Australian Army Ambulances

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

Does anyone know whether there were any other types of ambulance in operation by the Australian Army between the World War II CMP Ford and Chevrolet or Jeep ambulances and the introduction of the Series 2 and 2A Land Rover in the 1960s?

Here are some photographs from World War II to the 1960s... all sourced from the Australian War Memorial Collections accessed June 15th 2018, from:

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C196293 (Jeep)
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C203029 (Ford)
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C51074 (Land Rover).

Kind regards
Lionel

[Mike Cecil]

Yes.

How about 'lots' as an answer? Not in the office to be more definitive.

The AWM collection of images is primarily interested/focused on war and warlike operations, so much of the peace-time equipment is not featured/recorded.

Mike

[Richard Farrant]

Mike Cecil wrote a two part article on Australian ambulances for KVE News about 4 years ago, I have attached a direct link to it here, it is on the Corowa Swim-In website. This is Part 1 ;

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/49442...c2c8340657.pdf

As you will see in the download there were some Austin K2 ambulances in service in Australia during WW2.

Part 2, which covers from 1956 to 2012 is here:

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/49442...a03c3c1681.pdf


regards, Richard

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Hi Lionel,
Austin Champ (including the Australian army) had a kit that enabled two stretchers to be carried lengthwise behind the driver, this included an extension for the soft top so they were enclosed. Some kits were a curio found in the surplus sales unused, and involved a lot of head scratching to work out how it all worked. I have seen one poor photo of an ambulance Champ lined up in convoy, having trouble locating it though.
So this would be 1956 and a very brief period after....
Rich.
Additional- Can't find the Aussy pic, but this is a British one, would have been the same kit.

[Mike Cecil]

Thanks Richard, for the links. I had a feeling I had written something on ambulances in general, but couldn't remember the 'when and what'!!

Mike

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

Thank you Richard plus Richard and especially Mike for providing such detailed information. Thank you Richard F for sending the links to Mike's two articles.

Kind Regards
Lionel

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

After an eight year search and a couple of disappointments I have a 1963 Land Rover 2A Ambulance sitting at my home. After some research and links with a number of people I have obtained photographs of the ambulance during its military service. I also have met one of the Ambulance's former medics.

I took the liberty to give the ambulance a name... "Lazarus". This is because it has had a hard life since its military days to the extent it will require a LOT of work to bring it back to fine fettle.

Part of the after military life involved trips along beaches. Unfortunately this did not involve being hosed off after such trips. The result is a "Swiss Cheese" effect where there are more rust holes than metal in the bulkhead/firewall. I took a round trip of 8 hours last weekend to secure a replacement bulkhead.

The engine will need a rebuild. When I pulled out the dipstick it brought up a nice yoghurt coating. All in all it is a "long-term" project.

Its Army Registration Number (ARN) according to the nomenclature plates was 112-211. The vehicle was attached to the 11th Field Ambulance Transport The cabin doors still have a stencil showing "11 FD AMB TPT".

The last photograph is an one of the "in-service" shots. The bloke sitting on top of the ambulance is Chris; and he paid had a reunion with his old ambulance here at home about a month ago.

Kind regards
Lionel

Home 1.jpg Home 2.jpg Ambulance Pick-up (2) July 15th 2018.jpg Chris Ambo In-Service 112-211.jpg

[Paul Dutton]

Unusual on the jeep picture. The British ambulance jeep moved the rear wheel to the front grill, better use of space as two stretchers can fit on the bottom, two on the top and if need be, one across the bonnet (hood&#128540

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Paul Dutton

Unusual on the jeep picture. The British ambulance jeep moved the rear wheel to the front grill, better use of space as two stretchers can fit on the bottom, two on the top and if need be, one across the bonnet (hood&#128540

As the Australian jeep ambulances were working in the jungles of New Guinea, putting the spare wheel in front of the radiator would inhibit cooling in a hot climate and slow speeds.

[rupert condick]

Hi Lionel
Makes used in Australia,
Dodge,International, Austin,Ford, Chevrolet,GMC.
overseas,
could be anything,
Morris commercial,
I will see if I can attach some pics, I am not good on makes.

ambulance 3.jpg IMG_7264.jpg ambulance 1.jpg 063838--2-_2.jpg


regs Rupert

[Konstantin Chernov]

In these photos - the Australian army ?
1.Chevrolet M1941. The numeric index is unknown to me.
2.British Ford E018T ?
3.Chevrolet CC60L.