Light Armoured Car Rover (Mobile Slit Trench)
Light Armoured Car (Aust), also known as Rover, was an armoured car produced in Australia during World War II. The Rover was designed in 1941. It utilized Ford 3-ton CMP truck chassis, either F60L or shorter F60S. The armoured bodies were produced by Ruskin Motor Bodies Pty Ltd 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 crews training. A long narrow opening at the top of the hull earned the vehicle a nickname "mobile slit trench".
This is probably the least known of Australia's armoured cars that went into production.
The Light Armoured Car Rover was built on either of two Ford 3ton CMP truck chassis. The 1941 F60L chassis of 158.25 inch wheel base, or the 1942 F60S chassis of 134.25 inch wheel base. With a Australian designed and built armoured body. A total of 238 Rover Armoured Cars were eventually built, of these 198 were of the shorter wheel base. The Commonwealth registration for these vehicles started at 77501.
The difference in wheel base made for the long wheel base vehicles to be known as Rover Mk 1 and the short wheel base vehicles as Rover Mk 2.
The armoured body was an angular full length design consisting of three main compartments: engine driving and fighting. The hull was manufactured in two main sections consisting of the engine protection and cowling at the front, with the driving and fighting compartments behind. The driving and fighting compartments were constructed as a single unit. The sharply angled sides and rear armour gave the vehicle a very characteristic profile. Which aided shot deflection.
The driving compartment housed the driver on the right and the commander on the left. Both crew members were given vision slots with moveable shutters in the side walls of the compartment, and observation ports in the frontal armour. Mounted below the inside edge of the left hand shutter was a gun mount for either a Vickers MMG or BREN LMG. The compartment was fully enclosed and surmounted by a full width rectangular superstructure. The driving compartment was partially separated from the fighting compartment by a bulkhead. This had a a central opening to allow access between the compartments, and the flat of the bulkhead was used to mount various items of equipment.
The fighting compartment was semi open in so far as it had cyclone wire hinged covers along its length. These were to stop hand grenades being lobbed into the vehicle. The narrowness of the roof gave rise to it's other unofficial title of Mobile Slit Trench.
The Rover was designed as an emergency measure in 1941. Ruskin Motor Bodies Pty Ltd, of Melbourne built the experimental body of the first Rover.
Series production began during February 1942 and first production models started in March 1942. In April 1942 the short wheel base Rover was started and shortly after the production of the long wheel base Rover was terminated.
By 28 February 1943, 217 Rover Light Armoured Cars were delivered to the Army. These consisted of 40 Mk-1 vehicles and 177 Mk-2 vehicles.
The Rover entered service with the Australian army in April 1942. The 2/2 Brigade reconnaissance squadron of the 1st Armoured Division was one of the first units to Receive the Rover in April 1942.
Other units to be equipped with the Rover were:
At the out break of war vehicles were generally painted green as in the photos above. The official camouflage was introduced in January 1942. A two colour scheme was introduced using Light stone and Khaki green. Later this was amended to Light Earth and Khaki Green. Vehicles with the earlier scheme were not re painted unless it was inappropriate for the area or they went in for maintenance. In 1943 this changed to a three colour scheme with overall Vehicle Medium Green and vehicle Dark Green and Vehicle Grey disruptive camouflage.
This is probably the least known of Australia's armoured cars that went into production.
The Light Armoured Car Rover was built on either of two Ford 3ton CMP truck chassis. The 1941 F60L chassis of 158.25 inch wheel base, or the 1942 F60S chassis of 134.25 inch wheel base. With a Australian designed and built armoured body. A total of 238 Rover Armoured Cars were eventually built, of these 198 were of the shorter wheel base. The Commonwealth registration for these vehicles started at 77501.
The difference in wheel base made for the long wheel base vehicles to be known as Rover Mk 1 and the short wheel base vehicles as Rover Mk 2.
The armoured body was an angular full length design consisting of three main compartments: engine driving and fighting. The hull was manufactured in two main sections consisting of the engine protection and cowling at the front, with the driving and fighting compartments behind. The driving and fighting compartments were constructed as a single unit. The sharply angled sides and rear armour gave the vehicle a very characteristic profile. Which aided shot deflection.
The driving compartment housed the driver on the right and the commander on the left. Both crew members were given vision slots with moveable shutters in the side walls of the compartment, and observation ports in the frontal armour. Mounted below the inside edge of the left hand shutter was a gun mount for either a Vickers MMG or BREN LMG. The compartment was fully enclosed and surmounted by a full width rectangular superstructure. The driving compartment was partially separated from the fighting compartment by a bulkhead. This had a a central opening to allow access between the compartments, and the flat of the bulkhead was used to mount various items of equipment.
The fighting compartment was semi open in so far as it had cyclone wire hinged covers along its length. These were to stop hand grenades being lobbed into the vehicle. The narrowness of the roof gave rise to it's other unofficial title of Mobile Slit Trench.
The Rover was designed as an emergency measure in 1941. Ruskin Motor Bodies Pty Ltd, of Melbourne built the experimental body of the first Rover.
Series production began during February 1942 and first production models started in March 1942. In April 1942 the short wheel base Rover was started and shortly after the production of the long wheel base Rover was terminated.
By 28 February 1943, 217 Rover Light Armoured Cars were delivered to the Army. These consisted of 40 Mk-1 vehicles and 177 Mk-2 vehicles.
The Rover entered service with the Australian army in April 1942. The 2/2 Brigade reconnaissance squadron of the 1st Armoured Division was one of the first units to Receive the Rover in April 1942.
Other units to be equipped with the Rover were:
- 2/11 Armoured Car Regiment
- 6th Armoured Car Regiment
- 12th Armoured Car Regiment By late 1943 the first of the first of the T17E1 Staghound Armoured Cars started to arrive in Australia and the Rover was soon after declared obsolete.
At the out break of war vehicles were generally painted green as in the photos above. The official camouflage was introduced in January 1942. A two colour scheme was introduced using Light stone and Khaki green. Later this was amended to Light Earth and Khaki Green. Vehicles with the earlier scheme were not re painted unless it was inappropriate for the area or they went in for maintenance. In 1943 this changed to a three colour scheme with overall Vehicle Medium Green and vehicle Dark Green and Vehicle Grey disruptive camouflage.