# Strange German contraption



## Snautzer01 (Mar 17, 2017)

Left corner. what is it?


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## Airframes (Mar 17, 2017)

Kleinekettenshnitzelmachinen ?

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## mikewint (Mar 17, 2017)

Well you did not specify which left corner upper or lower. The UPPER left appears to be a StKfz (Sonderkraftfahrzeug) 251 with a 75mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun
Lower left is tough to make out, I suspect a type of armored (Pz. III chassis) rocket launcher like the calliope. Here mounted on a StKfz 251

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## fubar57 (Mar 17, 2017)

Bottom left looks like an Italian or French rig

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## Shortround6 (Mar 17, 2017)

Running gear is compatible with Italian M13/40




Driver training rig using producer gas??

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## Robert Porter (Mar 17, 2017)

If you have ever eaten Pasta you know it can produce significant quantities of gas!


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## mikewint (Mar 17, 2017)

Perhaps the latter M14/41 chassis? If toward the war's end a P26/40 chassis? Don't think the Hotchkiss is a match


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## Airframes (Mar 17, 2017)

Certainly an Italian chassis, and very possibly a multiple rocket launcher, with what looks like a gas producer unit on the back end, so propelled by charcoal, wood or pig sh*t.
But I think my description of small, tracked, shnitzel making machine is better !

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## vikingBerserker (Mar 17, 2017)

I am going with Terry on this one, it looks like a wood gas burner setup.


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## Gnomey (Mar 17, 2017)

Certainly an interesting piece of kit whatever it is...


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## mikewint (Mar 17, 2017)

Tis but *EinekleineRaupen-italienischenRaketenwerferangetriebenvonSchweinescheiße*

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## Snautzer01 (Mar 17, 2017)

wood gas propelled . Kennisgeving voor omleiding

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## Airframes (Mar 17, 2017)

Ja, und der clankentravel ist der grosse smell macht !


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## Shortround6 (Mar 17, 2017)

Similar apparatus on a MK II Chassis.


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## Airframes (Mar 17, 2017)

Certainly looks like a multiple rocket launcher.


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## fubar57 (Mar 17, 2017)

Snautzer01 said:


> wood gas propelled . Kennisgeving voor omleiding



The page link you posted took me to a redirect page which took me to this page...

[TMP] "Wood Gas propelled vehicles" Topic


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## mikewint (Mar 18, 2017)

You Guys are the best. Finely located it under German DRIVING School Vehicles.

German Fahrschulwanne
The German Army needed vehicles to train tank crew drivers but the big problem was fuel. Diesel and gasoline were required for front line vehicles and there was a massive shortage with no solution in sight. German engineers looked for an alternative fuel source. They came up with two solutions. One was a device that burnt wood and produced combustible gas that could power an engine. The other was to use compressed gas bottles that contained gas similar to that supplied to homes in Germany for cooking.
These vehicles were called “Fahrschulwanne”. This is a term used by those who were trained on these vehicles and a combination of “Fahrschule” (Driving school) and the German term “Wanne”. This does not mean the lower hull of a tank but is malapropism of the term “Badewanne” (Bathtub). Thus the term ‘Fahrschulpanzer’ translates to ‘Driving School Tank’. Fahrschulepanzerjäger would mean Tank-Destroyer-Training-school-vehicle.
Wood Gas powered tanks – Holzgas
The commercial term for a wood gas generator, or Holzkohevergaser in German, was the Imbert-holz-gas system which then was shortened to Holzgas. The gas was used to fuel vehicle engines thus saving on petrol/gasoline and diesel. The Imbert system is a closed external combustion system designed to produce gas that can be cooled and used in an internal combustion engine.
The Imbert system uses wood pellets and the gas produced needs cleaning and cooling prior to passing to the cylinders of the vehicle, otherwise it would choke up with residue. During the production process, biomass or other carbon-containing materials are gasified within the oxygen-limited closed environment of a wood gas generator to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
In Germany, around 500,000 gas powered vehicles were in use at the end of the war due to the lack of petroleum.


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## Airframes (Mar 18, 2017)

So the 'rocket tubes' are the converter part of the system, with the tall vertical cylinder being the burner ?


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## mikewint (Mar 18, 2017)

Those "rocket launch tubes" seem to actually be part of the cooling system and are precipitating or settling tanks. The one really clear diagram of the interlinked tubes is in Polish and "OSADNIK PYLU" seems to translate as Dust Settling. So NOT angeheiztSchweinescheiße


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## Airframes (Mar 18, 2017)

Thanks Mike.
At least it would smell more like a BBQ, instead of an explosion in a sewer !


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## Old Wizard (Mar 18, 2017)




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