The Development of a Lightweight Aircraft Towing Tractor

A lightweight (8000 lbf (35.6 Kn) drawbar pull) four wheel drive aircraft towing tractor was developed under contract to the Canadian Department of National Defence. The paper describes the requirement, the design objectives, the resulting vehicle, and performance testing results. The modular design of the vehicle lends itself to upgrading of drawbar pull via the substitution of alternate engine/transmission packages plus ballasting.