Australian Ingenuity
 

One for the boffins..................Perhaps I will await some responses before sharing what I know............. :)

Airport fire fighting system?

Right so far Robert...

a guess
 

Doctor Who. Series 2, Attack of the Cybermen...?

Seen some pics of this before
 

The devices on the front and rear were designed to bore through the skin of a crashed aircraft for crew rescue.

Obviously the speaker on the top would broadcast: "Danger Will Robinson!"

Hehe nice one.

Mr Whippy for tough neighbourhoods?

Ha ha, I love the responses.
What I know.
Built in the early 1950's at Essendon Airport by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) workshops (obviously) as an airport fire appliance.
Apparently based on a 'White' truck chassis.
Keith you are quite correct the 'circular' saw at the front was intended to cut a hole in the aircraft fuselage allowing the occupants to escape and the aspestos curtains intended to protect occupants from any radiant heat.
Apparently the seat for the monitor operator was an old steel tractor seat.
The shielding is quite likely aluminium.
The kicker was that during trials the tyres caught fire and didn't progress beyond this single vehicle.
I've often wondered if it was a 'white' chassis, what type of truck was it in a former life. Any ideas?
I've got some other images of early DCA fire appliances at Essendon and Moorabbin (the later where I was once stationed), with some old blitzes I'll post in the near future. I hope this was of interest though not strictly military, it is where you can trace their roots. Cheers Tim

I'd be very interested, Tim. I learned to fly at Moorabbin in the early nineties, not long after the fireys were removed.

Cheers,
Matt

The 'thing' does have a military connection; although built to DCA specification, it was built for them by the Australian Army's Experimental & Proving Establishment. The story of the Monegeeta Monster, as it was known, can be found at the Airways Museum website (includes a link to some video of it being trialled):

http://www.airwaysmuseum.com/ARFF%20...%20Monster.htm

Link
 

Thanks for the link Allan and welcome to MLU!

Thanks Allan,

What a great link and better explanation. The name Monegeeta Monster, now rings a bell from older colleagues I worked with. I'm glad there is a good history of a very wierd vehicle. Thanks Tim