At least the DUKW could carry something P38 although they always tended to overload them and ended up with no free board which made them prone to swamping in any sort of rough weather.
Two troopers and their kit was the Schwimmers hopping pot.
Jeeps and DUKWs had different roles, so I don't think they are a fair comparison. Jeeps did have fording kits with snorkels for intake and exhaust. The the snorkels were often higher than the drivers head. There's good engineering fo you.
Agreed Adler Eric it did have a different role to the DUKW so yes, it is unfair to compare them. The Kubel and Schwimmer's 2 wheeled drive put them at a huge disadvantage to the JEEP straight off.
Millitary vehicles have to be 4 or more wheeled drive for practical reasons the Kubel is more of a fancied up Beetle the Jeep is vastly superiour for the job.
Don't be so sure, all traction is over the driving wheels and the beach buggy is a good off-roader.
Also some were 4x4.
The Kubel was great for North Africa, being air-cooled and with a much lower fuel consumption.
Mind the Jeep could carry a much larger payload and much heavier armament: 1 MG34 (Kubel) vs (my fave) 1 MG34, 1 .50 and a Bazooka. 8) It could even carry a 37mm or tow a (small) AT gun.
BTW: I've found those Porsche archives but they're A4-sized and 3-10 pages long, can I post them? and how many?
Agreed Schwar the beach buggy is a good off road vehicle. that is on a beach put it in deep mud ect Ill have 4x4 with limited slip diff anyday. I also agree that the Kubel was aircooled Ideal in the desert when you run out of water for drinking.
With a Jeep or better still a 15cwt dump the gear from one all pile in the others and empty the cooling system.
The Buffalo Gator LVT's where good in the atolls of the Far East where reefs had to be negotiated and relitive calm waters but in the ETO they where far less successful lacking a screw and relying on the tracks for motion made them very slow and poor at maneuvering if they had to stem any sort of tide or current they almost stood still.
With several Buffs heading for the land the engine noise was deafening and announced there presence miles out to sea .
Any chance of surprise during darkness was totally lost as they roared there way ashore also the huge phosphorescent plume left astern made them prime targets for shore batteries.
Most naval landing craft avoided being near them where ever possible as they attracted far too much attention from the enemy.
I had a suprise when I drove home from work today there was a big Bus rally on the Island and amongst them I found a pair of much loved Jeeps so thought Id bung them on here
Cheers Eric The guy who owned 3 over 2 was really in love with it.
A lot of the later models as im sure you know where 12V electrics or have been converted but his was still 6v although he said getting the batteries replated was becoming very costly.
Nice shots trackened. They were either taken care of, or restored very nicely. There are actually a lot of surplus parts for the Jeeps still found today.
Im lead to believe there was about 250,000 built so to keep that lot going i would imaging Quite a few spares are floating about Adler. A guy at Duxford said he got his tyres from the far east as there is a company out there that has a set of the original moulds.