Where thier any aircraft transportation truck in world war2?

Question

was thier a truck that would transport aircraft in world war 2

Answer 1

As Victor Ellis said it's unlikely there were any trucks designed to transport Aircraft in WWII.  Even the P-40's sent to Claire Chennault's, Flying Tigers were disassembled and crated for normal cargo transport.  Generally if a plane must be moved from one field to another, even to another continent, it's flown by Ferry Pilots.  If it must be moved about an airfield it's towed or pushed by tractors called, 'Tugs'.

The only instance I know of with provision or necessity to move aircraft quickly is aboard an Aircraft Carrier when there's an emergency requiring the decks to be cleared ASAP.  In WWII this was done by special purpose-built, large, articulated cranes called 'Cherry Pickers'.  (They were so common it was included in model kits that I built as a youngster.)

They were so huge that if the barrier was destroyed during landing operations, the Cherry Picker was used as a barricade to protect aircraft on the forward deck.  (See reference in interview at this site, http://www.wtj.com/articles/brehm/interv...

In WWII lingo, if you crashed you 'lost your cherry'.  I believe that's why the Mobile Crane used to remove the wreck was called the 'Cherry Picker'.   In Today's terminology, Chery Picker is anything from a Bucket Truckt to a movable Stiff Leg.  I've had great difficulty finding references for you.

There's one here, http://www.pacificwrecks.com/people/visi... of using one to move a WWII Relic.  I finally found a picture of one, http://www.strangemilitary.com/content/i... although it's a modern version on the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) it still gives you a idea of the size.

I hope this helps you find the information you need.

Answer 2

The RAF used an articulated

trailer  known as a Queen Mary to transport battle damaged and recovered aircraft .Airfix used to do a model of this.Try ebay too see what it looked like.As yet the new Airfix site doesnt have it listed.

Try looking for the RAF recovery set.

Answer 3

I don't think that there were any trucks designed purely for aircraft transport at that time. Most aircraft were flown wherever they needed to go. A good place to start a search is with Corbitt. I know the Corbitt company built one of our largest trucks of WWII. It was five or six tons, I can't remember which. While they were designed to transport artillery, I've seen a picture in an old calendar of one towing a dismantled P-38 on a trailer. Of course, full sized semis were used in the states for over-size loads like they are today but, again, I don't think there were any dedicated aircraft transports. However, you might find one as, after al,l  there is a lot of information out there, so if you find one, please send me a message about it. I'd like to try and model one.

*EDIT* Thanks, greyfoxx. Here's a link to a picture of that trailer:  

http://www.raf-lichfield.co.uk/Albert%20...