Fordson Standard N Roadless Half Track

This is a petrol/paraffin engined Tractor, 4.4 litres giving
26 horsepower.
In 1936 The Air Ministry placed a large order for Fordson Roadless crawler tractors, which didn’t meet driver expectations.
What was really required was a crawler tractor that could be driven in the conventional way.
To solve this problem, Roadless added a front axle.
This turned the crawler into a half-track, the front wheels now controlled the steering, the half-track was more stable and much easier to drive. This arrangement provided a platform to mount attachments such as the chain-driven Hesford winch as fitted to this machine. These modified tractors provided sterling service with the RAF throughout the war years and were used for mowing airfields, aircraft recovery, hauling fuel bowsers and bomb trailers, and even sweeping the runways clear of snow. The rubber blocks joining the tracks acted as flexible joints between the metal plates. They were silent in operation and Roadless claimed that the frictionless joints required no maintenance.
Sourced from Rochdale