Virginia Memory, Library of Virginia
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THIS DAY IN VIRGINIA HISTORY

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April 22, 1943

1/4-ton 4x4 Truck, Newport News, Virginia, U.S. Army Signal Corps, Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation, April 22, 1943, Computer file: 1995, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

An Amphibious 4x4 Truck Was Demonstrated

Second Lieutenant R. C. Irons of the Motor Transport Office demonstrated a quarter-ton 4x4 truck, driving it through the bay at Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation. When photographed, the truck had a record of staying under water for 71 minutes, and its depth of submersion was only limited by the length of the exhaust pipe and the deep sea diving equipment of the driver. The submersible truck was just one of the technologies being explored during World War II.