4×4S.ORGTHE REGISTRY BASE MODEL · 1958–63
BASE MODELUnited Kingdom

Salamander (FV651, 1958–63)

The airfield crash tender of the FV600 family: developed in 1956, about 125 built between 1958 and 1963, with firefighting equipment by the Pyrene Company producing 7,500 gallons of foam a minute and a crew of six.

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Sources & evidence
Salamander (FV651, 1958–63) — An Alvis Mk 6 Salamander at the RAF Museum, London.The wub · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗
MODEL LINEFV600BUILT BYAlvis, Coventry, The Pyrene CompanyPRODUCED1958–63OPERATED INUnited Kingdom, CanadaPRODUCTIONAbout 125LAYOUT6 wheels

The record

The Salamander gave the Royal Air Force a crash tender that could leave the runway and reach an aircraft down on rough ground, on the same six-wheel-drive chassis as the Saladin and the Saracen. It served the RAF until 1978 and the Royal Canadian Air Force as well.

Specification

MANUFACTURED1958–63
ENGINERolls-Royce B81 petrol eightRolls-Royce B81
PRODUCTION RUNAbout 125
COUNTRY OF ORIGINUnited Kingdom
OPERATED INUnited Kingdom, Canada
STATUSout of RAF service in 1978
RECORD KINDBase model
MODEL LINEFV600
FAMILYFV600
WHEELS6
BODY STYLECrash tender
VARIANTS1

Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.

Body styles & colours

Factory colours

  • Fire Red

Codes on hover. Hex values are representative approximations of period paint unless a source states a measured value.

AI rendering impression

An AI rendering impression starts from a 3D model of this vehicle, which an image model then paints into a scene. It is an artist's impression of the type, made to give a feel for the vehicle in its element — not a photograph, and not a record of any particular vehicle.

Proportions, fittings, markings, colours and the setting can all drift from the original in the process. For the vehicle's actual details, rely on the specification, the photographs and the cited sources on this page.

Sources

  1. 1Alvis Salamander ↗Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-23SOURCE

Registry record updated 2026-09-23 · status: researched