Lex Anteinternet: M939 Truck. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Lex Anteinternet: M939 Truck. National Museum of Military Vehicles.:

M939 Truck. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

This is a M939 5 ton truck.  A heavier U.S. military truck is behind it.  I can't identify what the truck  is carrying, unfortunately.

Part of the final series of US 6x6 trucks, it went into production in 1982 and were produced in the US only for a few years.  They're still produced in South Korea.  It featured a diesel engine and an automatic transmission.

Last edition:

LARC-V. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1960s, Army, Dubois Wyoming, Military, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Transportation, U.S. Navy, Vietnam War

Lex Anteinternet: Miscellaneous wheeled transport of World War Two. ...

Lex Anteinternet: Miscellaneous wheeled transport of World War Two. ...: 

Miscellaneous wheeled transport of World War Two. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

International 4x4 truck.

2 1/2 ton 6x6.

Ford F8, a type of truck built in Canada for the Commonwealth forces.  This one is painted in German colors, at least for the time being.

Marmon Harrington 4x4 conversion of Ford truck in British service.

Fort GTB 1 1/2ton truck, a type mostly used by the Navy and Marine Corps.

Early Dodge 1/4 to weapons carrier.

Pacific Car and Foundry M26.

Last edition:

British QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti aircraft gun. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, 1940s, 1947, Aircraft, Artillery, British Army, World War One, World War Two

Lex Anteinternet: World War Two U.S. Vehicle Livery: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

Lex Anteinternet: World War Two U.S. Vehicle Livery: National Museum...: 

World War Two U.S. Vehicle Livery: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

The 6x6 2 1/2 ton truck was, in my view, the greatest military implement of World War Two.  It's role in supply troops and logistical support was so significant that it cannot be overestimated, and proved more decisive in the Allied victory than any weapon or weapons system that a person can name.

The General Motors Corporation CCKW, depicted above, was the most common 2 1/2 truck used by the Western Allies.

The American made Studebaker was another example of a 6x6 2 1/2 ton truck, but it was rarely used by the Western Allies.  It was primarily used by the Soviets, without which they frankly would have been significantly horse drawn.

The father of the Dodge Power Wagon, the 1/2 ton truck, a fair number of examples of which can be found in the Rocky Mountain West in spite of the small number produced, was in addition to being too light, too top heavy.

The 3/4 ton WC 52 replaced the WC 40 fairly rapidly in terms of production.  A great 4x4 pickup, it's the direct progenitor of the post war Dodge Power Wagon and the post war M-37, the latter of which remains the best 4x4 truck the U.S. military has every fielded, outside of the HumVee.

The US military fielded an entire series of 6x6 trucks that were heavier than 2 1/2 tons, making the 6x6 picture somewhat confusing.  4 ton and 6 ton examples are depicted above.  Good trucks, there were too many types and after the war the Army settled on 5 ton 6x6 trucks, which were used well into the 2000s.

The WC-63 wsa frankly not a successful truck.  The engine was the same as the WC-52, that being a high compression flat head 6 cyl. While a good engine in its own right, that would be used for decades by Dodge, it was underpowered for this application.

In spite of this, after the war, Dodge made a small number of 6x6 civilian Power Wagons that utilized the same engine.  The Army variant was rapidly phased out of service.

An example of a 6x6 that I didn't know even existed.

The 3/4 ton version of the command car.

This photo features a 3/4 ton Dodge Carryall, a vehicle that would also see a civilian variant after the war.  Also depicted is a M3 half track, which we'll deal with separately, and a Willys MB Jeep, which we will also deal with separately.

Last edition:

World War Two Vehicles in Marine Corps use: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

Labels: 1940s, 4x4, Army, Automobiles, National Museum of Military Vehicles, United States Marine Corps, Weapons, World War Two

Truck abuse.

 A surplus U.S. Army 2 1/2 ton 6x6 truck converted into a political billboard.

M923 5-ton 6x6 truck, wildlands fire truck conversion.

The M923 was the last in the line of a series of 5 ton US military 6x6 trucks.  A 6x6 remains in service, but it's a cab over.  

Featuring a Cummins diesel engine, a 5 speed automatic transmission and single, rather than dual, wheels the truck was, and indeed is, quite modern.  Built by AM General, with production commencing in 1982, over 44,000 of them were produced, and they remain in service around the globe.

Not surprisingly, like prior 6x6 trucks, they've gone into civilian use in various roles, including as wild lands fire trucks, such as this example.

M35s in South Korea.

 South Korean Army M35 2.5 Ton 6x6 trucks.

These U.S. military trucks were part of a series of 6x6 trucks that dated back into the 1920s.  The 6x6 was developed, for U.S. military use, by the Artillery branch of the U.S. Army which could not find a suitable civilian product for use as an artillery tractor. Developed over the years, the series came into use in a major way at the onset of the Second World War, by which point civilian contractors could and did supply an entire series of 6x6 trucks, all of which closely resemble each other, but which in fact varied by manufacture.

After World War Two the service wished to standardize the trucks and update them, resuling in the M35, which entered service in 1950, just at the start of the Korean War.  Produced all the way into the 1990s, the series remains in widespread use around the globe, although it has been replaced by other trucks in U.S. military use.

The 6x6 series of trucks were great vehicles, and in very real terms, the World War Two vintage trucks can legitimately contend for the most important piece of military equipment of the Second World War.

 South Korean troops in 6x6 truck.