My dad had a 44 special as our "big tractor" when I was growing up. The special has different brakes and the hand clutch that allows the PTO to continue operating while forward (or backward) motion is stopped. Ours also had cast wheel centers. I would guess that the one in the pictures is an older model as I don't see the cast wheel centers, hand clutch, etc. I believe ours was a '52 model.
Those 44s are great machines. It was known to be easy on gas--I believe 4 gals/hour in heavy work. It dyno'ed at 52 hp in the late 70s as the special had a bigger motor. We used it to chop corn, pull a 4 bottom plow, bale hay until it was relegated to winter spreading manure in the late 80s and 90s. My brother would have take a load out with the heavy chains in the middle of winter across a plowed field, deep snow--it didn't matter. The spreader was so heavy that the front end would be bouncing up in the air as he drove, so he had to use the brakes to steer. He beat that tractor unmercifully for years, and never had any trouble as far as I know. It was tough and reliable. They simply don't make them like that any more.
Jim