Puzzle

[centurion]

Originally posted by Les Freathy
Is it the piece of kit that i have seen on a jeep to pick scraps and rubbish from runways and landing strips
les

Close enough. Its an electro magnet used by the US Army Transportation Corps to clear scraps of metal, nails etc etc from convoy routes. It seems that there was a transport bottleneck in early 1945 due to increased tyre wear and a shortage of replacements and a campaign was instituted to conserve tyre life. Such vehicles were one manifestation of this. Now I am puzzled - were they driven backwards or did they have solid tyres? (other wise its like putting mine rollers on the back of a tank). Anybody know?