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Remembered Today:

WW1 Military Motors - 1916 set x 50 cards


Lancashire Fusilier

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The Ilya Muromets (Sikorsky S-22) was designed and constructed by Igor Sikorsky at the Russo-Baltic Carriage Factory (RBVZ) in Riga in 1913. It was based on his earlier S-21Russky Vityaz, which started out as the twin-engined Le Grand, then as the twin tandem engined Bolshoi Baltisky before placing all four of the Baltisky's engines in a tractor configuration along the lower wing's leading edge to create the Russky Vityaz — which had played an important role in the development of Russian aviation and the multi-engine aircraft industries of the world.


Russia had a chance to become the birthplace of the first multi-passenger and multi-engine airliner. The Ilya Muromets was first conceived and built as a luxurious aircraft. For the first time in aviation history, it had an insulated passenger saloon, comfortable wicker chairs, a bedroom, a lounge and even the first airborne toilet. The aircraft also had heating and electrical lighting. The S-22 cockpit had sufficient space allowing several persons to observe the pilot. Openings on both sides of the fuselage permitted mechanics to climb out onto the lower wings to service the engines during flight. A hatch on the left side provided an entry to the main cabin, behind the cockpit. The main cabin featured two large windows on each side. Further back was a private cabin which included a berth, small table and a cabinet. Lighting was provided by a wind-driven generator and heating was supplied by two long engine exhaust pipes which passed through the corners of the cabin. Despite many advancements, the flight instruments on the Ilya Muromets were primitive. They included four tachometers, one per engine, a compass, a crude altimeter and airspeed indicator, two glass V-shaped tubes and a ball for bank indication, and a series of horizontal bars situated vertically on the nose of the fuselage for measuring climbs and descents. Later, in the bomber variants, a drift indicator and elementary bomb sight was added to aid bombing.


On 10 December 1913, the Ilya Muromets No. 107 flew for the first time, and on 11 February 1914, the second prototype (factory airframe 128) took off for its first demonstration flight with 16 passengers aboard, marking a record for number of passengers carried. From 30 June to 12 July 1914, it set a world record by making a trip from Saint Petersburg to Kiev, a distance of some 1200 km, and back. The first leg took 14 hours and 38 minutes, with one landing for fuel at Orsha, and the return one, with a fuel stop at Novosokolniki, took even less time, about 13 hours. The acclaim received by Sikorsky included Tsar Nicholas IIpresenting him with the Order of St. Vladimir, Fourth Degree, arranging for an exemption from the wartime draft to allow him to continue his design work, and a promise of a grant worth 100,000 rubles from the State Duma.During an Imperial military review at Krasnoye Selo in July, Nicholas II decorated and christened the Ilya Muromets Type B Military Prototype, No. 128, the "Kievsky."


During testing, the Ilya Muromets were fitted with both skis and pontoons in anticipation of new variants being produced. If it had not been for World War I, the Ilya Muromets would probably have started passenger flights that same year.


With the beginning of World War I, Sikorsky was encouraged by the results of the proving flights to redesign the aircraft to become the "Military Ilia Mourometz, Type V, the world's first purpose-designed bomber. The new heavy bomber was slightly smaller and lighter than the Type A. Internal racks carried up to 800 kg of bombs, and positions for up to nine machine guns were added for self-defense in various locations, including the extreme tail. The engines were protected with 5 mm-thick armor.The military version was designed expressly for long-range flying in both bombing and reconnaissance roles.


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attachicon.gifScreenshot.jpgDon't know the make but seem to have only one 'headlight'?

G'day once again LF. I see you have indeed been busy and a great effort I might add. Very interesting as usual along with the other posts in this thread.

Re this image....I believe it is a small ASC convoy of Mors box cars. I have seen other pics of the same convoy both on the road and at a depot in the UK.

Rod

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Re this image....I believe it is a small ASC convoy of Mors box cars. I have seen other pics of the same convoy both on the road and at a depot in the UK.

Rod

Rod,

Good to hear from you again, and yes I found a photo of the Mors Light Tender which matches that convoy photo, I shall try and copy it and post it.

In the meantime, do you have any photos of that Mors you can post ?

I also found another version ( photo attached ) of a different type of Mors chassis, that was also used by the British Army in 1914 as a Light Tender.

Regards,

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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Re this image....I believe it is a small ASC convoy of Mors box cars. I have seen other pics of the same convoy both on the road and at a depot in the UK.

Rod

Rod,

Here is the Mors 1913 Tourer, the chassis for which was used for the Army's Mors Light Tender shown in johnboy's post # 1520.

Regards,

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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A nicely detailed photograph of an Austin Armoured Car Model 1918 of the 17th Armoured Car Battalion, with its distinctive ' 17th AC Batt. ' vertical stripe insignia.


Also shown, standing in front of the armoured car, is a 17th Armoured Car Battalion Captain.



LF




This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.



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Thanks LF a great photo of the Austin, I would think the location is Ireland .

Crimson Rambler

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Thanks LF a great photo of the Austin, I would think the location is Ireland .

Crimson Rambler

I thought you would like that photo.

Regards,

LF

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A ' Renault ' Ambulance photographed at the Army Service Corps ( A.S.C. ) Motor Depot in Boulogne, France in 1916.

LF

Imperial War Museum - This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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Ireland .

Crimson Rambler

Post WW1, Britain still had a need for Armoured Cars, particularly in India and Ireland, where they were needed to deal with internal security and civil unrest. Unfortunately, most of the Army's Armoured Cars which had seen active service during WW1, were well worn and in disrepair.
In July 1919, the then Secretary of State for War, Winston Churchill, requested 100 new Armoured Cars for use by the British Army overseas for internal security duties.
Although Armoured Car designs were available and Austin Motors agreed to do the Armoured Cars' fabrication, there was a shortage of suitable chassis ready for immediate use. To deal with this shortage, it was decided to utilize a quantity of American Peerless truck chassis which were in storage, and these chassis could be easily adapted to take the Austin Armoured Car bodies with just minimal modifications.
Work on the new Austin/Peerless Armoured Cars commenced in late 1919, with the first delivery taking place in January 1920, with those first new Austin/Peerless Armoured Cars being sent to Ireland later in 1920.
The Austin/Peerless Armoured Cars were much slower than the Roll-Royce Armoured Cars, which eventually replaced them in early 1921. However, many of the Austin/Peerless Armoured Cars remained in service with some Territorial Armoured Car Units for many years, and one was still being used by the 1st Derbyshire Yeomanry as late as May 1940 for aerodrome defence duties.
Whilst the Austin/Peerless Armoured Bodies varied little from the Austin Armoured Car Model 1918, the American Peerless chassis is identified by its rear wheel chain drive, and also very distinctively, several feet of the chassis extends from behind the rear of the armoured compartment creating a rear flat bed not seen on any other Austin Armoured Car.
Attached is a photo of an Austin/Peerless Armoured Car in action with the Irish Army somewhere in Ireland, and both the very distinctive features of the Austin/Peerless Armoured Car can clearly be seen, the rear wheel chain drive, and the extended chassis behind the rear of the armoured compartment.
LF

Specifications for the Austin/Peerless Armoured Car :-

Weight : 5.8 tons. Length : 14 ft. 6 ins. Width : 7 ft. Height : 8 ft. 4 ins. Speed : 18 mph. Armour : 8 mm. Armament : 2 Hotchkiss Machine Guns.

Engine : Peerless 40 hp. Crew : 4. Range : 96 miles.

LF

C/o. British Tanks & Fighting Vehicles 1914-45 by B.T. White

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Ambulance's with the demand for motor vehicles so many variations .just a few that I have found.

Crimson Rambler.

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Ambulance.

Crimson Rambler.

With reference to the nice coloured postcard of the shelled British motor ambulance, here is the actual photograph of that ' Austin ' Ambulance used in that illustration.

That particular ambulance was part of a British Ambulance Committee's ambulance unit made up of volunteers, who were attached to the French Army and were part of the French ' Section Sanitaire Anglaise ' unit No.4 based in Vosges in the Lorraine region of N.E. France.

The volunteer driver of that ambulance was a Percy Llewellyn Naish and a photograph of him in his volunteer ambulance driver's uniform is also attached.

Regards,

LF

IWM This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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Percy Llewellyn Naish the driver of the shelled ' Austin ' Ambulance shown in post # 1609, who was a volunteer ambulance driver with the British Ambulance Committee, attached to the French Army and was part of the French ' Section Sanitaire Anglaise ' unit No.4 based in Vosges in the Lorraine region of N.E. France.



LF



IWM This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.




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The uniform Percy Llewellyn Naish is wearing as a volunteer ambulance driver serving in France is interesting, as although his arms are behind his back, his uniform jacket appears to have British Army Officer's cuff rank insignia, and he is wearing part of an Officer's Sam Brown belt.

Perhaps, Percy Naish was a retired British Army Officer who signed up for service as a volunteer ambulance driver with the British Ambulance Committee service serving in France.

LF

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Did he survive the shelling?

Phil,

Hopefully the Ambulance was parked and empty when shelled, and the driver, Percy Naish, was uninjured.

Regards,

LF

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Hello

another Ambulance for you , thanks for the good information LF on the well shot up Austin every picture tells a story.

Crimson Rambler.post-89740-0-80146900-1396950425_thumb.j

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Ambulance's with the demand for motor vehicles so many variations .just a few that I have found.

Crimson Rambler.

That particular coloured postcard of the shelled British Ambulance was used in 1916 for an Ambulance Fund Raising Appeal, and it was designed to show the British public how callous and barbaric the Germans were by their shelling an ambulance.
That postcard was very successful, and the appeal raised a large amount of money, which in turn, was used to buy more ambulances to be sent to France along with their volunteer ambulance drivers.
The various ambulance appeals told the British public that 350 pounds would buy a ' ready for the road ambulance ', that 475 pounds would buy a better 15/20 hp ambulance, and 500 pounds would buy a ' top of the range ' ambulance.
LF
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Not all the instances where the Austin-Peerless Armoured Car was deployed on internal security or civil unrest duties happened overseas, as we can see from the attached photos, the Austin-Peerless Armoured Car, with its distinctive chassis extension behind the armoured cab, was deployed in London during the 1926 General Strike to protect food convoys.

One photo shows an Austin-Peerless Armoured Car leading a convoy of lorries carrying food supplies from the London Docks, and another taken in Central London, which again clearly shows that rear chassis extension unique to the Austin-Peerless Armoured Car.

LF

These images are reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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2

LF

These images are reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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As always top draw LF.

Pleased to hear you are continuing to find this Thread interesting.

Regards,

LF

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The Austin-Peerless Armoured Car was originally designed and produced for internal security and civil unrest duties, mainly in Ireland.

Here we see one of the original Austin-Peerless Armoured Cars deployed in Dublin shortly after they came into service with the British Army, the photo gives us details of the Armoured Car's armaments, the Hotchkiss machines guns, and also the overall design and shape of the Austin-Peerless Armoured Car with its unique extended American Peerless truck chassis.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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An excellent photograph of the Austin-Peerless Armoured Car, along with British troops deployed in Ireland during the ' Troubles '. The photo provides nice details of the armoured car including its two Hotchkiss machine guns.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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Great pic's.I already have an Austin A/C in my W^D range of kits.I am going have the Peerless A/C done as well.Having done some research on the Peerless I am intigued as to where the info about the "unique extended American Peerless truck" comes from.Can you give me some more info on that.

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Great pic's.I already have an Austin A/C in my W^D range of kits.I am going have the Peerless A/C done as well.Having done some research on the Peerless I am intigued as to where the info about the "unique extended American Peerless truck" comes from.Can you give me some more info on that.

My reference was not to any " unique extended American Peerless Truck " but rather to the portion of the American Peerless Truck chassis which extended behind the rear of the Austin-Peerless Armoured Car's armoured crew compartment, this chassis extension being unique to the Austin-Peerless Armoured Car.

If you are thinking of making an Austin-Peerless Armoured Car model, here are some drawings which may help you.

Regards,

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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