VW & VW-based, military vehicles & equipment
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 4:09 pm
Here's a magazine article (i.e. David West & Neil Birkitt, "Blast-proof BUS!", VW Motoring, February 1997, Pages 81~82.), dating from about 13½ years ago, which I thought you army-vehicle enthusiasts, might find of interest, especially as it is based on an air-cooled VW.
Blast-proof BUS!
David West investigates an unusual VW-based vehicle, with an even more unusual purpose...
The name Leopard is not one that many Volkswagen enthusiasts would be instantly familiar with. However, this VW-based anti-landmine vehicle was in widespread service with the police and army during the civil war in Zimbabwe (known as Rhodesia until 1980), from the early 1970s until Independence in 1980 and it even saw service in the newly created country of Zimbabwe.
By 1972 the civil war in the then white monority state of Rhodesia was escalating rapidly; the black nationalists were carrying out an increasingly bitter guerrilla war against the Rhodesian Government of Prime Minister Ian Smith. They were targeting remote white-owned farms with the extensive use of landmines, which were having a deadly effect. By the mid-1970s landmines were not only damaging the Rhodesian military but also white morale. Travelling was limited to daylight hours and in specially protected convoys - unescorted journeys were not advised!
In the early 1970s the security forces were using Bedford and Mercedes Benz trucks, along with Land Rovers. These vehicles were not suited to deal with landmines; the security forces required a purpose-built vehicle and the Rhodesian Government took as a top priority the task of developing an antri-landmine protection vehicle.
In 1972, due to United Nations sanctions, Rhodesia was unable to purchase vehicles and components from overseas; they only had their own limited resources and expertise to rely on and it was a local engineer Ernst Konschel, who was credited with the production of the anti-mine vehicle which became known as the Leopard.
He had developed an early South African design which used Ford mechanicals; however, because of sanctions these were unavailable and so he used the front and rear axles from a Volkswagen van a a 1300cc engine from a Beetle. The Volkswagen components were not only widely available in Rhodesia, but they offered great strenght and a low centre of gravity because of the flat-four engine.
Also, the Volkswagen chassis allowed the wheels to be at each corner of the vehicle - away from the passenger cell. This was ideal because if the vehicle hit a mine the passenger compartment would not take the brunt of the blast. In trials the vehicle remained upright after setting off a landmine, due to the strength of the Volkswagen axles and the low-slung engine which stopped the vehicle toppling over. It was also useful having rear-wheel drive, as there was no propshaft to get damaged.
With the help of Colonel Mike Pelham of the Rhodesian Engineers, Konschel built the first Leopard in his back garden. The vehicle was then handed over to the Rhodesian engineers who fitted a stronger passenger cell. Instead of having a flat underside, as with a normal vehicle, the base of the Leopard was in the shape of a 'V', the apex being nearest the ground. This was so the blast would be deflected away from the passenger cell.
In December 1974 the Leopard passed prototype tests and full production began at Willowvale Motor Industries in Salisbury who, before the war, had assembled Ford Cortinas and Anglia kits from the UK. The monocoque body was enlarged to seat five, with the seats welded into the belly pan.
Problems were soon found; the underpowered engine was prone to overheating, and due to the rough rural roads the splined housings for the torsion bars tended to strip. This led to them being remanufactured in Rhodesia by Trevor Davies Engineering.
A more serious problem was that gear ratios needed to be much lower to cope with the low speeds and poor roads in the rural areas. Volkswagen in Germany were contacted to produce the components but said the specification for the gears was impossible to produce. Konschel suspected that VW did not want to help because of U.N. sanctions and he managed to get the gears produced in South Africa, Rhodesia's erstwhile ally.
During the Rhodesian civil war over 800 Leopards were built, in six variations, including the use of larger 1600cc engines. A larger model was the Cougar which was powered by a Nissan engine and Land Rover chassis.
The Leopard was mainly used by the army and police in remote areas leading convoys in the so-called 'hot' areas of the north and east of the country. It is beyond doubt that the Leopard saved many lives - by the late Seventies there were, on average, six landmine blasts a day. When the civil war ended in 1980, 632 people had been killed in over 2,500 incidents, but the total would have been higher had it not been for the Leopard.
When Rhodesia became the independent state of Zimbabwe in 1980, the black nationalist government of Robert Mugabe, inherited the Rhodesian arsenal, including the Leopard, which remained in police and army service until the late Eighties.
Picture Captions
(1) Front view shows clearly the VW Type 2 front axle, chosen for its rugged simplicity.
(2) Far from comfortable, but life comes before luxury...
(3) There's a 1600cc Type 1 motor under there somewhere - exhaust box will be familiar to VW van fans!
(4) Rear suspension, too, is from the VW van. Swing axles with reduction gears are supplemented with large coil springs. Note the use of substantial spacers on the wheels.
The example (registration No. 327-188 N) photographed here is in the collection of military vehicles at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, Cambridgeshire. Our thanks to curator Dave Fearon for allowing us access to inspect it.
The following book, of which I possess a copy, includes a small section straddling pages 22~23, dealing with the Rhodesian Corps of Engineers (cap badge with laurel leaves & Rhodesian Corps of Engineers legend, surrounding a lion clasping an elephant tusk and surmounted by a soapstone eagle), includes the following paragraph:
Peter Abbott, Philip Botham & Mike Chappell, "Modern African Wars (1): Rhodesia 1965~80", Osprey Men-At-Arms Series 183, Osprey Publishing, 1986, ISBN0-85045-728-9.
« The favourite guerrilla weapon was the landmine; Rhodesia's roads were particularly vulnerable, even the tarred surfaces having no hard shoulder, at one stage two vehicles a day were being lost to mine blasts. To aid detection the engineers came up with the 'Pookie', a vehicle based on the VW chassis which could detect landmines at speed without triggering the mines themselves. »
On Page 24 of the aforementioned book, is a photograph with the following caption, illustrating two vehicles on what appears to be a dirt road; the lead vehicle (registration No. G-LPD 172) bearing an uncanny resemblance to the VW-based, Leopard anti-mine vehicle, featured in the VW Motoring article.
« Land mines were a favourite guerrilla weapon, and Rhodesia's roads were highly vulnerable: many had no tarmac surface, and even the metalled stretches had soft shoulders. Note the roll-over bars fitted to the cab of the Police Land-Rover; and the Hippo, one of a number of special mine-protection vehicles devised and produced during the war. »
Blast-proof BUS!
David West investigates an unusual VW-based vehicle, with an even more unusual purpose...
The name Leopard is not one that many Volkswagen enthusiasts would be instantly familiar with. However, this VW-based anti-landmine vehicle was in widespread service with the police and army during the civil war in Zimbabwe (known as Rhodesia until 1980), from the early 1970s until Independence in 1980 and it even saw service in the newly created country of Zimbabwe.
By 1972 the civil war in the then white monority state of Rhodesia was escalating rapidly; the black nationalists were carrying out an increasingly bitter guerrilla war against the Rhodesian Government of Prime Minister Ian Smith. They were targeting remote white-owned farms with the extensive use of landmines, which were having a deadly effect. By the mid-1970s landmines were not only damaging the Rhodesian military but also white morale. Travelling was limited to daylight hours and in specially protected convoys - unescorted journeys were not advised!
In the early 1970s the security forces were using Bedford and Mercedes Benz trucks, along with Land Rovers. These vehicles were not suited to deal with landmines; the security forces required a purpose-built vehicle and the Rhodesian Government took as a top priority the task of developing an antri-landmine protection vehicle.
In 1972, due to United Nations sanctions, Rhodesia was unable to purchase vehicles and components from overseas; they only had their own limited resources and expertise to rely on and it was a local engineer Ernst Konschel, who was credited with the production of the anti-mine vehicle which became known as the Leopard.
He had developed an early South African design which used Ford mechanicals; however, because of sanctions these were unavailable and so he used the front and rear axles from a Volkswagen van a a 1300cc engine from a Beetle. The Volkswagen components were not only widely available in Rhodesia, but they offered great strenght and a low centre of gravity because of the flat-four engine.
Also, the Volkswagen chassis allowed the wheels to be at each corner of the vehicle - away from the passenger cell. This was ideal because if the vehicle hit a mine the passenger compartment would not take the brunt of the blast. In trials the vehicle remained upright after setting off a landmine, due to the strength of the Volkswagen axles and the low-slung engine which stopped the vehicle toppling over. It was also useful having rear-wheel drive, as there was no propshaft to get damaged.
With the help of Colonel Mike Pelham of the Rhodesian Engineers, Konschel built the first Leopard in his back garden. The vehicle was then handed over to the Rhodesian engineers who fitted a stronger passenger cell. Instead of having a flat underside, as with a normal vehicle, the base of the Leopard was in the shape of a 'V', the apex being nearest the ground. This was so the blast would be deflected away from the passenger cell.
In December 1974 the Leopard passed prototype tests and full production began at Willowvale Motor Industries in Salisbury who, before the war, had assembled Ford Cortinas and Anglia kits from the UK. The monocoque body was enlarged to seat five, with the seats welded into the belly pan.
Problems were soon found; the underpowered engine was prone to overheating, and due to the rough rural roads the splined housings for the torsion bars tended to strip. This led to them being remanufactured in Rhodesia by Trevor Davies Engineering.
A more serious problem was that gear ratios needed to be much lower to cope with the low speeds and poor roads in the rural areas. Volkswagen in Germany were contacted to produce the components but said the specification for the gears was impossible to produce. Konschel suspected that VW did not want to help because of U.N. sanctions and he managed to get the gears produced in South Africa, Rhodesia's erstwhile ally.
During the Rhodesian civil war over 800 Leopards were built, in six variations, including the use of larger 1600cc engines. A larger model was the Cougar which was powered by a Nissan engine and Land Rover chassis.
The Leopard was mainly used by the army and police in remote areas leading convoys in the so-called 'hot' areas of the north and east of the country. It is beyond doubt that the Leopard saved many lives - by the late Seventies there were, on average, six landmine blasts a day. When the civil war ended in 1980, 632 people had been killed in over 2,500 incidents, but the total would have been higher had it not been for the Leopard.
When Rhodesia became the independent state of Zimbabwe in 1980, the black nationalist government of Robert Mugabe, inherited the Rhodesian arsenal, including the Leopard, which remained in police and army service until the late Eighties.
Picture Captions
(1) Front view shows clearly the VW Type 2 front axle, chosen for its rugged simplicity.
(2) Far from comfortable, but life comes before luxury...
(3) There's a 1600cc Type 1 motor under there somewhere - exhaust box will be familiar to VW van fans!
(4) Rear suspension, too, is from the VW van. Swing axles with reduction gears are supplemented with large coil springs. Note the use of substantial spacers on the wheels.
The example (registration No. 327-188 N) photographed here is in the collection of military vehicles at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, Cambridgeshire. Our thanks to curator Dave Fearon for allowing us access to inspect it.
The following book, of which I possess a copy, includes a small section straddling pages 22~23, dealing with the Rhodesian Corps of Engineers (cap badge with laurel leaves & Rhodesian Corps of Engineers legend, surrounding a lion clasping an elephant tusk and surmounted by a soapstone eagle), includes the following paragraph:
Peter Abbott, Philip Botham & Mike Chappell, "Modern African Wars (1): Rhodesia 1965~80", Osprey Men-At-Arms Series 183, Osprey Publishing, 1986, ISBN0-85045-728-9.
« The favourite guerrilla weapon was the landmine; Rhodesia's roads were particularly vulnerable, even the tarred surfaces having no hard shoulder, at one stage two vehicles a day were being lost to mine blasts. To aid detection the engineers came up with the 'Pookie', a vehicle based on the VW chassis which could detect landmines at speed without triggering the mines themselves. »
On Page 24 of the aforementioned book, is a photograph with the following caption, illustrating two vehicles on what appears to be a dirt road; the lead vehicle (registration No. G-LPD 172) bearing an uncanny resemblance to the VW-based, Leopard anti-mine vehicle, featured in the VW Motoring article.
« Land mines were a favourite guerrilla weapon, and Rhodesia's roads were highly vulnerable: many had no tarmac surface, and even the metalled stretches had soft shoulders. Note the roll-over bars fitted to the cab of the Police Land-Rover; and the Hippo, one of a number of special mine-protection vehicles devised and produced during the war. »
