US army says "No!" to mud, "#@$% YOU!" to common sense.

[puddingwrestler]

Behold it's awesome insanity; the September 1948 issue of Popular Mechanics article 'jets look for jobs' the cover would make a rather dramatic diorama...

[dy031101]

I guess science won't move forward without trial-and-error of ideas......

[anthonyp]

Ya see, there was a lot of drug abuse back in the day...

[raafif]

Well, it was tried in seperate experiments -- that halftrack looks like the Chev version that the Aussie Army built in 1942 & the Brits fitted rockets to a Bren Carrier to get it over trenches & barbed-wire (it always landed upside-down tho !!).

Britain also tried big jet engines on the front of a Valentine Tank to "blow" away landmines & Russia has jets mounted on Tanks to blow out oil-well fires.

[Mossie]

Britain had plans to produce a 'Jumping Jeep'.  It was literally a road vehicle with a lift fan, fans or rotors, rather than the American approach around the same time to produce a purely flying jeep.  The spec was to provide a vehicle with the capability of being able to overcome an obstacle such as a wall, river or ravine.  Some designers went further to produce desings with a true flying capability.  The request produced some very biazzare & wonderfully impractical designs.

Several of the designs can be seen here:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,18183.0/highlight,jumping%20jeep.html

[Hobbes]

Britain also tried big jet engines on the front of a Valentine Tank to "blow" away landmines & Russia has jets mounted on Tanks to blow out oil-well fires.

Unlike the other experiments mentioned here, the tank-mounted jet (named Big Wind) was successful and have been used in a number of well fires.

[Mossie]

Vid on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyGDxglTVgA&feature=related