The Australian Armoured Car
Armoured Car fans may be interested in this article I wrote for our Returned Services League newspaper. Ada (my wife) and I are part owners of this unique vehicle.
THE AUSTRALIAN ARMOURED CAR
The production history of these vehicles started with a research and development phase between 1931 to 1933 involving the Munitions Supply Board, the Tank Section of the Small Arms School at Randwick, NSW and the Ordnance Factory at Maribyrnong, Victoria. In November 1934 the experimentation culminated in the production of one LP-1 (Local Pattern) model named Corroboree which was nicknamed Ned Kelly. The hull, made from armour plate supplied by Hadfields of Sheffield, England, was mounted on a 1933 two-wheel drive Ford truck chassis and powered by a 50 horsepower four cylinder Ford engine.
Extensive testing during 1935 proved the LP-1 model was unsuitable as a military vehicle due to its large weight, high centre of gravity, and noise. There was also a severe lack of interior ventilation that was especially dangerous when the mounted .303 calibre Vickers machine gun was fired, causing a high level of cordite fumes and carbon monoxide within the hull.
In 1937 two LP-2 models were produced. One named Billabong, was based on Ford components whilst the second named Boomerang was based on Chevrolet components. The engine in the Ford version was upgraded to a side-valve V8. Weaponry now was a .303 Lewis light machine gun.
In June 1939 six LP-3 models were built and at the turn of 1939/40, nine LP-4 models were built. The LP-3s & LP-4s were almost identical apart from the drive configuration with the LP-4s being equipped with a Marmon Herrington All Wheel Drive Kit making them a four wheel drive vehicle. They were respectively based on 1938 and 1939 Ford truck chassis' and powered by 85 horsepower Ford V8 engines.
The LP-4 models were built at the Railway Workshops at Islington, South Australia.
The list of the 18 armoured cars along with their believed deployment is as follows:
LP-1
¨ DD-220 Corroboree (Ned Kelly)
¨ 1st Armoured Car Regiment, Horsham, Vic.
LP-2
¨ DD-221 Billabong
¨ DD-222 Boomerang
¨ both to the 1st Armoured Car Regiment, Horsham, Vic. However a photograph of Billabong, on exercise in 1940 at Glenfield, NSW suggests either a joint exercise between the 1st & 2nd A/C Regiments or deployment to the 2nd.
LP-3
¨ C-314 Crow
¨ C-315 Curlew
¨ C-316 Cockatoo
¨ C-317 Stingray
¨ C-318 Starfish
¨ C-319 Snake
¨ all believed to the 1st and some later to the 2nd Armoured Car Regiment, Ashfield, NSW.
LP-4
¨ C-6278 Devil
¨ C-6279 Dingo
¨ C-6280 Bandicoot
¨ C-6281 Porcupine
¨ C-6282 Possum
¨ C-6283 Pelican
¨ C-6284 Wolf
¨ C-6285 Wattle
¨ C-6286 Warpath
¨ all believed to the 1st Armoured Car Regiment in Horsham. There is a possibility that Porcupine went to the 2nd as the hull was located in NSW.
The vehicles were declared obsolete during 1942.
The post war history of the Bandicoot is that in 1974, Col Anderson, a military vehicle collector, located the hull on a farm near Elmore in Victoria. It had been stripped of its doors, turret and interior fittings with the original chassis having been cut up and the engine sold for parts. In 1981 the chassis, in poor condition, was found in a wrecking yard in Epsom, Victoria. Restoration began in September 1998 after an unsuccessful 24 years searching for other parts and literature.
The Bandicoot is hybrid vehicle. The hull is believed to be C-317 Stingray on the chassis C-6280 which belonged to Bandicoot. The only other known surviving armoured car is C-6281 Porcupine but it is now only a partial hull.
The Bandicoot is on display in the SA Military Vehicle Museum in Port Adelaide and is available for parades and displays.
(Bibliography - Australian Military Equipment Profiles Vol.3 by Michael K.Cecil and former members of both Armoured Car Regiments)
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