Sand channel, PSP, Marsden matting

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by David DeWeese

The photos of the matting shown are of an entirely different design than the PSP aircraft landing mat or Marston mat I'm used to seeing here in the US. Are these a Commonwealth style of aircraft landing mat, or a purpose-built item made for unsticking vehicles in sand?

Yes, most if not all photos in this thread show steel sand channels. They are steel U-section. Designed and used specifically for crossing soft sand patches with vehicles. There also were canvas sand mats, designed and used for the same purpose. These are not Engineers equipment, but vehicle kit.

Sand channels and sand mats have a totally different purpose from the American PSP / Marsden matting (of which the British equivalent was SMT or Square Mesh Track).

HTH,
Hanno

[Jeff Gordon]

This is the US style.
Everywhere you go in the Pacific you will find cattle yards, fences, gates, trailers, you name it, made out of the stuff.
I would like to know how many hundreds of tons of the stuff was made during the war. No wonder there was a metal shortage.
They still use it today but a slightly different profile and I think it is Aluminium now?
Cheers
Jeff
P.S check out the Cab 12!

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by Jeff Gordon

This is the US style.
Everywhere you go in the Pacific you will find cattle yards, fences, gates, trailers, you name it, made out of the stuff.
I would like to know how many hundreds of tons of the stuff was made during the war. No wonder there was a metal shortage.
They still use it today but a slightly different profile and I think it is Aluminium now?
Cheers
Jeff
P.S check out the Cab 12!

During the war the United States made 2,000,000 tons of the stuff. Yes, that's not a typo, as Dr. Evil would say, " Two Meeelliion tons!" They also made PAP (Perforated Aluminum Planking) as well as PSP (perforated Steel Planking) during the war. One will still see lots of PSP to this day as the high Manganese content in the steel alloy has helped preserve the planking.

[cletrac (RIP)]

Let's see; 2000000 tons at 100 pounds per 13 sq feet-----------------that works out to around 13000 acres! Wow!

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by sapper740

During the war the United States made 2,000,000 tons of the stuff..... One will still see lots of PSP to this day as the high Manganese content in the steel alloy has helped preserve the planking.

Any idea how many producer's made the stuff, and if it was only Wartime production? I'd imagine there'd be sufficient war surplus to get through the post-war years, or was there? The rust resistance is true enough, the lengths I have all clearly show the manufacturer's name, but no date:

[David DeWeese]

Hi,
Dug out a couple of different examples of PSP from my junkpile today to see if they had manufacturer's marks also. The short wide one has no markings, but the long one does. Has a government contract number, so I guess it is probably post-war. I always thought they had discontinued making the ones with the holes after jet aircraft were in use.
Thanks, David