Having read right through this thread again, it seems that not much is known about these larger airfield cranes be they atached to GMC, FWD or C60X.
I must confess that when I was looking at the one on the GMC 6x4 near Tullamarine I had no idea whether the crane was military or civilian. There was nothing to tell that from. Gradually over the years I became aware that it wasn't just a one off. It would also seem that they don't exist anywhere else on the planet so they must be a home grown product.
The questions remain:- Where were they built? Who built them? Was there more than one manufacturer? How many were built? Is anybody attempting to preserve one? And the fellows that knew these things are dying off fast.
That should be a tasty morsel for an archive excavator to chew on.
David
|