Wednesday 13 June 2018

Prewar Prototypes

"November 11th, 1939
#0830/s

To the Chief of the 8th Department of the ABTU, Military Engineer 1st Class comrade Afonin

Report on the trials of the A-32 (weight down) and preparations for trials of the A-20 and Voroshilovets tractor
  1. The A-32 (second prototype) weighed down to the weight of an A-34 has travelled 1047 km. During the third march, the average moving speed off-road was no more than 20-23 kph. This was caused by terrible conditions of the terrain (mud). Typically, the vehicle can only drive in second gear off-road. The transmission is working well in these conditions, there haven't been any defects. A trip on a highway is planned on November 10th to test the running gear.
  2. Presently, A-20 components (improving the wheeled drive transmission) are undergoing mechanical finishing.
  3. Despite our insistence, Voroshilovets tractors are not being worked on at all. Management of department 500 claims that its equipment is occupied with other projects (A-7, D-3, D-5, etc). This situation may result in the Voroshilovets tractor not being ready for mass production by January 1st, 1940.
Military representative of the RKKA, Military Engineer 3rd Class, Baikov."

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