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News / Clarkair
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| Lance Sergeant M. Potter. |
| History: For the Market Garden Operation a unit of 261 Field Park Company Royal Engineers was attached to the 1st British Airborne Division. The unit consisted of ten men commanded by Lance Sergeant M. Potter. Part of their equipment was a Clarkair CA1 bulldozer. This was to be used for clearing the landing zone and eventually for the construction of an airfield. To that end an American engineers unit was to be flown in. That, however, did not come about on account of the course the battle took. The Horsa glider carrying the Clarkair landed on Landing Zone Z on Monday 18 September 1944. In order to load the Clarkair onto a Horsa glider the side door of the plane had to be enlarged and the floor of the cargo hold reinforced. The required equipment could not be brought to Arnhem. So to be able to unload the bulldozer the undercarriage of the Horsa was blown up which brought the plane to lie on its belly on the ground. Next the bulldozer could drive out through the side of the plane. On arrival it appeared that there was no work for the machine. So Sergeant Potter decided to report to the Royal Engineers Headquarters near De Sonnenberg House, opposite the Hartenstein Hotel at Oosterbeek.There the Clarkair remained for the duration of the battle. On German newsreel footage showing scenes of the Battle of Arnhem the abandoned bulldozer can be seen amid broken-down jeeps. |
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| In 1999 the Airborne Museum, with financial support by the Association
of Friends of the Airborne Museum, seized the opportunity of buying a Clarkair CA1 bulldozer. The vendor brought it over from Belgium and in
2000 a group of volunteers reconditioned the machine. It is now on show in one of the scenes in the basement of the Airborne Museum
'Hartenstein'. Particulars of the Clarkair: Name: Tractor, Crawler, 20-DBHP with Bulldozer AMM/Clark CA1 "Clarkair" Technical data: 4 cylinder, 28 bhp engine Waukesha FC 113 4 speed fitted with a blade at the front and a single drum reversible winch at the rear. Airportable. Measurements: 111 x 59 x 59 inch (282 x 150 x 150 cm) Track width 7,5 inch (19 cm) Weight: 4195 lbs (1903 kg) Makers: Clark Equipment Co and American Machine and Metals Inc. Winch by Braden; Approximately 1100 built. |