This is quite a well known picture, indeed it has appeared more than once already on the GWF. It shows the German 'Air Wagon' which was propelled by an aeroplane engine and used (for recreation?) by German aviators on the El-'Affule to Haifa railway line. Per Benjamin Z. Kedar's book 'The Changing Land Between the Jordan and the Sea' the air wagon was put together by the Jewish engineer Barukh Katinka, who is seen in the photograph standing at the back and just to the right of the engine.

Reading 'Aces and Kings' by L W Sutherland MC, DCM., one comes across a very similar machine which was used by the Australians on the very same stretch of railway line; see chapter III, 'Hadji' [Ross Smith], page 31> in my edition.

The Sutherland account is very detailed and describes a journey to Jenin to 'rescue' a load of '04 Weinberg, German sparkling wine: the vintage was so good that they forgot to turn the wagon around and ended up traveling away from home rather than returning! A great story

Regarding the construction of the Australian wagon, Sutherland says that money changed hands and that
"our accomplices were bought over, but they included a Railway Transport officer, a quartermaster and an engineer-sergeant ... ... ... it was a small one-metre gauge affair, squat and low sided. With express speed a 160-h.p. Beardmore aero engine, complete with propeller, was mounted on the front"

No mention whatsoever is made of the German predecessor machine, however one has to ask the question; was this just a coincidence and a case of great minds thinking alike, or, did the later contraption owe something to the earlier German Air Wagon? Can anyone identify which type of aero engine is shown in the German photograph? And finally, has anyone got a photograph of the Australian machine to compare with that of the German one?

regards
Michael

Looks like a Mercedes D.III to me

http://www.rodenplant.com/HTML/623.htm

That looks like a good match
Thanks Rob

regards
Michael

A very good website for a detailed look at both the Mercedes and the Beardmore aero engines is to be found here
http://thevintageaviator.co.nz/projects/me...i-series-engine

Can anyone add to the story of the Australian vehicle, or provide a picture of it?

Quote from Wroclaw's post # 6
here http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...showtopic=83044
where he is referring to the German machine
This strange train/plane hybrid actually became a small piece of history quite a few fell in love with. I actually, once in some meeting where several "old train enthusiasts" were present, tackeled them with a fate of that machine. What I was told is that in September 1918 it was seen "riding east" and no one knows of its exact fate...

Alas, no exact date in September 1918 is given above…

Was this the Germans making good their escape?
Or, was it the Australians heading for Jenin to pick-up some fizz?
(the end of the Australian jaunt was a crash when they and their machine (named Agnes) 'encountered her first adverse points, and, valiant to the last, had jumped them. The engine had fallen out and the nose of the truck was buried in an embankment."

regards
Michael