During the period 1928-33 Nicholas Straussler's company Folding Boats and Structures Ltd was engaged in design of bridging equipment and devices to make tanks float (see W&7'36). Following these activities, Straussler concentrated more on vehicular developments but soon after the outbreak of war he invented a brilliant construction to convert existing tanks to amphibians which upon landing could shed all this equipment and engage in combat. It comprised a collapsible rubberized canvas screen — held rigid by compressed air in tubes — and a propulsion system. The invention became known as the DD, for Duplex Drive. Rather than narrate the story in our own words we have opted for publishing the notes made by a person who was there and used them for a film show and talk for the Birmingham Rotary Club at the Imperial Hotel on October 22. 1945. Unfortunately we do not know the name of the speaker but he was a high-ranking government official. For the film we have substituted a selection of Straussler-sourced photos showing the vehicles in a variety of modes.
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