DUKWMAN

These PT76's are 2 of 9 imported from Bosnia/croatia by Bob Fleming 4 or 5 years ago, I thought the engines and gearboxes were removed ?. I bought a couple off Bob at the time which I did get running and were at the Ponderosa show this year and still there on display. Love to find out who's they are as I triggered off my fire extinguishers and could do with replacements - most of the gear was in them but 10 years dumped in Bosnia had seen them used as smoking dens and drinking hides for local youths so instruments smashed and pleny of graffitti.

Thanks Rippo - as for Royal DUKW's? Yes I've seen the photo's and there are pic's of Churchill ,Monty, Eisenhower - and that Frenchman all getting off DUKW's somewhere on the beaches at diferent times. I'm pretty sure Churchill and DeGaulle wouldn't have been in the same vehicle, as for the others it's impossible to say as even if you get the boat number (Navy) off the photo I'm told these were swapped around over the years and only the chasis number was permanent.

Thanks Bodger - I will post more photos and keep updating. Good luck with your project, when you get it - good job it wasn't a 5000 mile example then! A local quarry owner bought one surplus in the late 60's for the cost of the axles (his father ran GMC tippers) which was still in it's preservation and unissued. He ran it for a few years then sold it to someone who swam it to Holland ! and returned!!

After a busy few days with a Komatsu wrecker grab and a gas axe I have cleared the field of the rotting DUKW's at Wymeswold (as mentioned in DUKW's not for sale). Amazingly some of these towed out of their shallow graves with wheels turning and some steering! Some of them just fell into halves, prompting a colleague to suggest we restore them as Short wheelbase DUKW's , Short DUKW's, or SUKW's for short? Another colleague suggested they were Finished, fragged or F#KW's for short ! I'm confident there are 4 of out of the field which will restore , the rest will contribute to the parts bin. I'm now dissmantling them in our yard in leicester and storing those parts of use. A couple of the complete ones will be heading to my leeds factory as soon as economic transport can be found, the rest will go north in skips. Thanks to those who've been in touch over these and have a common interest in the preservation and restoration of DUKW's and other amphibs I will start taking photo's and make a blog if anyone's interested , although such evidence may be used by my wife to get me sectioned when you look at the state of them! :-(

Hi Safariswing Sorry but I've somewhat rushed to get on-line and will have a go at the intro board. I'm fairly well known in amphibious circles - having a Gaz46 and Schwimmwagen amongst other swimmers in my collection. Will fill intro in now.

Hi - just to end any speculation about these DUKW's they were part of the Glyne Hewitt collection, he has been suffering from ill health for the past few years and has sold off his better more restorable examples in the past two years. I bought these remnants off him earlier this year and am in the process of stripping them of usefull parts and spares - though as can be seen there aren't that many usable items on some of them. Most of the better items were stripped and moved to my stores in Leicester a few months ago, I have 8 usable and restorable DUKW's and make new hulls for them at my fabrication company. Alarmed at the posting I have spoken to the farmer who own's the field they are on and he assures me he has made no move to scrap or sell these. I will be seing him on thursday to arange the next clearout as he has a telehoist which we use to shift the larger items.We have a Stalwart with hiab to take to the site to do the main dissmantling and shifting. I can assure you if anything is worth having off these then I will be recycling the parts and , believe it or not some of these wrecks will actually swim again ( you should see my previous projects!!) I will post photo's and other projects when I've 5 mins - DUKWMAN