M2 High Speed Tractor

M2 High-Speed Tractor

Type	Aircraft tug
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	By 1943
Used by	US Army
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designed	February 1941
Manufacturer	Cleveland Tractor Company
Number built	8,510
Variants	1
Specifications
Length	166 in (4.22 m)
Width	70 in (1.78 m)
Height	68 in (1.73 m)
Crew	3

Engine	Hercules WXLC3, 6-cylinder, petrol engine 150 hp (112 kW)
Suspension	Volute spring
Operational range	100 mi (160 km)
Speed	22 mph (35 km/h)

Cletrac M2 at War & Peace show 2010

The M2 High-Speed Tractor (or colloquially M2 Cletrac) was an aircraft tug used by the United States Army Air Forces from 1942.

Construction

The M2 is a fully tracked vehicle designed to tow aircraft on primitive airfields. It was equipped with a 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) winch with 300 ft (91 m) of ³⁄₈ in (9.5 mm) cable, an auxiliary generator (3KW, 110 Volts, DC), and an air compressor (3 stage, 16.7 CFPM, 2.000 PSI)

History

The M2 was standardized in February 1941 as Medium Tractor M2.

Surviving artifacts

one at Estrella war birds museum
one at the Wright museum
one at the AAF Museum in Danville, VA
one at Overloon
one at the Pima air museum
one at the Evergreen Air Museum, Mcminville, Oregon, USA
one at Yanks Air Museum, Chino CA
one at The National World War II Museum, New Orleans LA
One at Bright's Pioneer Museum, Plainsburg CA
Two at Danville Armour Museum, Danville, VA

References

TM 9-2800 Military Vehicles 1943, 1947.
SNL G111
Doyle, David (2003). Standard catalog of U.S. Military Vehicles. Kraus Publications. ISBN 0-87349-508-X.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.