Com-Central.net

Some identification:

Continental Aviation & Engineering Company Lightweight Cargo Carrier - never given an LV designation AFAIK...

www.surfacezero.com/ju...G_6498.JPG

www.surfacezero.com/ju...tow/b1.jpg

LVTUX1

www.surfacezero.com/ju...tow/j1.jpg

LVTA 105mm HMC and M76 Otter

www.surfacezero.com/ju...G_6505.JPG

This one has me stumped...

www.surfacezero.com/ju...G_6514.JPG

As does this one... LVTP5 variant in the foreground of these two...

www.surfacezero.com/ju...G_6507.JPG

www.surfacezero.com/ju...G_6518.JPG

Neil

Yeah I guess I didn't get a front shot of the one funky looking 6 wheeled thing... from what I remember it may have been some kind of amphibious trailer... I have a book that I'll flip through later on to see if I can ID it.

BTW,
The LVTPX1 should also be there somewhere. It's somewhat similar to the Lightweight Cargo Carrier but has a more peaked, boat-like bow.

This is the only pic I can find on the web, from Jim Webster's site, assuming it will link to here:



www.jedsite.info/fullt...vtpx1.html

It was formerly on display at Rattlesnake Canyon along with the rest of the Barstow vehicles...

Neil

"As does this one... LVTP5 variant in the foreground of these two...

www.surfacezero.com/ju...G_6507.JPG

www.surfacezero.com/ju...G_6518.JPG"


Looks like some kind of engineering mod? Two pivot mounts up front for a really BIG A-Frame that lays down and rests on the two supports in back?

The clue here is in the number of bogie wheels on each side

I think that Rob is close with his guess, but I will go and find out exactly what vehicles are at Barstow today.

I have a book called "Research, Investigation, Experimentation: Amphibious Vehicles - Final Report 1957" that gives a lot of very technical details about the vehicles that were in the amphibious museum. I didn't see the one funky looking LVTP5 though, flipping through it. I need to get a book scanner or something so I can scan it and put it online for everyone to enjoy.

LVTX1 Pictures:

www.surfacezero.com/ju...tow/k1.jpg
www.surfacezero.com/ju...tow/k2.jpg

We would like to bring them all down to the Mechanized Museum but we do not want to display them in the condition that they are in. They are covered with about 1/8" of a horrible paint job (that is if it isn't falling off of the vehicle like in some of the pictures). Many fixtures are broken, tracks thrown, and some of them have substantial corrosion: even the aluminum ones... crazy stuff like I've never seen on anything else that looks basically like rotting wood. In terms of volunteers it's pretty much myself and a maximum of 3 other people on any given weekend and we already have quite a bit on our plate...

Maybe I should call POR-15 and ask them if they'd be willing to sponsor a donation of a 5 gallon can of that stuff to get that Ka-Tsu at least a little more preserved. If any restoration work were to be performed on it, one would have to start over with new sheet metal... laying it out on the outside and basically welding a new hull around the existing one. I'm not sure what the atmospheric conditions were surrounding the Ka-Tsu during its life before the high desert, but if they were similar to those that any USMC LVT experienced, it sure makes me appreciate what would appear to be the substantially more resilient construction of US AFV's over Japanese ones (at least during WW2)...

I spent about 4 hours battling my scanner today to scan the amphibious vehicles book... I've been meaning to do it for a while though. Hopefully it really is unclassified. It will probably answer some of your questions. Let me know if there appear to be any errors or omissions in the PDF file...

www.surfacezero.com/ju...sSmall.pdf (50mb - probably better off saving it rather than trying to open it in your browser)

If anyone would like I can upload the source image files for the PDF as well, but they're 400mb in total.

Enjoy,

Brian

Thanks much Brian, looks like a great resource!

Neil

- blackdog

If anyone would like I can upload the source image files for the PDF as well, but they're 400mb in total.

Yes please Brian!

It's uploading here: www.surfacezero.com/ju...rstow/book

- blackdog

I spent about 4 hours battling my scanner today to scan the amphibious vehicles book... I've been meaning to do it for a while though. Hopefully it really is unclassified. It will probably answer some of your questions. Let me know if there appear to be any errors or omissions in the PDF file...

www.surfacezero.com/ju...sSmall.pdf (50mb - probably better off saving it rather than trying to open it in your browser)

It's great (all 500 pages)! Thank you for making the effort.

Page 79 is missing?

I'll get it scanned some time later this week, thanks for letting me know.

Brian

How much beer does it take to bribe a marine these days to go get a real good image walkaround of a monument vehicle?