Today they chug around big cities, plunge into rivers giving their passengers a thrill, and are normally driven by semi-humorous tour guides but back during WWII, the DUKW was an essential part of the arsenal of democracy and they helped support soldiers making amphibious landings all over the world. We’re talking Sicily, Normandy, the Pacific Islands, and more. The rigs were actually designed by three guys who ranged in background. There was a yacht designer, a kid from MIT, and a British sailor who lived in the USA. Between the three of them they came up with a rugged, unstoppable truck that could carry people and supplies to places that normally required multiple vehicles and crews. Bad ass enough to cross the notoriously choppy English Channel, and strong enough to blast through trees and muck on the land as well as crawl across sandy beaches, these babies were never cooler looking than when they had a .50-cal mounted on the nose.
A 270ci Chevy inline six that made 91hp powered the DUKW and the driveline was pretty cool. There was a 5-speed transmission with an overdrive that helped get the prop speed up, there was a two speed transfer-case to get the power to the wheels, and there was central tire pressure control that allowed the driver to air down for sand and air back up again for hard ground. The chassis of the DUKW was identical to the GMC AFKWX cab over military truck. The big difference was the hull wrapped around it. Inside the hull was a pretty gnarly bilge pump that could keep the thing floating even if it was shot full of holes.
More than 21,000 of the near 7-ton rigs were built and they were distributed all over the world. The Brits got some, the Aussies got some, and the Russians made their own knock off version. Hell, the French had them in military service until like 2012 which proves their usefulness and hearty nature.
So that brings us to this video. Yes, it is silent and that is shameful because we wanted to hear all of the trees and limbs snapping as this big bastard shoves its way through various swamps and bayou areas on the way to what appears to be a big lake. Using the prop and the six wheel drive, this monster blows down everything in its way and it is fun to watch the lab coat equipped stunt driver dive out of the way of wayward limbs and junk. Truly entertaining!
If you have only ever seen one of these lugging passengers around the city, here’s glimpse at exactly what they are capable of. Like an old athlete that has been put out to pasture we can only imagine that the lumbering DUKWs out there long for adventure and fun like this!
We sure built some great stuff!
From the lack of prop wash it looks like he was using only the six wheel drive in the trees.
I figured the DUKWs they had on the Stone Mountain tours were capable of a bit more than puttering around the lake; the guides mention they’ve suspended tours before and taken the DUKWs on disaster relief operations, such as rescues after Hurricane Katrina. But I hadn’t envisioned them crashing through brush like a six wheel drive Bush Hog.
The really interesting thing here is that this example is right hand drive. I am not aware of any varients built during the war that were RHD. This must be a prototype perhaps for the Brits? However the Brits received 1000s of LHD vehicles from us under lend/lease. Neat!