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DUKW's in the UK


Rlangham

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Hi all,

 

As mentioned elsewhere i'm helping organise an event on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales on 2-3 June this year - the seafront town of Tywyn was used in the Second World War for DUKW's practising for the D-day landings, and as such it would be great to get one along to the event, although no doubt not cheap! Does anyone know of a DUKW owner who could be interested in travelling to the event?

Thanks,

Rob

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DUKW's, LVTs, Terrapins were there and I'm sure I've seen a photo on the web of a Seep-type thing.  Spoilt for choice on what to take there! Except that perhaps some of those vehicle types are no longer resident in the UK? The hangers they used were on the site of RAF Morfa .... nip out of the camp, over the main railway lines onto the beach and into the water. Instead of a vehicle you could try to get one of the few types of aircraft (Queen Bees -radio controlled Tiger Moths and, Henleys ) that flew out of the airfield as target tugs for the AA 3.7" guns just a mile further north at Tonfanau Camp. RAF Morfa reverted to being an army-only camp shortly after the end of the war, if not slightly before.

There is some stuff about Morfa Camp, the RMs (who may have called their bit of the camp, 'Neptune'), the army and the RAF on the web but I don't have the links to share anymore. Also remember this is Morfa, Towyn, Merioneth, not the other Morfa near the other Towyn near Liverpool! All place name spellings are correct, as was!

Towyn station at one time had its own main line railway sidings and loading ramp, now long gone. Tonfanau camp, if I'm not mistaken, also had a railway siding coming off the main line very near to where the quarry siding take off. So you could take a train of sorts, as well to your 'do' if you did some homework to find out what was used and so on. A train with DUKWs, LVTs, Terrapins, Queen Bees and Henlys on board!

 

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Good luck trying to find a Hawker Henley anywhere, never mind in the UK! 

A few Queen Bees survive, including a couple in the UK. One of them was certainly airworthy recently, so a flypast might theoretically be possible. Plenty of Tiger Moths airworthy, which would provide a pretty good visual representation when airborne but might not satisfy the rivet counters....

Edited by mtskull
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