On September 8 & 9 we could celebrate the already fifth anniversary of our traditional Fall Gathering at our yard in Prottes. Blue skies and warm late-summer temperatures brought more than 500 visitors who saw our vehicle collection with the well-known classics but also newly arrived models. Our field kitchen made sure nobody left hungry, and a lot of our guests enjoyed riding along on M4 High Speed Tractor, ATS 59 G, BV 202 and Pinzgauers.
On June 27, we transferred the latest addition to our collection from the Army’s Logistics Center in Salzburg to Prottes – an ÖAF sLKW Type G2 manufactured in 1978.
The G2 was the version without loading crane and represented the “work horse” of the sLKW series. It was mainly in service as a tractor for heavy and AA artillery as well as for general heavy supply tasks. Our vehicle will be seen in its un-restored condition during the Fall Gathering and over the winter will undergo full restoration.
The first weekend in June saw the already 11th big annual gathering of historic vehicles at the Military History Museum in Vienna, “On Wheels & Tracks”. Around ten thousand visitors used the perfect summer weather to see “what moved the Army” over the last hundred years.
The Traditionsverband this year complemented the museum’s special exhibition “To Protect and to Help – The Austrian Army Between 1955 and 1991” with vehicles as they could be seen during the Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia (1968) crises, as part of Austria’s United Nations contingent on the Golan Heights and during disaster relief operations.
On Saturday June 9 2018, the Traditionsverband provided the historic framework for the traditional day of Vienna’s 1st Infantry-Battalion “Hoch- und Deutschmeister”. The Battalion carries the proud tradition of the Imperial Austro-Hungarian Army’s 4th Infantry Regiment, and the historic Regimental Band is well known throughout Europe. The 1st Infantry Battalion is tasked with protecting vital infrastructure in the Vienna area, thus both the historic and the currently active part of the battalion could present themselves “on their home-turf” in front of beautiful Belvedere Castle.
Steyr Type 380 after successfully receiving new engine transplant
By the end of 2017, we agreed with one of the Advisors of the Traditionsverband (Dr. Herbert Werner) to transfer his Steyr Type 380 into our collection. The vehicle was delivered to the “Defense Office” in the Austrian Chancellery on January 11 1956 – before the Ministry for Defense was officially created by the newly formed Austrian Republic. Unfortunately, no records exist which units it has been serving with, however by December 4 1958 it was re-assigned to the Ministry of Defense and issued the license number W 175.407. Note that until the early 1970s, Austrian Army vehicles still bore the civilian “W” license plates for “Vienna”. Only by 1974, a dedicated „BH“ (for “Bundesheer”) Army license plate was issued. By March 22 1976 the vehicle was retired from active service and sold. For the next 45 years the “Lattice Steyr” (as it was often called due to its characteristic front grill) was preserved in private hands, in March of this year we had it overhauled and found the engine to be shot. Fortunately, the Steyr WD 413 engine had also been licensed for production in Hungary, and we could source a brand-new engine to be transplanted. This vehicle is now the oldest military vehicle from post-WW2 Austrian production in our collection.
