WWII engineer equipment?

And filling in or repairing any battle damage (cratering) that had occured previously. The Bouganville footage at the end of the clip was a case of creating an airfield where none was before. In either case, it was more than just simple occupation for the engineers to get those air strips up and running as was the case in some battles.

stikpusher

Have a look here. From the classic series Victory At Sea, it shows the SeaBees fixing up Munda after its' capture from the Japanse. The first 90 seconds has all sorts of construction equipment of which I can identify only a portion... More is seen at the last minute or so of the clip. Most looks the same as you would see anywhere in the USA at that time and not too different from some current stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suOZtljSxQw

 

 

With Munda it was a matter of using Marsden matting (PSP)and crushed coral to rebuild the runway.

Also on Youtube:  the 804th Aviation Engineer Battalion, Saipan, June 23, 1944.  This one has an added bonus of early P-61 film.  And look for Report From The Aleutians which has the story of building the Aleutian airstrips, and operations from them.

Have a look here. From the classic series Victory At Sea, it shows the SeaBees fixing up Munda after its' capture from the Japanse. The first 90 seconds has all sorts of construction equipment of which I can identify only a portion... More is seen at the last minute or so of the clip. Most looks the same as you would see anywhere in the USA at that time and not too different from some current stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suOZtljSxQw

The Army Aviation Engineering units and the Navy's CB (Sea Bee) units used regular commercial equipment.  Why re-invent something when it already existed.  Just slap green paint on it and ship it overseas.  A D-7 becomes an Army M-1 dozer.

There is an interesting multi-part article/book you can find on Google called Building the Navy's Bases in World War two, or something like that. Concerning the Seabees, the article notes--

"The crushing and screening plant was a portable three unit type with two jaw crushers and one roll crusher, complete with screens, conveyors, bins, diesel-engine power units, and drives. The plant was designed so that a washing attachment could be installed in the third unit, if washed aggregate was needed. The approximate minimum capacity of the plant was 250 tons per hour, of 2¹/2-inch, maximum size product."

So the Seabees definitely had such a critter. The article/book/whatever you want to call it is free and also contains some interesting details about the number and type of other equipment found in a Seabee construction battalion. It's not super detailed, but it's a good start.

I don't think that they would have designed or commissioned special crushers or asphalt plants.  Most of the ones used in the late 30s and 40s were mobile anyway...remember this was at the end of the WPA projects that built thousands of miles of roads (both state, US, and local) across the country.  One of the construction magazines that I receive in my office has a feature each month of historic construction equipment.  There is even a website devoted to it...try googling that and see what you find.