[MV] .....and

Gordon.W.I. McMillan (gwim2@student.open.ac.uk)
Sun, 26 Jul 1998 09:37:55 +0100

I can visualise that when they were building the vehicle that came to
be known as the Duck the designation was actually;

D model year 1942
A amphibian hull
K driven front axle (or six wheel drive)
W twin rear axles on an inverted leaf spring,

but then somebody said, 'hey , if we call it U for Utility rather than
A for Amphibian it will sound like a 'duck'

When an official designation is short and snappy, and can't be confused
with anything else it will come into general usage. There are lots of
alternatives, but the 1/4 ton amphibian is still most referred to as a
GPA.

I always understood that the 'M' just stood for model, with 'T' being
experimental prototypes for whatever reason. I'd recommend anyone to
have a look through either of Fred Crismon's books and note the
diversity of M1, M3, T series designations etc.

Gordon (DUKW, GPA, VC3, VC36, WC36, WC53, WC56, GT350, 443 and no money)

All right, to forestall any questions, the 443 is the Sno-Cat, thanks
to Buzz

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