Austro-Daimler armored car

Austro-Daimler armored car
General properties
crew	4-5
length	4.86 m
width	1.76 m
height	2.74 m
Dimensions	2.5 t
	Armor and armament
Armor	4 mm
Main armament	7.92 mm machine gun
agility
drive	Daimler 4 cylinder engine ; 40 HP
Top speed	45 km / h
Power / weight
Range	250 km

The Austro-Daimler tanks of the Wiener Neustadt engine manufacturer Austro-Daimler was the first prototype of a four-wheel drive armored vehicle , equipped with a 360 degree rotatable turret equipped.

history

prototype

Leopold Salvator , a general in the Austro-Hungarian Land Forces , recognized the military potential of motor vehicles. In 1903 Paul Daimler , Gottlieb Daimler's eldest son and head of Austro-Daimler, was commissioned to design a prototype. This was completed after three years of work at Austro-Daimler in Wiener Neustadt. To ensure cross-country mobility, the armored car had all-wheel drive. After the Spyker 60 HP racing car , it was the second all-wheel drive automobile.

For a car of the time, an extraordinary mobility was achieved. The front built-in water-cooled 4.4 l four-stroke - four cylinder - Otto engine with 30 hp (22 kW) allowed a cruising speed to 24 km / h and the overcoming of slopes up to 25%. Controls and seats were retractable. With this, the heads of the driver and front passenger protruded from the cabin during normal driving in order to have an unobstructed view; in the event of enemy contact, the seats were lowered and the driver and front passenger were thus protected by the armor.

The vehicle performed surprisingly well in the imperial maneuvers in 1906. It was controlled by Heinrich Schönfeldt , who later became a motor vehicle engineer and racing driver. However, when the loud engine was started, the horse of the Chief of the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army , Friedrich von Beck-Rzikowsky shied away . Emperor Franz Joseph I then rejected the armored car as unusable for military purposes.

literature

Christopher F. Foss (Ed.): The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Tanks and Fighting Vehicles. A technical Directory of Major Combat Vehicles from World War 1 to the present Day. Salamander Books, London 1977, ISBN 0-86101-003-5 .
Kenneth Macksey, John Batchelor: The History of the Armored Car . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-453-52081-5 .

Walter J. Spielberger: Motor vehicles and tanks of the Austrian army from 1896 to today. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1976 ISBN 3-87943-455-7 .

Web links

Commons : Austro-Daimler armored car - collection of images

Individual evidence

^ Martin Pfundner : Austro Daimler and Steyr: rivals until the merger; the early years of Ferdinand Porsche , Verlag Böhlau Verlag Wien, 2007, ISBN 3205776399 , page 33 [1]
↑ Alexandr F. Andreev, Viachaslau Kabanau, Vladimir Vantsevich: Driveline Systems of Ground Vehicles: Theory and Design , Verlag CRC Press, 2010, ISBN 1439858683 , page 90 [2]
^ Rudolf Hauptner, Peter Jung: Steel and Iron in Fire: Armored Trains and Armored Cars of the KuK Army, 1914-1918. Stöhr, 2003, page 69.
^ Martin Pfundner: Austro Daimler and Steyr: rivals until the merger; the early years of Ferdinand Porsche , Verlag Böhlau Verlag Vienna, 2007, ISBN 3205776399 , page 34 [3]

[1] Martin Pfundner : Austro Daimler and Steyr: rivals until the merger; the early years of Ferdinand Porsche , Verlag Böhlau Verlag Wien, 2007, ISBN 3205776399 , page 33 [1]

[2] Alexandr F. Andreev, Viachaslau Kabanau, Vladimir Vantsevich: Driveline Systems of Ground Vehicles: Theory and Design , Verlag CRC Press, 2010, ISBN 1439858683 , page 90 [2]

[3] Rudolf Hauptner, Peter Jung: Steel and Iron in Fire: Armored Trains and Armored Cars of the KuK Army, 1914-1918. Stöhr, 2003, page 69.

[4] Martin Pfundner: Austro Daimler and Steyr: rivals until the merger; the early years of Ferdinand Porsche , Verlag Böhlau Verlag Vienna, 2007, ISBN 3205776399 , page 34 [3]