DUKW...Duck .... Duh...

[Richard Farrant]

Hi Mike,
I copied that translation on to Google and quite a few websites came up. I wonder where it originated from. My guess is that the Canberra institution probably copied it from another website.

[Mike Cecil]

Did I mention Canberra??? Oh dear....

Wonder how such an error got started, but it does show that few people check!!

Mike C

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Wonder how such an error got started, but it does show that few people check!!

Don't get me started.... For many people their main historical reference these days is Saving Private Ryan, HBO's WW2 miniseries, etc.
While they are very well made (hats off!), they are still movies, not facts

H.

[Scrivo18]

Off the top of my head

year of manufacture, 6 x 6 configuration, Amphidian vehicle and vehicle carrying capacity come up with the term DUKW, which the troops then called them 'Ducks'

I have it written at work on the display board for my Dukw...

Which if all goes to plan will be swimming next weekend for Australia day and DUKW will be explained as above..

Tim

[Scrivo18]

If I remember correctly the majority of them were built by the Yellow Bus company ....... Nothing to do with Kaiser at all....


Bahhh


Tim

[Mike Cecil]

You are pretty close, Scrivo....

Yellow Truck and Coach Company, a Division of GMC.


D = design year 1942
U = amphibian
K = front wheel drive
W= rear wheel drive

So, too ....
CCKW is 1941, C=standard cab; K & W as above
AFKWX is 1939, F = Forward cab, K & W as above .... X special long wheel base chassis.

(Thank you Boniface & Juedy!)

Mike C

[maple_leaf_eh]

I have a Wikipedia account. Does this mean my 5-watt opinion might some day be immortalized by a significant national institution too?

[gordon]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

You are pretty close, Scrivo....

D = design year 1942
U = amphibian ( Utility - 'A' was already used for a low profile truck )
K = front wheel drive ( driven front axle)
W= rear wheel drive ( twin rear axles on an inverted leaf spring )

Mike C

added a couple of notes to Mike's explanation

[Tony Wheeler]

Mike, have you written to AWM and chastised them suitably? I note also their Glossary does not contain CCKW at all, despite their collections search returning 56 results.

[Mike Cecil]

No Tony: they can wait till the end of this month and buy a copy of my book, 'Australian Military Abbreviations, Acronyms and Codes' when it is released by Virtualbookworm.(Hardback, 10,500 entries including a more accurate interpretation of the meaning of 'DUKW'!).

Besides: I never mentioned the name of the institution concerned.....

Mike C