Royal Air Force Series III 109-inch hard top fitted with a roof-mounted helicopter servicing platform and a starting-cable reel on the side of the body, photographed in desert sand during the 1991 Gulf deployment and used to support helicopters in the field.
BASE VEHICLESeries III 109″BUILT BYLand Rover (Series III 109-inch hard top)IN SERVICE1971–85OPERATED INUnited Kingdom, Saudi ArabiaPRODUCTIONSmall batchLAYOUT4 wheels · 109″
The record
Joint-Forces.com's survey of Land Rovers in RAF service records a small batch of Series III 109-inch hard tops converted to helicopter servicing platform vehicles: a flat platform with notched corner stands was fitted over the roof so that ground crews could work on rotor heads and engine bays without separate steps, and a reel of starting cable was mounted on the side of the hard top, wired to a socket box on the body, so the vehicle could supply electrical power for helicopter starts. The photographed example, registration 52 AJ 92 carrying unit board 76, was serving in the Gulf in 1991 and had been repainted in desert sand over its original green, the older colour still showing at the roof gutter.
The registry's model is a Series III 109 hard top in sand with the roof platform and corner stands, the side-mounted cable reel with its socket box and trailing lead, bonnet spare, sand-painted wheels and black military plates.
Specification
MANUFACTURERLand Rover (Series III 109-inch hard top)
MODIFIER / COACHBUILDERRoyal Air Force workshops (servicing platform and starting-cable installation)
MANUFACTUREDSeries III production; photographed 1991
ENGINERover 2.25 L four-cylinder petrol (Series III; not stated in the source)Land Rover 2.25 petrol
PRODUCTION RUNSmall batch; number unknown
COUNTRY OF ORIGINUnited Kingdom
OPERATED INUnited Kingdom, Saudi Arabia
STATUSunknown
PLATFORMRoof-mounted flat servicing platform with notched corner stands
ELECTRICALSide-mounted helicopter starting-cable reel with socket box
REGISTRATION52 AJ 92, unit board 76 (photographed example)
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINESeries III
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE109″
CATEGORYMilitary · UK
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.
Imagery
No published image yetA rendering impression or a free-licence photograph will appear here once one is published — the sources below link to photographs elsewhere
Where it was
GB United Kingdom1975–1995SA Saudi Arabia1990–1991 · Operation Granby