Studebaker US6 truck on H2 - Top 10 weapons of WWII

[Dan White]

Watching History Channel 2 tonight and saw the top 10 weapons of WWII. The US6 was #9! 100K were made and delivered to the Soviet Union during the war. The US6 was rugged, 2.5 ton payload, powerful for its day and made the Soviets a modern, mobile army, replacing horse and carriage in many places. They also hooked their field artillery to the back and made them mobile anti tank weapons, allowing them to run around the battlefield where needed. Pretty cool summary, South Bend and Studebaker were proudly commended for the truck and its major input in the war. I knew of the truck but had no idea of its importance!

[Gunslinger]

The Studebaker US6 was also instrumental in the building of the ALCAN Highway during the war.

[Skip Lackie]

See chapter 6 here for a few more details and references to other articles:

http://www.studebakerdriversclub.com/StudebakerTruckHistory.asp

[gordr]

The Russians also built a multiple rocket launcher that mounted on the back of the US6, which became known as the "Stalin Organ". They were used in great numbers to lay down the equivalent of an artillery barrage.

[8E45E]

The Studebaker US6 was also instrumental in the building of the ALCAN Highway during the war.

In 1992, the Alcan Highway celebrated its 50th Anniversary. This truck was the leader in a convoy of ex-Army trucks leading the parade: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...ghlight=crosby

And more information on those trucks here: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...debaker-trucks

Craig

[jeds55]

Along the Alaskan Highway

A real survivor!

[LeoH]

Was that the Big Six that was used in that truck?

[Dan White]

No it was a Hercules flathead 6, 94 HP.

[62champ]

Back in the late 1990s, I visited with a guy near Bloomington, Indiana, who still had a US6 his father bought after the War that he got in the shipping crates. He had acquired stuff over the years to rebuilt it and it was amazing what he had: boxes of NOS brake pads, steering wheels still covered in cosmoline, and probably a half-dozen NOS radiators still in the military boxes.

At the Lancaster International meet, there was a very nice example there. Would love to have one - just have to have a building with at least a 11' door.

[Roscomacaw]

Besides that 11'Ft door, you need to be in no hurry to get where you're going. I'd love to drive one once.

EDIT: Somehow (and I'm too lazy to look it up), the number 197K sticks in my head for number built. And most of those DID go to Russia.

[Dick Steinkamp]

You can have the US6...I'll take Malcom Berry's Wagonaire in the foreground.

[Skip Lackie]

Besides that 11'Ft door, you need to be in no hurry to get where you're going. I'd love to drive one once.

EDIT: Somehow (and I'm too lazy to look it up), the number 197K sticks in my head for number built. And most of those DID go to Russia.

197,678 built by Studebaker, and another 22,000 built by Reo to the Studebaker design. A bit more than 100K of the total built went to the Soviet Union.

[53k]

Watching History Channel 2 tonight and saw the top 10 weapons of WWII. The US6 was #9! 100K were made and delivered to the Soviet Union during the war. The US6 was rugged, 2.5 ton payload, powerful for its day and made the Soviets a modern, mobile army, replacing horse and carriage in many places. They also hooked their field artillery to the back and made them mobile anti tank weapons, allowing them to run around the battlefield where needed. Pretty cool summary, South Bend and Studebaker were proudly commended for the truck and its major input in the war. I knew of the truck but had no idea of its importance!

A lot of modern day Russians still know about Studebakers. A couple years ago we had a chapter fall tour in West Virginia and we were staying the night at the Cacapon State Park Lodge. Two of us were in the parking lot by the cars when a young couple (maybe late 20s) walked over to look at the cars. The woman exclaimed "Studebakers". I started to tell her what that meant and she came back with something to the effect "I'm a Russian and we are very familiar with Studebakers". Even Nikita Khruschev mentions them in his memoirs 'Khrushchev Remembers'. On page 226 he was discussing American aid in WW II and telling that almost all the artillery in GDR (East Germany) was mounted on American Studebakers. "I said, "This simply won't do. It's disgraceful. Just look how many years have passed since the war ended and we're still driving around in American equipment".

[M15 Trucker]

No it was a Hercules flathead 6, 94 HP.

TO BE MORE SPECIFIC THEY USED HERCULES JDX MODEL ENGINES, 6 CYLINDER FLAT HEAD, 4.00" BORE x 4.25" STROKE, 320 CU. IN.

[LeoH]

Thank you.