![Land Rover 101 Forward Control](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Land_Rover_101_Forward_Control.jpg)
The 101 Forward Control or Land Rover 101FC was a light utility vehicle produced by
Land Rover
Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...
for the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
. It was not available to the public off the production line,
but was as military surplus.
History
The vehicle was primarily produced to meet the Army's requirement for a
gun tractor
A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, pr ...
, and was designed to tow a
field gun
A field gun is a field artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march, that when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances ( field artille ...
(the
L118 Light Gun
The L118 light gun is a 105 mm towed howitzer. It was originally designed and produced in England for the British Army in the 1970s. It has since been widely exported. The L119 and the United States Army's M119 are variants that use a different t ...
) with a ton of
ammunition
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
and other equipment in the rear load space, giving it the alternative name of the ''Land Rover One Tonne''. The vehicle was designed to be easily transported by air; the positioning of the 3.5 litre
Rover V8 engine
The Rover V8 engine is a compact V8 internal combustion engine with aluminium cylinder block and cylinder heads, originally designed by General Motors and later re-designed and produced by Rover in the United Kingdom. It has been used in a wide ...
beneath and to the rear of the cab eliminates the bonnet at the front, making the vehicle more or less cuboid thus reducing unused space in transport aircraft.
[JANE's Military Vehicles and Ground Support Equipment, 1985, p. 300-301] Of concern was the payload and limited stability, particularly when crossing an incline.
[
The official name of 101 Forward Control is derived from the vehicle's ]wheelbase
In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...
, and the position of the driver, above and slightly in front of the front wheels which used a fairly large 9.00 × 16 inch tyre. To cope with the extra height above the ground, the wheels feature an unusual feature for a Land Rover (but used for many years on the much older and similar Mercedes Unimog
The Unimog (, ) is a range of multi-purpose tractors, trucks and lorries that has been produced by Boehringer from 1948 until 1951, and by Daimler Truck (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler AG) since 1951. In the United States and ...
S404); a flange around the centre of the wheel has an embossed tread pattern forming a step for the crew when entering the cab, named a wheel-step.
Development of the 101FC started in 1967, with a design team led by Norman Busby (14 October 1931 – 30 June 2005). Production took place between 1972 and 1978.[ In common practice of the armed forces, many vehicles were not used for some years and it is not unheard of for military vehicle enthusiasts to pick up these vehicles after only a few thousand miles service. All the vehicles produced at the Land Rover factory at Lode Lane, Solihull were soft top ("rag top") General Service (GS) gun tractors, although later on many were rebuilt with hard-top ]ambulance
An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport.
Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...
bodies and as radio communication trucks. A rare variant is the electronic warfare
Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...
Vampire body. It is thought that only 21 of these were produced and less than half of these survive today. One was destroyed in the Buncefield Oil Terminal Fire.
The 101FC also served with the RAF Regiment
The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by royal warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out soldiering tasks relating to the delivery of air power. Examples of such ta ...
. Two 101s were allocated to each Rapier Missile
Rapier is a surface-to-air missile developed for the British Army to replace their towed Bofors 40/L70 anti-aircraft guns. The system is unusual as it uses a manual optical guidance system, sending guidance commands to the missile in flight over ...
set up. The British RAF Rapier system used three Land-Rovers in deployment: a 24V winch fitted 101 Firing Unit Tractor (FUT) to tow the launch trailer, loaded with four Rapier missiles, guidance equipment and radio; a 12V winch fitted 101 Tracking Radar Tractor (TRT) to tow the Blindfire Radar trailer, also loaded with four Rapier missiles and guidance equipment; and a 109 Land Rover to tow a reload trailer with 9 Rapier missiles and loaded with the unit's other supplies and kit.
The 101FC also served in an ambulance role, with ambulance bodywork built by Marshall of Cambridge
Marshall may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria
Canada
* Marshall, Saskatchewan
* The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia
Liberia
* Marshall, Liberia
Marshall Islands
* Marshall Islands, an i ...
.[ The 101FC was manufactured in both left and right hand drive with either 12 or 24 volt electrical systems.][
Some 101FCs were produced with a PTO powered Nokken capstan winch mounted on the chassis at the centre of the vehicle, allowing winching from either the front or rear. Another variation on a small number of pre-production vehicles was the addition of a trailer with an axle driven from the PTO, creating a 6x6 vehicle, this adaptation was abandoned before full production when it was discovered that the trailer had a propensity to push the vehicle onto its side when driven over rough terrain.
]
Replacement
By the late 1990s, the 101s were decommissioned by the MoD
Mod, MOD or mods may refer to:
Places
* Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band
* M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...
and were replaced with Defenders
Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to:
*Defense (military)
*Defense (sports)
**Defender (association football)
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary
* ''The Defender'' (1994 f ...
and Pinzgauer vehicles. Many 101s have entered into private ownership and there is a thriving owners club supporting these sourcing spares and providing technical support. The club also keeps a register of known surviving vehicles throughout the world.
A prototype 101 was built based on a recovery vehicle. Only one of these is known to be in existence, at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire.
Australia
The Australian Army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...
acquired fifty 101 vehicles, which were used to tow Rapier missile
Rapier is a surface-to-air missile developed for the British Army to replace their towed Bofors 40/L70 anti-aircraft guns. The system is unusual as it uses a manual optical guidance system, sending guidance commands to the missile in flight over ...
carriers.[ These 101s were disposed of and some of these remain in private hands.
]
Use in film
Thirty-one 101s were converted by Land Rover with styled bodyshells for the 1995 Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...
film ''Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977), which is a British weekly anthology Comic book, comic. He is the ...
''. Land Rover
Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...
is supposedly the world's only surviving vehicle manufacturer in 2139 when the film is set, and the green oval logo can be seen on the side of the vehicles, known as "City CABs".Talkingpix.com : Judge Dredd
/ref>
Several of these prop vehicles still exist in driveable condition and these can be seen at Land Rover events.
See also
* Jeep Forward Control
The Jeep Forward Control is a truck that was produced by Willys Motors, later named Kaiser Jeep, from 1956 to 1965. It was also assembled in other international markets. The layout featured a cab over (forward control) design.
The Forward Control ...
* UAZ-452
The UAZ-452 "Bukhanka" ('Буханка' or ' ''bread loaf) are a family of compact Russian cab over engine vans and light trucks with standard four-wheel drive, off-road capability, built by the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant (UAZ) since 1965 ...
* GAZ-66
The GAZ-66 is a Soviet and later Russian 4x4 all-road (off-road) military truck produced by GAZ. It was one of the main cargo vehicles for motorized infantry of the Soviet Army and is still employed in former Soviet Union countries. It is nickna ...
References
External links
101 Forward control Club and Register
{{Land Rover vehicles
101 Forward Control
Military trucks
Cab over vehicles
Cab over Off-road vehicles
Armoured fighting vehicles of the United Kingdom
Off-road vehicles
All-wheel-drive vehicles
Military vehicles introduced in the 1970s