One family's 97-year link with Rolls Royce armoured car, Sliabh na mBan
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- The Rolls Royce 1920-pattern Silver Ghost Armoured Car 'Sliabh na mBan' was one of 13 such cars in service with the Irish Army in 1922. It is now preserved in the Irish Army's Curragh Camp in Co. Kildare. Armed with a functioning .303 Vickers, it is the oldest armoured vehicle in the world still in full working order. Four generations of the Lynch family have worked on the armoured car since 1922. Paddy Lynch was an Irish Army Rolls Royce driver/mechanic and then Sgt/commander in the 1922 era. He then went on to work on the entire Rolls Royce armoured car fleet in the newly formed Cavalry Workshops in the Curragh Camp. He later became Workshops foreman and managed to save Sliabh na mBan from being scrapped in 1954. As mentioned in the video, Paddy Lynch's son, Pat, grandsons Noel and Padraig and great granddaughter Emily Lynch have all worked on Sliabh na mBan since.
Video by Karl Martin
Interestingly I was reading a article which states that this is still an active military vehicle due to the requirement within Irish army rules that only active service vehicles can be maintained at their expense. The display in the museum has a rear door access so that the vehicle can be removed and taken for its once yearly commissioning and so that (officially) it could be used for defence.
Note of clarification: Paddy Lynch was an Irish Army Rolls Royce driver/mechanic and then armoured car Sgt/commander in the 1922 era. He then went on to work on the entire Rolls Royce armoured car fleet in the newly formed Cavalry Workshops in the Curragh Camp until his retirement.
Wow!
How come there's no "Look Inside" option for your book on Amazon ?
Ben, I am not selling the book on Amazon, or anywhere else, so I don't know. All my books were sold etc by 2012. I have no plans to publish another version as it takes so much time and effort and distribution is very difficult and slow. However, you can read a copy in any decent reference library. If that is not possible or convenient your local library may be able to arrange an inter-library loan. Best wishes, Karl
Reason I ask I'm.m building a high detailed replica of the 1914 RNAS with lights on fenders this turret and the nice tool boxes on the rear deck iv never seen a 20s with this turret but I have made the 20s turret to fit on too with the boy mk1 anti aircraft gun and vikers with lewis gun on the top from the African core! Making the wheels were a nightmare for it but got the desert ones there too and spare covered grill armour if want to change it up iv done a wee mix n match on it just now using the 1914 body and the 1920s turret Inputting it in paint today to airbrush I normally do build scale replicas of the real thing and noticed alot of wrong parts on the one in Bovington so maybe like to base one on this! Can I ask about the spot lamp? What that added or original to this vehicle?
Hi Scottish Bonsai. The Bovington Rolls-Royce armoured car (1920 pattern) served in Ireland with the British army's Royal Tank Corps' 5th Armoured Car Company (ACC) in 1921/'22. It was based in Scarborough in England until 1927. That year it was shipped to Shanghai where the turret was modified by adding a 'Top Hat' small turret on top to protect the commander's/gunner's head when he was looking out while under attack. The car served in Egypt from 1929-'32 but then was withdrawn from active service. It went back to England in 1939. It 1946 it was transferred to the museum in Bovington as an exhibit .
With such an active 'career' in military service around the world the Bovington car was much modified. British Rolls-Royce armoured cars that fought in the desert in early WWII had much-modified turrets so they look different to the original 1920-pattern type turret in photos.
Ireland's Rolls-Royce armoured car on the other hand is 100% ORIGINAL and served all its time in Ireland - much of it in the Irish Cavalry Corps' main base in the Curragh Camp. The turret-mounted spot light is the standard original light supplied in 1920 by Rolls-Royce. As far as I know the turret on the 1920-pattern cars was slightly higher than that on the 1914-pattern cars providing a bit more head room (but not much more). The car in the video herewith has been restored to the exact same standard as when it first left the Rolls-Royce factory in 1920. The Vickers gun can be (and has been) fired making the vehicle the oldest fully-working fighting machine in the world!
My book 'Irish Army Vehicles - transport and armour since 1922' (ISBN 0-9543413-0-9) has several photos of the Rolls-Royce armoured cars in Irish service from 1922. The A4 hardback book was self-published in 2002 and is now out of print. However, you could check with your local library as several copies are in reference libraries in the UK (as well as in the New York Public Library) and you may be able to get to see a copy via an inter-library loan.
I hope to make a more detailed TH-cam video on the Irish Rolls-Royce when I have gathered some more material.
I hope the above is of interest/use. Thank you for your comments.
here is another view of the Rolls-Royce turret th-cam.com/video/yFejuS8CubI/w-d-xo.html
And here is a clip ( i minute 29 seconds into the video) of the car driving slowly past the camera such that you can see the turret from three different angles th-cam.com/video/0u2VVSTLiPc/w-d-xo.html
Is that the original turret on this 1920 model?
Yes, Scottish Bonsai. See more of an answer under your other comment
@@karlmartin2698 very cool having that i have only found one other photo of a 1914 roller with the brass spotlight seems to be quite rare iv went and scratch built a small replica one for my model
I thought the army owned the car
The Army did, and does still. The Lynch family were/are employees of the Army and/or Department of Defence. Paddy Lynch was originally an Irish Army Rolls Royce driver/mechanic and then armoured car Sgt/commander in the 1922 era. He then went on to work on the entire Rolls Royce armoured car fleet and, from the mid-1930s onwards, other more modern armoured vehicles in the newly formed Cavalry Workshops in the Curragh Camp. When his military service finished he was then employed as a civilian mechanic (later promoted to Works Foreman) until his retirement. A mixed staff of civilian and military work in the Workshops.