WW2 equipment still in use?

[eveled]

I just found out that The Wizard boat from Deadliest catch was built for WW2. Obviously it’s been updated but it’s still 75 years old!

Makes me wonder how many other pieces of equipment from the war are still in service.

Not museum or parade pieces but actual working equipment. Anybody know of any others?

 

[Goldstar225]

The DUKW amphibious vehicle is used for land and water tours in a number of areas, notably Branson Missouri and Hot Springs Arkansas, sometimes with fatal results for the passengers when they sink.

 

[eveled]

I thought so too. Until I road in one. Turns out most if not all are reproductions now. Still really cool but not many are from WW2. The design lives on. So at the very least it gets honorable mention.

 

[Watchman]

Several Sherman tank chassis have been converted to various uses, including drill platforms and logging towers.

 

[Snake45]

There are a number of C-47 airplanes still working for a living, some with their original radial engines, many upgraded with turboprops. And there are still several C-46s hauling freight and people in Alaska.

One of the crews on History Channel's Ax Men has a yarder built on an M4 Sherman tank. And I doubt they're unique.

A WWII Inland M1 carbine still serves as my primary home defense weapon. :wink:

 

[CGDustDevil]

When I was working offshore at Platform Elly, (Port of Long Beach) I was told by the captain that the crew boat was a converted PT Boat. That was the late 80s and early 90s. The helicopter ride was much quicker, and there was certainly some risk when 'roping' over to the platform from the back of the boat in rough seas, but I still preferred the boat ride to the helicopter. A couple of my peers ended up in the drink down in the Gulf when the helicopters either failed in 'flight' or couldn't develop enough airspeed when they bounced 'em over the side. (Common practice at the time with heavy loads) I wanted no part of that, and only took the chopper when the boat was unavailable.

I have no idea if that boat is still used or not.

 

[Snake45]

All the Purple Heart medals awarded to this day were made for WWII (in anticipation of horrendous casualties in the invasion of Japan).

 

[eveled]

That’s an amazing piece of trivia Snake. Really sobering.

 

[smoke-eater]

Never used them (thank God), and don't know why they were even there, but until the early 1990's, my Fire Company had a closet shelf filled with Chemox masks and canisters, US Navy WW II vintage. Those canisters had the potential to explode like a bomb if they were to get water inside!

 

[Thumbcocker]

I saw a TV program dealing with Studebaker 6x6 trucks still in use in Alaska. There was one shop featured that specialized in parts and rebuilding them. Also lots of people still shoot WW2 ammo.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

One of my safe's is from the WWII era.
It has a steel template mounted to it that is marked " USN 1943 ".
It is solid steel and weighs a ton. It has actual fire bricks in between the sheets of steel.
It has wheels on it so I doubt it was ever on a ship.

 

[Tensaw]

The DUKW amphibious vehicle is used for land and water tours in a number of areas, notably Branson Missouri and Hot Springs Arkansas, sometimes with fatal results for the passengers when they sink.

Also DUKW tours in Mobile Alabama. We have taken the tour. It enters the water twice, once in the Mobile River and once near the battleship USS Alabama. An interesting experience. The captains have to have a Coast Guard captains license and a CDL license.

 

[tinman]

Never used them (thank God), and don't know why they were even there, but until the early 1990's, my Fire Company had a closet shelf filled with Chemox masks and canisters, US Navy WW II vintage. Those canisters had the potential to explode like a bomb if they were to get water inside!

And they were given to the Navy....... :? ........wow.

 

[blackhawknj]

The DUKW is an amphibious truck, not a boat. All these accidents are the result of them not being used properly.

 

[redhawker]

There's at least one, and I think maybe two WWII era PT boats that are still being used as Party sportfishing boats out in San Diego. The one I know for sure is the Malihini and the other is the Ranger 85 both fishing out of H&M Landing. Of course, neither has the big engines used during their military carriers anymore and the replacement engines are like regular diesels for a boat that size and they've also been modified quite a bit but they're still the PT Boat hall.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/05657.htm

(Couldn't find anything on the Ranger 85 but I believe it to have a similar history)

 

[RSIno1]

I wonder how much WWII stuff is still in the .gov inventory and if/how it gets used. They still have a lot of M1s and 1911s. Oldest Air Force item still in use I can think of is the B52.

 

[1SG Ret]

Army Air Defense and Field Artillery batteries still use the M-2 Aiming Circle to lay in their firing battery positions. The M-2 Aiming Circle is a type of survey instrument used to find the correct azimuth and elevation. I trained on it in 1973 for my HAWK missile system and it is still in use today on the system I support as a defense contractor. I don't know how old it is, but I did see a technical manual on it, from 1955. I'm always amazed that these modern hi-tech radars (which I consider the eighth wonders of the world) have to be emplaced using an old antique OD-painted tripod, with a plumb line, and a sextant. They might have used an earlier M1 Aiming Circle in WWII, but nothing has changed in the concept and probably not in the hardware. But hey, it works and it works well, so why change..

 

[Daveboone]

Bostons Duck tours were WW2 vintage, last I knew (almost 15 years ago now). They use them pretty conservatively, mainly on land with just a very gentle soaking in the calm Charles River for the affect.
I have a 1943 mfg. Mauser 98 that still does service...though now for deer.

 

[DeletedMember275]

A whole bunch of M2 .50 Machine Guns built during WWII are still in service. A bunch of them have also been converted to the quick-change barrel (with fixed headspace) M2A1 variant. I see them regularly, many built by Kelsey Hayes Wheel, AC Spark Plug, and a few by Colt and Savage.

 

[arfmel]

We were still running a “Union Lock Stitch” sewing machine from that era at the saddlery I retired from 18 months ago. It took a good deal of fiddling to keep it working, though.

 

[toysoldier]

I have read that there are still a number of Bailey bridges in use on back roads in Europe.

 

[bobski]

along the lines of what arfmel said.... singer 31-15 light duty sewing machines are still used in paralofts in the military and in civilian use worldwide. parts are in abundance.

 

[caryc]

I just found out that The Wizard boat from Deadliest catch was built for WW2. Obviously it’s been updated but it’s still 75 years old!

Makes me wonder how many other pieces of equipment from the war are still in service.

Not museum or parade pieces but actual working equipment. Anybody know of any others?

I've been aware of that for a long time. While I was in Viet Nam, I spent some time on the floating dry dock they had there. It was fueled up from time to time by the YO (yard oiler) which would pull up along side and hook up their hoses to pump fuel aboard the dry dock. I don't remember the YO's number but it very well could have been the YO-210 that Keith Colburn purchased and converted to a crab boat. There was also a YW-? which was the exact same craft but it delivered fresh water.

Here's a further interesting tidbit. While the AD-36 destroyer tender that I was on was taken into dry dock for some work in Long Beach, there was another dry dock right next to us that had an old coastal mine sweeper in it. They were ripping all the super structure off of it and converting it to a yacht for civilian use. This was to become the "Galloping Goose" owned by none other than John Wayne.

 

[bobski]

i believe they still issue brown leather flight jackets to pilots in the navy.

 

[Fox Mike]

My dad worked at John Trump & Sons boat builders in Annapolis. During the war they built Vospers, using the British design. He spoke often of going on them for 'sea trials and shakedown' trips on the Chesapeake Bay. I wonder if any of them are still around across the pond?

 

[eveled]

Bostons Duck tours were WW2 vintage, last I knew (almost 15 years ago now). They use them pretty conservatively, mainly on land with just a very gentle soaking in the calm Charles River for the affect.
I have a 1943 mfg. Mauser 98 that still does service...though now for deer.

Boston is were I road on one with my family 3 years ago. It was a new copy, the driver told me all the ww2 ones were out of service.

I remember during the blizzard of 78 the National Guard used duck boats to rescue people in Revere.

 

[Goldstar225]

Bostons Duck tours were WW2 vintage, last I knew (almost 15 years ago now). They use them pretty conservatively, mainly on land with just a very gentle soaking in the calm Charles River for the affect.
I have a 1943 mfg. Mauser 98 that still does service...though now for deer.

Boston is were I road on one with my family 3 years ago. It was a new copy, the driver told me all the ww2 ones were out of service.

I remember during the blizzard of 78 the National Guard used duck boats to rescue people in Revere.

Some WWII DUKW's are still in service. The one that sank in Branson in 2018 (taking 17 lives) was manufactured in 1944. It was taken onto the water as severe weather rolled in that overwhelmed it. The captain has been criminally charged in the incident.

 

[Rick Courtright]

There's at least one, and I think maybe two WWII era PT boats that are still being used as Party sportfishing boats out in San Diego.

Hi,

I'll bet you've seen this one a time or three, RH! The Wild Goose, John Wayne's converted minesweeper, is still in use by a private company (Hornblower) for day and evening harbor cruises out of Newport Bay, weddings, and other festive events. She was built in 1943, decommissioned from military service in 1946. From there she went into private hands around 1948. The stories vary on whether the Duke bought her in 1962 or '63, and he owned her until just before his death. I lived on Balboa Island around 1977-78 and she was berthed near his home on Lido Island, a stone's throw away. At 136 feet, she was hard to miss in that relatively small harbor. JW passed away about a year later in '79. She's registered on the National Register of Historic Places, too.

I've got two Mosin Nagant M-44s. One was built in '45, the other in '46, so the first one may have seen WWII service. Both are pretty raggedy so they certainly weren't armory queens. They go to the range now and then. A buddy has a 1943 Springfield 03-A3 that was bought, then sporterized, in the days we could buy such things off the back pages of magazines. The metal looks like it may never have been issued. Sure shoots well.

And I fired up a Coleman lantern the other day, thinking of taking it on our New Year's camping trip. It lit right up and burned nicely. 1939 date stamp.

ETA: my favorite dove gun, a 1930 L.C. Smith 20 ga SxS, got its most recent limit a few weeks ago on Sept 1, Opening Day. I wonder how many openers it saw before I got it. It's seen about 30 of the 35 or so seasons I've had it. First time I ever fired it in the field, I got a bird. Last time, I got one, too. Of course, a few were missed in between!

Rick C

 

[Taterman]

There's at least one, and I think maybe two WWII era PT boats that are still being used as Party sportfishing boats out in San Diego.

Hi,

I'll bet you've seen this one a time or three, RH! The Wild Goose, John Wayne's converted minesweeper, is still in use by a private company (Hornblower) for day and evening harbor cruises out of Newport Bay, weddings, and other festive events. She was built in 1943, decommissioned from military service in 1946. From there she went into private hands around 1948. The stories vary on whether the Duke bought her in 1962 or '63, and he owned her until just before his death. I lived on Balboa Island around 1977-78 and she was berthed near his home on Lido Island, a stone's throw away. At 136 feet, she was hard to miss in that relatively small harbor. JW passed away about a year later in '79. She's registered on the National Register of Historic Places, too.

I've got two Mosin Nagant M-44s. One was built in '45, the other in '46, so the first one may have seen WWII service. Both are pretty raggedy so they certainly weren't armory queens. They go to the range now and then. A buddy has a 1943 Springfield 03-A3 that was bought, then sporterized, in the days we could buy such things off the back pages of magazines. The metal looks like it may never have been issued. Sure shoots well.

And I fired up a Coleman lantern the other day, thinking of taking it on our New Year's camping trip. It lit right up and burned nicely. 1939 date stamp.

Rick C

Cool info Rick. Do you have any pics of the lantern?

 

[toysoldier]

Any ship can be a minesweeper---once.