Rover Light Armoured Car

Rover Light Armoured Car

Rover Light Armoured Car in Royal Australian Armoured Corps Tank Museum, Puckapunyal, Victoria, Australia.
Type Armoured car
Place of origin  Australia
Specifications
Weight Mk1 5.2 tonnes, Mk2 5 tonnes
Length Mk1 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in)
Mk2 5.6 m (18 ft 4 in)
Width 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in)
Height 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in)
Crew 5 (Commander, Driver, 2 Gunners, Wireless operator)
Armor 16 mm
Main
armament
 0.303 (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun
Secondary
armament
 0.303 (7.7 mm) Bren LMG
Engine Ford V8
95 hp (71 kW)
Power/weight 19 hp/tonne
Suspension 4x4, leaf spring

The Light Armoured Car (Aust), also known as Rover, was an armoured car produced in Australia during the Second World War.

History and description

At the outbreak of World War II the United Kingdom was unable to meet the needs of the Commonwealth for armored fighting vehicles. It led many Commonwealth countries to develop their own AFVs.

A Light Armoured Car in 1942

The Rover was designed in 1941. It used Ford 3-ton Canadian Military Pattern truck chassis, either F60L or the shorter F60S. The armoured bodies were produced by Ruskin Motor Bodies of Melbourne. The production was stopped in 1943, a total of 238 cars were built.

The Rover entered service with the Australian army in April 1942. It never saw combat and was used mostly for crew training. A long narrow opening at the top of the hull earned the vehicle a nickname: "mobile slit trench". Late in 1943 Australia started to receive US-made armoured cars and the Rover was soon declared obsolete.

There are two restored Rover Mk II cars on display in Australian museums, at the National Military Vehicle Museum in Edinburgh Parks and at the Royal Australian Armoured Corps Tank Museum at Puckapunyal, Victoria.

Variants

References

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