Duck!!

Following a fire on one of them on the Thames, "duck boats" are in the news - so what are they, and why are they so called?  Well, they're amphibious people-carriers, designed back in the War for use in situations where transport over land and water was required.  On land, it ran on six wheels and in water the engine drove a single screw at the rear.  Familiarly known as the "duck" its official designation was DUKW which looks as though it should be an acronym of something, but is in fact just a series of letters describing its function and features. I have to say I'm surprised that there are any still around - my recollection is that they didn't have a particularly good name for reliability back then,