Does anyone have a photo of a Bedford OXD used as an 'armoured' vehicle

[LarryH57]

The RAF made use of the Bedford OXD for airfield defence circa 1941.

The OXD had a wooden fighting box on the rear compartment full of pebbles and sand and I am looking for photos of one. The Bedford OXD is not to be confused with the Bedford OXA with a 'steel body' and Boys AT rifle or the 3 Ton Bedford OY with a 1.5 pdr COW Gun.

I cannot find any photos on the web

[MatchFuzee]

There is the Mk1 Armadillo armoured fighting vehicle, using a wide range of trucks conscripted from civilian service

The box exterior was made of 7⁄8 inch (22 mm) thick wooden boards measuring about 4 feet (1.2 m) by 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) and standing 4 feet 6 inches (1.37 m) high. Inside this was another, similar wooden box about 6 in (150 mm) smaller all round; the gap between the boxes was filled with gravel.

The Mk III was fitted with the 37mm COW. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillo_armoured_fighting_vehicle

[RAFMT]

As Matchfuzee said, it sounds like one the many and varied Armadillos.  

[LarryH57]

This may be a Bedford OXD or an OY.

It was of a type created for the Army in the despirate days after the fall of France in 1940, but as you can see from the RAF roundel, it is now serving with the RAF,  but still carries its WD serial

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by LarryH57

[MatchFuzee]

https://www.historicalfirearms.info/post/100354223275/the-armadillo-the-armadillo-was-an-armoured

[LarryH57]

That's an interesting photo, and my guess is that they are converting a supply of various ex-civilian types into an Armadillo, all to the same design of the rear fighting compartment. However, the Bedford OY and OXD designs all look to be conversions of existing / new military vehicles, so were they converted once the war situation had calmed down a bit?

Edited October 1, 2023 by LarryH57

[simon king]

The Chilwell list suggests that L216357 is an OY

[LarryH57]

Thanks Simon.

BTW - is the Chilwell list online somewhere?

[Richard Farrant]

The photo is of a Armadillo Mk2 on an OY. It had a 37mm anti aircraft gun mounted on it firing HE shells,

Picture here is from Military Trucks Archive - Bedford book

[LarryH57]

I am familiar with these as there was one at RAF Christchurch in 1941 and I have a shell case from the COW gun. The RAF ground gunners also had two Bedford OXDs to fight off any German Paratroopers dressed as Nuns. Back up was also provided by the Air Defence Experimenal Establishment with a Dodge type lorry called Tubby the Tank Buster, mounting a canon from a WW1 'Male' tank side gun position.

Edited October 1, 2023 by LarryH57

[MatchFuzee]

On 10/1/2023 at 10:43 AM, LarryH57 said:

That's an interesting photo, and my guess is that they are converting a supply of various ex-civilian types into an Armadillo, 

From the link in my earlier reply:-

The MkI Armadillos used requisitioned civilian commercial trucks

[LarryH57]

I found another couple Bedford OYs converted to an Armadillo 2

The similar one to this on OXD  obviously had a shorted rear tub 

And also a strange RAF Armoured Lorry, said to have plastic armour?

[MatchFuzee]

3 hours ago, LarryH57 said:

And also a strange RAF Armoured Lorry, said to have plastic armour?

Not what most people would think of as "plastic" :-

The first version of Plastic Armour had between 55-60% of its weight as stone chippings, between 6-8% of bitumen and the remainder of the weight made up of limestone powder. 

The complete article:-

http://overlord-wot.blogspot.com/2020/10/plastic-fantastic-part-2.html

[LarryH57]

Have you told anyone in Ukraine about this product?