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AEC B-Type Armored Truck (*RNAS Pattern)

Specifications

Country of Origin/Used by:	Great Britain
First Produced/Service Dates:	1914
Manufactured by:	Chassis: **Associated Equipment Company Ltd. (AEC); Armor: Forges et Chantiers de France
Crew:	2+12
Armament:	None. However, transported troops could use personal weapons from rear of vehicles.
Engine:	4-Cylinder Gasoline (36 hp)
Miscellaneous Info:	With the success of Commander Charles R. Samson's (R.N.) armored cars of the Eastchurch Squadon of the *Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), the unit was expanded with more vehicles and troops.  Specifically, approximately 200 Royal Marines were attached to Samson's unit. The Royal Marines were usually transported by unarmored trucks which were converted from 4x2 AEC B-Type double-decker buses originally operated by the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC).  Being a forward-thinker, Samson designed a rudimentary armored personnel carrier (APC) using two (2) of the Royal Marines' lorries. He arranged to have sloped mild-steel armor plates added to the vehicles by the same firm who armored his cars, the French firm Forges et Chantiers de France in Dunkirk.  Although a sound and practical idea, the armored trucks ended up being too slow and unwieldly to accompany the RNAS' armored cars. Thusly, they were then mostly relegated instead to being used as mobile-strongpoints. Despite the sub-par performance of the trucks, other armed/armored trucks were designed and built, specifically two (2) other vehicle types using the same AEC B-Type bus chassis. Those were the B-Type Armored Truck (War Office Pattern) and the 3-Pounder Gun Truck. **The manufacturer of the truck chassis is often cited as the LGOC as the vehicles were converted from buses originally sourced from that company.  Additionally, LGOC was the parent company of AEC, which it had created as a subsidiary earlier to build and service their buses..  However, we are citing the manufacturer as AEC as that company actually built the chassis on behalf of LGOC.
Data Sheet Available:	None Available

Photos

Reference	Source/Provider
AEC B-Type Omnibus Photo	"Danie DVM" via Wikipedia Commons
AEC B-Type Armored Truck (RNAS Pattern) Photo	The David Haugh Collection

References Available

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