Gliders..

Today gliding is a popular hobby for many people, but 70 years ago gliders were used as a cheap way of transporting cargo and troops to the European battle fields. 

All of the powers involved in World War-II built their own versions. Horsa, Gotha. The idea was to use an aircraft without engines to replace engined aircraft desperately needed for bombing missions.

Meanwhile it perhaps was not a wise move, since many lives were lost in the mass crash landings of these aircraft.

Half-Tracks.

The development and deployment of the half-track vehicle came to ahead during World-War-II (1939-45). This vehicle was rear end tracked and forward wheeled. 

We will look at three models, the German/Czech Skoda Sdfkz, which was developed into different roles from APC (armoured personnel carrier) to anti-aircraft gunnery. The U.S. M-42 and the Russian BTR-152. all of these vehicles were well suited to their uses on the battle-field, particularly off-road. Since 1945 it has been the Soviet BTR-152 which has seen the most extensive production and export world-wide.

All of these vehicles had a similar design and shape. The Czechs had the most protective body, similar in shape to the soviet T-34 tanks. This prevented the type from being destroyed by projectiles, but if a grenade was lobbed into the open top. Boom.

But is this form of vehicle still viable today? And what other ingenious forms of joint traction vehicles will be developed this century or not?