British Army Scammell S26
 

Have just been discussing the Demountable Rack Offload and Pickup System (DROPS) system developed for the British Army and according to Wikipedia introduced in the 1990's.

The Leyland DAF 8X6 and the Foden seemed to be the only units used.

Were any of the Scammell S26 8X6 units configured for DROPS and when were they built? And/or was there a similar system used before DROPS?

Diana

Diana,
Scammell S26 and the Leyland chassis/cab used for DROPS are virtually one and the same, except for axle configurations and slight cab differences. The trials DROPS were badged Scammell if I recollect (and 6x6)and we also had Scammell S26 6x6 tippers with loader grab/crane. Both had similar Perkins Eagle engines, the S26 tipper was a manual box and the DROPS had a ZF auto box. It was a time when I think the Scammell name had been dropped and Unipower had taken over the business, cannot remember the exact timeline of all this happening. DROPS went to the Gulf War 1 pretty much as it entered service. I was on a DROPS repair and diagnostics course in early 1991 and we started getting them into our workshops at the height of the Bosnia campaign, all were roll overs and needed totally rebuilding and sending back out there.

There was another system that was trialled by British Army some years before, called Ampliroll and made by Reynolds Boughton group, it was mounted on the in-service Foden 16 tonne 8x4 chassis but did not actually see service, maybe only in user trials, cannot confirm.

There was another chassis with DROPS mounted, that was a Terex frame-steer dumptruck chassis, and used by the Royal Engineers on construction site work, would think there were few of these. Multilift, makers of DROPS advertised them on other chassis's, including a bonneted Kenworth.

regards, Richard

Diana,
The production run would not have been earlier than 1989 IIRC. Seem to recollect when we were rebuilding them in 1994, that we were fitting new cabs that were taken from the production line, as the need was so urgent. Don't forget also, that they are all Left hand drive.