Scout Car S1 (American) is an armoured car produced in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

History and description

In 1942, the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(USAAF) in Australia issued a requirement for a light armoured car to be used in patrolling and airfield defence. The requirement resulted in a vehicle designated Scout Car S1 (American). About 40 vehicles were produced by

Ford Australia Ford Motor Company of Australia Limited (known by its trading name Ford Australia) is the Australian subsidiary of United States-based automaker Ford Motor Company. It was founded in Geelong, Victoria, in 1925 as an outpost of Ford Motor C ...

. The vehicle was based on a Ford F15 4x2 chassis (a single 4x4 vehicle was built). The open-topped armoured hull was similar to that of the

M3 Scout Car The M3 Scout Car (known as the White Scout Car in British Commonwealth service) was an American-produced armored car. The original M3 Scout Car was produced in limited numbers, while the improved M3A1 Scout Car saw wide service during World War ...

. The armament consisted of one .50 inch (12.7 mm) heavy

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...

and two .30 inch machine guns on skate rails, operated by the crew of five. They served in defence of Australia and did not see any combat.

Survivors

As of late 2017, two S1 cars are known to be preserved: one restored at the

Australian Armour and Artillery Museum The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum is a privately owned museum dedicated to tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery from the Second World War and post war periods. It was officially opened in 2014, in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. T ...

, in Cairns, and another in a private collection.As posted in Facebook on 10 Nov 2017 by the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum.

Footnotes

References

Notes

Bibliography

* ''Michael K. Cecil - Australian Military Equipment Profiles vol. 3, Australian Scout and Armoured Cars 1933 to 1945'', 1993 Australian Military Equipment Profiles, .

External links

Australian CMP Based Armoured Vehicles
{{WWIIBritishAFVs World War II scout cars World War II armoured fighting vehicles of Australia Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944