Fordson WOT

The Fordson WOT, from War Office type or truck, was a line of military trucks produced by Ford of Britain in the Second World War. From 1939 to 1945 around 130,000 were built at Ford Dagenham, almost half of them the WOT2, where Fordson tractors for the British market had been made since 1933. Five models were produced. The WOT1, WOT2 and WOT3 were rear wheel drive with the cab behind the engine, while the WOT6 and WOT8 were all wheel drive with a cab forward layout. The whole range shared a 3.6 litre Ford sidevalve V8 petrol engine delivering 85 hp at 3,800 rpm with a four speed manual gearbox, and the four wheel drive models added a reduction gearbox. The RAF used the WOT1 mostly as fire tenders, the WOT8 served as an artillery tractor in North Africa, and some were supplied to the Soviet Union as Katyusha rocket launchers.