BAV-485

History

During World War II the Soviet Union received 586 DUKW amphibious trucks from the United States under Lend-Lease, and the design was judged successful enough to build at home ^[1]. After the war the Soviet automotive industry was ordered to produce a domestic version, and design work began in late 1948 at the Dnepropetrovsk Automobile Plant (DAZ) under chief designer Vitaly Grachev ^[2][5]. The first prototype, the DAZ-485, was ready for trials by 1950 and used parts from the GAZ-63 and ZIS-151 trucks and the BTR-152 armored carrier ^[2]. After trials on the Dnieper River and the Black Sea it was approved for mass production in 1951, and Grachev and colleagues received a Stalin Prize for it ^[2][5].

Series production began at the ZIS factory in Moscow in 1952, with hulls made at the former DAZ plant ^[1][2]. When ZIS was renamed in 1956 the vehicle became the ZIL-485, and from 1958 the improved ZIL-485A used parts of the ZIL-157 truck ^[1][2][3]. According to Wikipedia, ZIL stopped production in 1959 after building 2,005, and a planned transfer to the Bryansk Automobile Plant produced only 24 more by 1962 ^[1]. The army designation BAV comes from the Russian for large floating vehicle, and its small partner, the four-wheeled GAZ-46, was known as the MAV ^[1][3].

The BAV served with Soviet units, including airborne battalions and naval infantry, and with the Polish Army, and it was used elsewhere in the Warsaw Pact and the Middle East into the 1980s ^[1][2][4]. It could carry guns up to 85 mm caliber, a 122 mm howitzer or a light vehicle such as the GAZ-69 ^[2]. The tracked PTS amphibian, introduced in 1965 with about twice the cargo capacity, gradually replaced it, and by the late 1970s the remaining trucks were worn out ^[2][4]. Some later worked in civilian rescue and tourism roles ^[2].

Design and how it works

The BAV follows the DUKW layout: a watertight welded steel hull on a 6x6 truck chassis, with a propeller and rudder at the stern for use in water ^[1][2]. Unlike the DUKW, it has a folding rear tailgate and a cargo deck enlarged by about one third, to about 10.4 square meters (112 sq ft), so loads could be driven or rolled aboard instead of lifted over the side ^[1][2]. A central tire inflation system let the driver lower tire pressure for sand and mud ^[2].

A 1970 survey in the Soviet motoring magazine Za Rulem gave the ZIL-485 a six-cylinder engine of 5,550 cc and 110 hp, an empty weight of 7,150 kg (15,760 lb), a payload of 2,500 kg (5,500 lb), a length of 9.54 m (31 ft 4 in), and speeds of 60 km/h (37 mph) on land and 10 km/h (6 mph) in water ^[3]. The original model was shorter, at 8.6 m (28 ft 3 in) ^[1][2]. Afloat it could carry 28 troops or up to 3 t of cargo, according to one detailed history ^[2].

Legacy

The BAV is a direct example of a wartime Lend-Lease design being copied and improved for postwar Soviet production ^[1][2]. No true wheeled successor was built, since the Soviet Army turned to tracked amphibians such as the PTS ^[2]. Preserved examples are displayed at the Lubuskie Military Museum in Drzonów and the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw, Poland, and at the national museum of World War II history in Kyiv, Ukraine ^[1][4].

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