Land Rover Military One-Tonne

James Taylor

• Publisher: Crowood
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781847978929
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Military Science & Technology
• Index: Technology & Engineering

A fully illustrated history of the Land Rover 101 One-Tonne - the forward-control military vehicle developed as a gun tractor for the British Army, in production from 1975-1978. This essential guide to these small yet powerful 4 x 4 vehicles covers: production histories; design and prototypes; specification guides; the 101 in British military service between 1975 and 1998; the 101 variants - ambulances, Rapier tractors, hard-bodied versions for electronic warfare and special field conversions; sales to overseas military authorities and, finally, advice on buying and owning a 101 today. Of great interest to Land Rover and military vehicle enthusiasts, historians and owners' clubs and illustrated with 207 original colour photographs.

CHAPTER ONE

ORIGINS

The story of the Land Rover 101 began in 1965, three years before the first prototype was completed and nine years before volume production formally began, with a War Office study into its future vehicle requirements. Among other things, this study highlighted the need for a GS (general service) 4×4 vehicle with a one-ton payload that would fill the gap between the existing Land Rovers with their ¼-ton and ¾-ton ratings and the four-ton Bedford MJ and MK trucks. ‘There are many roles,’ the report on that study read, ‘for which the smaller vehicles are inadequate and the larger one expensive or tactically unacceptable.’

In fact, the War Office already had three types of one-ton vehicle in service, but the Austins and Morrises that were rated with that capacity were elderly designs that were near the end of their service life, and the remaining Humbers had all been converted to armoured ‘Pigs’. So another study was set up to develop a specification for a one-ton vehicle that would meet all the requirements that the War Office could then foresee.

One of these was that the vehicle should be capable of towing a one-ton trailer to give a total train capacity of two tons. Another was that it should be capable of towing the forthcoming 105mm light gun, which, it was already clear, would be too heavy to be towed by existing Land Rovers. At this stage, the War Office was also taking an interest in powered-axle trailers – trailers with an axle driven by the towing vehicle through its tow hitch – and the plan was to have a powered axle on the carriage of the 105mm gun. Behind a 4×4 towing vehicle, the resulting 6×6 combination was expected to give formidable cross-country ability in rough going.

At this time, there was very close liaison between the Rover Company, who built Land Rovers at their factory in Solihull, south-east of Birmingham, and FVRDE, the Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment at Chobham in Surrey. The key figures involved were Cyril Belfitt, who was a civilian in a senior position at FVRDE, and Tom Barton, who ran Land Rover engineering. Rover was only too well aware of the importance of British military contracts to its Land Rover sales, and had established this liaison so that it could react quickly to any new military requirement that came along. It was already experimenting with powered-axle trailers, working in tandem with Scottorn Trailers Ltd, and by 1964 the Scottorn system had become commercially available as a Land Rover approved accessory.

The British armed forces had been using short-wheelbase Land Rovers since the start of the 1950s, but there was a limit to what they could cram into one, as this picture of a 1960s Series IIA 88in model shows. LAND ROVER

There was more room in a 109in long-wheelbase Land Rover, which was also better suited to towing duties. One is seen here on the FVRDE test course at Long Valley, towing a field gun. There was a limit to what the 109 could tow, however, and it was not going to be capable of handling the army’s new 105mm light gun. KEN TWIST, AUTHOR

Also under development in the mid-1960s was a lightweight version of the 88in model, designed to be carried under a Wessex helicopter. Some of the thinking behind this model, usually known simply as the Lightweight, would eventually carry over to the 101 One-Tonne as well. LAND ROVER

THE 110IN GUN TRACTOR

As soon as Rover learned that their existing Land Rovers were not going to be powerful enough to handle the new light gun, they got started on the design of a bigger and more powerful model that would do the job. They were clearly also aware that the new 105mm light gun was expected to have a powered carriage, and so they made sure that the new vehicle incorporated the technology needed to drive it.

As the military had not yet issued a formal requirement for a new vehicle, Rover developed their new Land Rover as a private venture. It ended up being a lot larger and heavier than existing long-wheelbase models, although it was still recognizable as a Land Rover. It was powered by a 3-litre 6-cylinder petrol engine – detuned from its Rover saloon car application – that developed 110bhp, as compared to the 77bhp of the standard 2.25-litre 4-cylinder in existing production Land Rovers. It was rather wider than the standard 109in wheelbase Land Rover and had a slightly longer wheelbase of 110in. Although Rover described it as the ‘proposed British Army ¾-ton Land Rover’, engineering documents show that its payload was actually a full ton.

Land Rover developed this Gun Tractor on a 110in wheelbase specially to meet the anticipated military requirement. It was designed to tow a powered-axle trailer, but it was not what the military wanted. Just two prototypes were built in 1965–66. LAND ROVER, AUTHOR

Nevertheless, the new 110in gun tractor did not incorporate the Scottorn trailer-drive system that Land Rover had been working on. Instead, it incorporated a different system that had been drawn up by the UK military in conjunction with Rubery Owen. The full story of the Scottorn and Rubery Owen trailer-drive systems is explained in the Appendix, but it is clear that Rover had no choice at this stage but to go with the system that the military favoured if they were to win a contract.

FVRDE agreed to take a look at a prototype of this new Land Rover, of which probably only two were ever built in 1965–66. On the Rover side, there were doubts about how well the standard four-speed Land Rover gearbox would hold up behind the 3-litre engine. Earlier experiments with this engine in Land Rovers had shown the gearbox to be a weak link, and in fact the two gun tractor prototypes were later fitted with heavy duty five-speed gearboxes made by ENV.

Sadly, the stronger gearboxes did not make FVRDE any more enthusiastic about the new 110in gun tractor. One key reason was that military thinking had by this time begun to focus on a forward-control design.

THE PRELIMINARIES

This interest in a forward-control design had probably come about because the military wanted maximum carrying space in the vehicle. They had already worked out that the overall length should be around 168in (427cm), and those dimensions had reached Rover in time to guide the design of the 110in gun tractor. That length had been established so that a defined number of vehicles plus trailers could be fitted into the RAF transport aircraft of the time. The next challenge was to arrange the vehicle so that an infantry section of ten men could be fitted into it.

By the end of 1966, FVRDE had produced the first of several full-size wooden mock-ups of the vehicle it wanted. There were at least three of these and one of them was used to test whether the forward-control vehicle could indeed accommodate ten infantrymen with their full complement of equipment. Photographs show that it was a tight squeeze, but they also show mock-ups that bear a striking resemblance in general outline to the eventual production Land Rover 101. FVRDE also made a number of scale models to demonstrate the potential roles of their new forward-control vehicle, and these included personnel carrier, WOMBAT portee, four-stretcher ambulance, missile launcher and mortar carrier.

Airportability was an important part of British military thinking in the 1960s. This is a stripped-out Lightweight being carried under a Wessex helicopter of the RAF. TANK MUSEUM

It is not clear how closely FVRDE and Rover were working together at this stage. If nothing else, Rover were clearly very quick off the mark. In May 1967 they lent the army a production 110in Series IIB Forward Control model for trials; this vehicle was registered as 22 BT 25. At the same time, Rover returned for further assessment an experimental 112in 30cwt forward-control Land Rover that the army had recently rejected because it did not meet their latest payload requirements. Both were used during Operation Wagon Train, an exercise at Leeon-Solent, which included amphibious landings. The main aim of these loans was clearly to find out how much of the existing designs could be re-used and where they fell short of the ideal.

This was what the British Army wanted, and this mock-up was created at FVRDE early in 1967. It bears a striking resemblance to the eventual production 101. That is a mechanical digger in the background, not a jib mounted to the vehicle! TANK MUSEUM

FVRDE followed its first mock-up with another one during 1967. Here it is being used for trials: the idea was to see if a section of ten men could fit on board with all their kit. It appears to have been a tight squeeze – and some of the kit is still on the ground behind the vehicle. TANK MUSEUM

This was another version of the FVRDE full-size mock-up. The spare-wheel stowage arrangement was interesting, if rather wasteful of space. TANK MUSEUM

The FVRDE thinking was very well-developed by the time Rover were formally asked to become involved with the project. This was a scale model of the ambulance variant they wanted. TANK MUSEUM

The British Army borrowed a Series IIB 110 Forward Control at an early stage, but trials confirmed that it was not the vehicle they wanted. Here, the trials vehicle 22 BT 25 is seen during Operation Wagon Train, at Lee-on-Solent, on 19 May 1967. LAND ROVER

Meanwhile, things were formalized in...