The M6 Bomb Service Truck is a

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

that was produced by

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The M6 was a 4x4 truck that was used to tow M5 Bomb Trailers around on airfields. It could move up to five M5 trailers at once. It either used a Beebee winch, a Holan Hoist, or a modified version of the Braden winch. It could also be used to tow ammunition around an ammunition dump. The truck was designated as an M6 Chevrolet Bomb Service Truck. It is believed that Chevrolet produced about 7,000 of these trucks during World War II. It was soon replaced by GMC CCKW-based M27 Bomb Service Truck.

Specifications

The M6 Bomb Service Truck was a 4×4

with a

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

of ,TM 9-2800, p. 88. a width of , and a weight of , when unloaded, and a weight of when loaded.Doyle, p. 96. It was powered by an , six-cylinder,

, engine. The engine had two fuel tanks with a total capacity of and a range of .TM 9-765, p. 134, p. 267.

Design and use

The M6 Bomb Service Truck, unlike many other trucks in its family, had an open cab with no solid roof and no doors. It normally had a

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...

roof over the driver's compartment. In hotter areas, the canvas roof could be removed and the

windshield The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. Mo ...

folded down for extra ventilation. It had a rear area where it could carry ammunition, since it could be used in ammunition dumps to carry ammunition around the dump. The M6 also was equipped with a winterization kit that included: an insulated battery box with a heating coil, a gasoline heater to heat the battery, and a petcock for the bottom of the fuel tank (for easy releasing of cold air and pressure from the gasoline tank).

Winches and hoists used

Before mid-1943, the M6 was not equipped with a spare tire and had a Beebee hoist, while after mid-1943 the Beebee hoist was replaced with either a Holan hoist or a modified version of the Braden winch.Hogg, p. 89, p. 131. With the winches and hoists, the M6 could haul up to five M5 Bomb Trailers at once around airfields.Doyle, p. 97.Farmer, p. 515.

Production history

7,000 M6s were produced by Chevrolet in

from 1942 to September 1944. It ended production because a new bomb truck, the M27, which was based on the GMC CCKW, entered production.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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Government documents

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Journal

* {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Military trucks of the United States Chevrolet trucks Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944