonial export model. Norton was the main military motorcycle supplier prior to WW2 and one of the main suppliers of motorcycles to the British Army in World War II with a total of nearly 100,000 produced. British Army Nortons were also supplied to the Commonwealth forces such as Australian, New Zealand, India and the Canadian Army. Development In 1911 James Lansdowne Norton entered a side valve 490cc single in the new 500cc Senior Class race of the Isle of Man TT. He was unplaced but the following year the moto...

17Jan

By WW2No Comments

Other Vehicles, Vehicles of the United States

Ford GPW / Willys MB

The Willys MB and the Ford GPW, both formally called the U.S. Army Truck, 1⁄4-ton, 4×4, Command Reconnaissance, commonly known as the Willys Jeep, Jeep, or jeep, and sometimes referred to by its supply catalogue designation G503, were highly successful American off-road capable light military utility vehicles, built in large numbers to a single standardized design, for the United States and the Allied forces in World War II from 1941 until 1945. The jeep became the primary light-wheeled multi-role vehicle of the United States military and its allies, with President Eisenhower once calling it "one of three decisive weapons the U.S. had during WWII." It was the world's first mass-produced light four-wheel drive car. With almost 650,000 units built, the jeep constituted a quarter of the ...