SPECIFICATIONS
ENGINE		6-cylinder 269 cubic inch
WEIGHT		15,000 pounds
MANUFACTURED BY		General Motors
ON DISPLAY AT		Cavanaugh Flight Museum, Addison Airport (KADS), Dallas, Texas

The DUKW is an amphibious conversion of the standard Army 2 and a half ton 6x6 truck used during amphibious operations in World War II by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. It was used to ferry ammunition, personnel, supplies, and equipment from supply ships offshore to supply dumps and units on the beach.

The "Duck" as it is referred to, was the first military vehicle in which the driver could vary the tire pressure from inside the cab. The tires can be fully inflated for hard surfaces such as roads and less inflated for soft surfaces such as beach sand. This feature is now standard on many military vehicles.

For land operations the vehicle uses six driving wheels, powered by a six cylinder gasoline engine developing approximately 90 horsepower. For water operations the DUKW is driven by a 25-in, diameter, three-bladed propeller, driven by the engine through the transmission and a water propeller transfer case.

The carrying capacity is 25 fully equipped combat troops, or 5,000 to 10,000 pounds of cargo, depending on conditions of operation.

Although not considered an assault vehicle due to its relatively light skin, each DUKW has provisions for installation of a scarf-ring mount for installation of a .50 caliber machine gun.

The designation, "DUKW" is an acronym, the name comes from the model naming terminology used by General Motors; the "D" indicates a vehicle designed in 1942, the "U" amphibious, the "K" indicated all-wheel drive and the "W" indicated two powered rear axles.