23 Oct 2013

U.S. Navy BNO-40 Flight Deck Tractor Model

This type of tractor was first used by the U.S. Navy in 1943 to tow and position airplanes on the busy flight decks of the aircraft carriers. These ubiquitous vehicles served on all USN carriers, including CVs, CVLs and CVEs.
By the mid-1950s, after seeing through both the World War II and the Korean war, these tractors were replaced on the U.S. carriers by newer types, while a number of them went to work for the French Navy along with their mother ships that became R96 La Fayette (ex USS Langley) and R97 Bois Belleau (ex USS Belleau Wood).

This 1:72 scale model kit is from F4Models (cat. # 7007). The kit contains resin and photo etched parts, decals and instruction sheet.
Here are some photographs of this type of tractor in action: linklinklink.