The Alvis Salamander is a

six-wheel drive Six-wheel drive (6WD or 6×6) is an all-wheel drive drivetrain configuration of three axles with at least two wheels on each axle capable of being driven simultaneously by the vehicle's engine. Unlike four-wheel drive drivetrains, the configurat ...

airport crash tender An airport crash tender (known in some countries as an airport fire appliance) is a specialised fire engine designed for use in aircraft rescue and firefighting at aerodromes, airports, and military air bases. Description Airport crash tenders ...

with off-road capabilities, developed in 1956. It shares the same common Alvis six-wheel-drive chassis and other components with the FV 601 Saladin armoured car and FV 603 Saracen armoured personnel carrier. In turn it led to the FV 620 Stalwart load carrier which was derived from the Salamander. The vehicle is powered by a

Rolls-Royce B81 The Rolls-Royce B range was a range of petrol engines first intended to be installed in a car but in 1943 developed into a range to power the British Army's wheeled vehicles.Rolls-Royce Motors Holdings Limited. ''The Times'', Monday, May 07, 1973; ...

straight-eight engine producing at 4000 RPM and of torque at 2500 RPM. Fire fighting equipment was provided by The Pyrene Company Limited. It could produce 7,500 gallons of foam per minute and carried a crew of 6. 125 Salamanders were built and used in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

(as the Alvis Salamander/Pyrene Mark 6) and the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

. From the late 1970s on they were replaced by vehicles like the

Thornycroft Thornycroft was an English vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977. History In 1896, naval engineer John Isaac Thornycroft formed the Thornycroft Steam Carriage and Van Company which built its firs ...

Nubian Pyrene Mark 7.

References

{{Reflist Fire service vehicles Military vehicles of the United Kingdom Off-road vehicles

Salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

Aircraft rescue and firefighting