“1941 CMP Amphibious vehicle” (4x4)

[David Dunlop]

I have been looking into the history of the DUKW a bit more as a result of Bruce McMillans comments.

Several online sources state total production was on the order of 20,000 vehicles across two models, ten percent of which went to the British Army. They were the largest none American user during the war.

The MilWeb photos still do not answer a lot of questions and if anything, raise more. However, my thoughts about this particular vehicles origins have shifted now. Rather than focusing on the CMP aspect of this item, and all the Canadian spinoff that comes with that concept, is it more possible that this might actually be a design concept trial vehicle developed entirely in England during the war? The British Army clearly liked the DUKW, they bought a lot of them. But could reliable deliveries have been enough of an issue during the Battle of the Atlantic that they seriously considered cloning the DUKW with available resources. If that were the case, it would make sense absolutely no records of said vehicle would show up anywhere in Canada. Research instead would have to focus on who might have designed, built and tested the vehicle in England. On that basis, it could very easily have been embedded in the supply of DUKWs being utilized by the British Army in Sicily, for evaluation purposes. Was there a specific research establishment in England during the war where this development project could have taken place.

As an aside to Bruces comments regarding the use of the DUKW by the Canadian Army during WW2, it seems to have persisted in another variation through to the 1950s at least. During the 1950 Flood in Winnipeg, two dozen DUKW's were on strength in Military District 10, headquartered here in Winnipeg. As the flood developed, these DUKWs were consolidated at the Crescentwood Community Club grounds on Corydon Avenue for deployment to assist the civil authorities as needed. This area was high ground close to River Heights and Ft Osborne Barracks (MD 10 HQ). Interestingly, these DUKWs were operated and manned by RCN personnel to accommodate the needs of the Canadian Army. Six of these DUKWs were still at the Kapyong Army Base in Winnipeg in the late 1960's and early 1970's and one would often be seen on the roads in River Heights with large DRIVER TRAINING signs hanging off of it, and being operated completely by 2PPCLI personnel by that time.


David