Recovery of a LVT-4 Amphibious Vehicle from the 1947 Crowland Flood Event

The LVT-4 “Buffalo” amphibious vehicle, one of approximately 30 brought in to act as an emergency flood defense in Crowland, Lincolnshire, in 1947. The vehicle has been well preserved by a mixture of peat and clay. With the vehicle being 26ft long and roughly 13 tons its fair to say it was mammoth task. A joint project between Daniel Abbott (Chairman of Crowland Buffalo LVT), North Level District I.D.B, Crowland Cranes and Tears Recovery means this piece of local history is now uncovered. In 5 days from start to finish the vehicle was found and recovered using a 360° long reach excavator and two HGV recovery trucks.

The vehicle is currently being cleaned and refurbished, then stored and displayed within Crowland.

Music Credit:
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

[pbrobotspbrobots]

what a great story, hope you get the other ones out as well.

[ashleyflint]

Great effect by everyone involved, they should be proud of their achievement, great stuff !

[Dog.soldier]

This appears to be A LVT-4 by the presents of the rear ramp. Used in all amphibious landings in the Pacific. Marines called them AMTRACKS for amphibious tractors

[yavonae]

It is mind boggling to contemplate the millions of tanks, cities, homes, jewels, animals, and people still unearthed...
Centuries of life buried in layers of earth.

[noelwhittle]

If you Guys go looking for another one do what the Eastern Europeans do and have some high pressure water pump washers ready for when it gets out of the hole. That is the best opportunity to blow out all the clay while its still wet and save a heap of manual cleaning effort later on when it bakes hard in all those nooks and crannys.

[brucelamberton]

Very interesting and good to see the old beast saved, but it's not a tank

[lorrainedimmock]

Remember seeing a picture in a military magazine, showing dozens of these vehicles dumped of a hillside, all in a huge pile, somewhere on a Pacific island....anyone know where it was ..?

[ogaugeclockwork]

Ross, if you’re looking for parts try Upton Engineering in Corowa, NSW, Australia. They used to have a number of Buffaloes in their scrap yard.

[buellzebub]

I've watched the other videos on YouTube and read the write-up. I understand it got washed away, so sorry if it's a daft question, but how did it get to be so deep below the surface?