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Origins
Oshkosh's MB-5 of 1968 served where failure wasn't survivable: a purpose-built aircraft rescue and firefighting truck for the US Navy's airfields, pumping foam within seconds of alarm across decades of service. Oshkosh's severe-duty specialisation — born in all-wheel-drive pioneering and matured in military logistics — made such single-purpose machines its signature. The MB-5 generation established crash-truck credentials that evolved into today's Striker airport giants. Vehicles like this rarely enter enthusiast memory, yet every safe emergency landing of the era stood on their readiness — engineering as insurance, idling by the runway. Insurance you hope never to claim, engineered by people who assumed you would. Naval air stations kept them polished and ready through decades in which their finest hour was never needing one.
Fire truck aboard the USS Kitty Hawk · Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain
