Miguel Sánchez
The 1980 Paris-Dakar was marked by the victory of the Volkswagen illtis, an all-wheel drive off-road vehicle developed by Audi engineers for the German army. That was the necessary push for the appearance of the mythical quattro traction. The power of Mercedes 300SL is largely explained thanks to one of the first direct injection systems applied to the car, something derived directly from the German aeronautical ingenuity DB 605.
These are just two of the many examples where the automotive world has drank from advances in military matters. And it is that, just as the daily use of aluminum foil in our kitchens connects us with the space race ... Many of the components that today assemble our cars come from the trenches.
Trenches that during the development of World War I vibrated as much as the heads of some inventors who saw in the heat of battle the possibility of making their ingenuity shine. Although ... It must be said that not all had the same success: While Herbert Smith developed the agile lord of the skies Sopwith Camel, others devised less fortunate hybrids.
And yes, we say hybrids because ... This armored car chassis equipped with an aircraft engine and designed to move thanks to the wind raised by a huge rear propeller ... It is a strange invention that we really do not know how to define and which in fact they are handled very little data and a single photograph. It's about the mysterious and crazy Sizaire Berwick "Wind wagon".
SIZAIRE BERWICK, WINSTON CHURCHILL AND A HELIX
Sizaire berwick It was an Anglo-French luxury car brand in operation from 1913 to 1927. Something like a blatant imitation of the Rolls-Royce of the time - or at least some of its critics accused it of this. They made both huge luxury sedans aimed at a public that measured their cash equally with their ostentation and sports cars for the "Gentleman racer" of the time.
So far everything normal, with a panorama full of aristocrats taking walks through sweet avenues or playing the type in the seminal circuits of motorsport. However ... The arrival of the Great War broke everything, causing many of the companies dedicated to mechanics to put their efforts in the military sights.
En este sentido, Sizaire Berwick assembled several tanks equipped with 20CV engines purchased by a British Admiralty already chaired by a young and energetic Winston Churchill.. And who knows ... Perhaps inspired by its ingenious leader some technicians from the Department of Armored Vehicles of the Royal Naval Air Service decided to experiment with a car powered by a propeller!
THE RACE OF THE CRAZY CARS
On the plane the idea is not entirely far-fetched: an armored car thinking for the sands of the Eastern Front -Palestina, Jordan, Syria- capable of moving almost "flying”Above dunes and stony tracks thanks to a Sunbeam aviation engine with 110CV power. However ... This prototype baptized as "Wind Wagon" he never made it out of England, unable to pass the initial rehearsals.
As a point in favor we suppose that they would think that this invention makes the underbody more resistant, since there is no transmission that runs through what would be one of the most delicate parts for a vehicle thinking to go through the stony desert. However, we believe - and the fact that it did not go beyond the prototype phase confirms it - that the drawbacks are many more; especially when you go through open terrain - such as the desert - easily displaying your mount's weakest point: the propeller. This makes the "Wind Wagon" an easy prey.
This ingenuity that seems to have come out of the Crazy Car Race it remained as a curious eccentricity typical of the heated minds of inventors spurred on by warlike necessities, and now remembered as one of the worst weapons ever devised. In fact, so much so that it serves as a cover for the book in which Martin J Dougherty takes a look at some of the most useless mechanisms of warfare.
Book covers aside, the truth is that the "Wind Wagon”Is a sample of the always eccentric and spirited English spirit. In fact, we love to fantasize about the face that a Churchill already crowned First Lord of the Admiralty had to put on when he saw this armored vehicle with "Lord of the skies".
