Schwimmwagen from the December
1944 issue of the Intelligence Bulletin. |
VW Schwimmwagen |
The VW-Schwimmwagen (Porsche Type 128
and
Type 166) was an amphibious vehicle
used
extensively by the German Wehrmacht
and the Waffen-SS during
the Second World War. It was mechanically
based on the Kübelwagen (which
in
turn was based on the civilian Volkswagen,
later known as a VW Beetle), and was
produced
by the Volkswagen factory at Wolfsburg
,
with the bodies (or rather hulls!)
produced
by Ambi Budd in Berlin. Erwin Komenda,
Ferdinand
Porsche 's first car body designer,
developed the car body construction.
Komenda
patented his ideas for the swimming
car at
the German Patent office .
All Schwimmwagen were Four Wheel Drive
(even
the earlier Type 128, based on the
full-length
Kübelwagen chassis (2.4 m (7.9 ft)
wheelbase. The large-scale production
models
(Type 166) had a wheel-base of only
2.0 m
(6.6 ft).
interior |
propeller |
|
