History and development

In cooperation with AEG built

MOWAG MOWAG is a Swiss company which develops, designs and produces armoured vehicles for military applications in both land-only and amphibious configurations. These vehicles have gross vehicle weights ranging from 9 tonnes to 30 tonnes. The company ...

aircraft tug In aviation, pushback is an airport procedure during which an aircraft is pushed backwards away from its parking position, usually at an airport gate by external power. Pushbacks are carried out by special, low-profile vehicles called ''pushback ...

named Flz Sch 4x2 for the

Swiss Air Force The Swiss Air Force (german: Schweizer Luftwaffe; french: Forces aériennes suisses; it, Forze aeree svizzere; rm, Aviatica militara svizra) is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on 31 July 1914 as a part of the army and ...

. The vehicles were used primarily to move the

Dassault Mirage III The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizon ...

S and Mirage III RS in and out of the aircraft caverns. A special feature compared to other aircraft tugs (e.g. Bucher aircraft tractor) was that in these, the aircraft could be suspended during the journey of the towing hook to keep the time between leaving the cavern and the lift off of the Mirage short. The Mirage began immediately upon leaving the "Vorstollens" to start their engine. Once the engine was running, the latch was released by the tractor driver and he drove from the plane away and turned to the right, so the Mirage freely under its own power could roll on the

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller general aviation airports sometimes use gravel ...

to the runway. The aircraft tractors were in use from 1967 to 2003 by the Swiss Air Force. One is now part of the Military museum Full.Militärmuseum Full Switzerland Marcus Bauer, Nutzfahrzeuge der MOWAG Motorwagenfabrik AG, Fachpresse Goldach, Hudson & Company, 1996

References

{{Reflist Aircraft ground handling Tractors Military vehicles of Switzerland