Posted by AlexPhantom on July 12, 2008 at 13:01:16 from (93.80.253.20):
Hello
Could anyone please help me identify a U.S.Navy carrier-based aircraft tow tractor?
Here is a couple of photos: http://www.a4skyhawk.org/5e/g148435/148541.jpg http://www.a4skyhawk.org/6e2/va-113_j-kopff.jpg (note: those photos are property of the Skyhawk Association and are hosted on their web-site)
I know for sure that such tractors were widely used on USN aircraft carriers to tow aircraft across the flight deck. I also know that they were in service between mid-fifties and mid-sixties, up until the Vietnam war when they were replaced by a newer tow tractor which is still in use on all modern American carriers. But I neither know the model name/manufacturer, nor any other technical particulars.
I understand that these are not tractors in the agricultural sense but rather purpose-built aircraft tugs. Still, seeing how many real tractor gurus are on this site/forum, I thought that maybe someone might "accidentally" know something of use to me...
Why am I interested in all this? I'm a modeler – I build plastic model kits, and my favorite theme is the U.S. Navy carrier aircraft. I'm also gathering information to build some "carrier deck" dioramas, but they would look rather plain (and not realistic enough) without supplementary shipboard vehicles like aircraft tow tractors, fire fighting trucks and so forth.
And here lies the problem: it appears that very few factual data on past carrier deck vehicles is currently available. I've got a few photos from an assortment of military history books, and I hope those photos would help me scratch-build the tractors I want. But still I don't have much in the way of technical information, e.g. model/manufacturer name, when entered service, how many built/supplied, when stricken out of service, and so forth.
Any help/advice will be very much appreciated!
PS: unfortunately, visiting any of the excellent US military museums or talking to the USN veterans is not an option for me at the moment, the reason being me living on the other side of the world ;)
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