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Armoured Ambulances


fv1609

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Here are a couple of German ones - modern I know, but they'll eventually be "historic". They were displayed at the RETTmobil in Fulda, an ambulance expo, where the Bundeswehr now takes an active part.

 

Mowag Duro IIIP - known as YAK

2905S-Hr71.jpg

 

Thyssen-Henschel Fuchs

2905S-Hr61.jpg

2905D-Hr62A.jpg

 

And a couple of shots of a US Army M113A3

4101-M113-5A.jpg

4101-M113-5B.jpg

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Knowing you Clive it'll be the Pig with the cammo net on top?

 

Yes Chris spot on (one for your 'Originality' thread!). When I first saw it 25 years ago I thought it looked the business as the owner intended us to think. Now it I find rather embarassing. First of all lets get this one out of the way, an owner can do what they like to their vehicle etc etc.

 

But this thing was on public display giving the impression to everyone (& Heaven help some modeller if he copied this) that it is an accurate restoration. The owner went to considerable effort in working on this vehicle, it has had several changes of ownership. It has recently undergone a suberb restoration to a standard of finish that I could not achieve. It doesn't have all the 'stuff' on it but it is still portayed as an ambulance which it never was.

 

You know something is up when you see a large Government Property 'Pheon' on the door, lots of marking & accessories everywhere make's one suspicious. The main points are:

 

The ERM displayed is of an ambulance, but the ERM does not match the ERM of this vehicle which is a FV1611B not a FV1613.

Suffix 'B' means it should have a winch, which it indeed does have. No ambulances had winches.

There should be two rear steps this only has one.

The doors on an ambulance open fully to allow easier stretcher access, this one has limit blocks as on a FV1611.

The rear door should be marked with a large Red Cross.

The interior has just bare metal sides, not the panels packed with insulating material that an ambulance has.

The interior lockers & fittings were absent.

 

Those are the main points, I know of only one genuine FV1613 Mk 1 that is in NI & owned by a forum member who's not been on for a while. Come on Wilson show us what a real Pig Ambulance should look like!

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  • 3 months later...
Yes interesting conversion, not that it ever went to Northern Ireland.

 

i believe Dover was the most exciting thing for this Landy, converted after release by your good self if i'm right?

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i believe Dover was the most exciting thing for this Landy,

It was indeed.

 

 

converted after release by your good self if i'm right?
I sold it to Mark Cook (of Lightweight book fame) who sold it to Tony Hayter (exMVT vehicle verification officer). It was Tony who fitted the VPK & was way ahead of his time, 25 years ago putting on a NI IS display with ambulance, Ferret & Pig in NI role.

 

The ambulance has had many changes of ownership. In fact the current owner wants to convert it to a camper but wants to preserve the VPK. She realises the VPK is of historical value & has offered to swap bits with a non VPK ambulance so someone gets the benefit of the kit.

 

She has posted this offer on HMVF & EMLRA, but AFIK nobody has taken up her offer.

 

This is how it looked when I had it straight out of service.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/fv1620/30FJ2001.jpg

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  • 1 year later...

Dad is ex 1st Bt Gren Guards and there is a picture of him in Holywood Barracks standing next to a PIG Ambulance in 1972. There was a Pig Ambulance at War & Peace last year and there is one at the Medical Corps museum in Surrey.

 

The reason the pigs were done as Ambulances was because of them being armoured, and that the civvy ambulances were being shotup when called out to disturbances. Alot of pigs were painted up over night as Ambulances as Lord Richard Cecil who at the time was Captain of the Grenadier Guards ordered them to be painted up to go out with the patrols. These just had make shift stretchers in them and field dressings and kits.

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Dad is ex 1st Bt Gren Guards and there is a picture of him in Holywood Barracks standing next to a PIG Ambulance in 1972. There was a Pig Ambulance at War & Peace last year and there is one at the Medical Corps museum in Surrey.

 

So was it a Mk 1 or Mk2 at that stage? Would be nice to see it, any chance of posting on here? The one at W&P was never an Ambulance FV1613 in fact it is in the start of the original thread when I first started seeing it 25-30 years ago.

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  • 1 year later...

I would have gone for the Saracen as well, simply because it still has its turret.

I was under the impression turrets were removed for the ambulance role....am I wrong then ? :undecided:

 

Best regs.........H

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turret 2.jpg

I would have gone for the Saracen as well, simply because it still has its turret.

I was under the impression turrets were removed for the ambulance role....am I wrong then ? :undecided:

 

Best regs.........H

Saracen ambulances used in Northern Ireland at first had turrets but as time went on they were removed.I dont know the reason for that though,regards,Jasper.

turret 1.jpg

no turret.jpg

Edited by jasper
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The EMER for conversion to ambulance role was first issued in April 1975. There is no mention of removing the turret.

 

Yet in 1976 an EMER for additional padding in the ambulance shows a diagram but with no turret. A parallel instruction for the APC does show a turret.

 

So were the turrets removed in 1975-76?

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