Kenworth 10-ton 6x6 heavy wrecking truck

The Kenworth 10-ton 6x6 heavy wrecking truck, officially the Heavy Wrecking Truck M1, was the standard heavy recovery vehicle of the United States Army during the Second World War. The Army Ordnance Corps standardised the chassis in 1940 and gave the wrecker contracts to Kenworth Motor Truck Corp. and Ward LaFrance Truck Corp. Ward LaFrance began building in 1941 and produced 4,925 trucks, while Kenworth started in 1942 and, because of interruptions in manufacturing, built only 840. After the 1943 upgrade to the M1A1 standard the two makers' chassis were mechanically identical and their parts interchangeable. Power came from a Continental 22-R six-cylinder gasoline engine of 501 cubic inches, and the Garwood-built wrecking body carried a rotating boom, outriggers and heavy winches. After the war the rating dropped from 10 tons to 6 tons, and in the 1950s 5-ton wreckers replaced the type.