GPA & DUKW at Lake Boga

[Mike K]

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F02268/


desert scenes

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F07015/

[Scrivo18]

Hope fully next year I will b taking my DUKW up for there annual fly in..
The cat was not there this year but fingers crossed we can park them along side each other one day :-)

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Scrivo18

Hope fully next year I will b taking my DUKW up for there annual fly in..
The cat was not there this year but fingers crossed we can park them along side each other one day :-)

the narrator calls the DUKW a dukwaaahhhh

Notice the dodge command car parked at the Lake Boga store

PNG scenes

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F07176/

[Mike Cecil]

The narrator makes it sound like the film was of the RAAF testing the usefulness of the GPA and DUKW as flying boat tenders - which is supported by the fact that the vehicles shown were Army - two different DUKWs (one with unit/formation markings) and a GPA. I noted the pronunciation of DUKW, too, Mike: gave me a laugh - 'Duck-wah'!

The RAAF officially received a number of DUKWs but only one GPA: they possibly would have made more use of the GPA than the Army did, but only the one was transferred from Army holdings and re-registered with an RAAF registration.

Nice film, Mike, thanks for providing the link.

Mike

.

[Mike K]

Ok well spotted, the army DUKW's being non RAAF vehicles. The scenery in that movie changes dramatically , me thinks it is Cairns in the later scenes with the Martin flying boat and the hilly background ... the Lake Boga terrain is as flat as the proverbial .


The strange narrator also mentions San Remo is where the DUKW was trialled , would this be Phillip Island in Vic. ?

I wonder if that Dodge CC at Boga is a RAAF vehicle , the RAAF seem to have had a few of those issued going by the AWM pics .

BTW the elderly lady here who works at the op shop told me she grew up in Rathmines in NSW during the war, she said they would often ferry the Cats through the town centre minus their wings .

In the second movie, did anyone spot the Blitz gun tractors ? Aitape is where in PNG ?

[motto]

Aitape (pronounced 'ita pee' but as one word) is on the north coast of PNG to the west of Wewak.
The DUKW was the perfect vehicle for servicing the flying boats. I remember speaking with a fellow who spent his time in the army as a DUKW operator. He told me they used to refuel the Catalinas at Morotai or Balikpapan from 44 gallon drums on board the DUKW by pressurising the drums using the vehicle compressed air system.
DUKW - Doubly Useful Kind of Wagon.

David

[Mike K]

Looking at the beachhead at Aitape, the sheer amount of equipment they had was amazing . All of this effort was to fight the starving cut off Japs at Wewak ... many of the soldiers involved later said it was a waste of life , the casualties , deaths . The Japs were basically starving and done for , pockets of them held out in the jungle til August 1945 . McArthur ordered these operations . Was it politically motivated ?

[Mike K]

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F07250/

Must have been a large base .....
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F02077/