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Peerless armoured car in County Clare

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Peter Mc RIC	Peerless armoured car in County Clare		Lead	[-]
Posts: 1202 22-Dec-2011 12:14 AM Inspector-General	Remove this ad This photo is purportedly taken in County Clare. I believe its a Peerless armoured car and soldiers of the Tank Corps, rather than Free Staters. Can anyone identify the location? Note the image seems to be 'reversed' Peter Mc
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jdoyle		#1	[url]	[-]
Sergeant Posts: 3 22-Dec-2011 1:27 PM	this might be an Austin Armoured Car. Ralph Riccio's book "AFV's in Irish Service Since 1922" touches on pre 1922. There is a photo on p14 of the book showing an Austin that also has the T symbol on the side. He notes that this can't be identified with a specific unit. The photo he has shows a partial number which what looks like 212 at the end (possibly 2212) This postcard of an Austin also carries the T (the 'flaps' around the machine guns are more visible in this pic) http://www.sarahfrisk.com...sFromTheGreatWar/?p=1236 early on, the Tank Corps were involved with the armoured cars (17th Battalion/5th Armoured Car Company) but later on, armoured cars were distributed to infantry battalions with Army Service Corps drivers. The 17th Battn page below shows 2 Austins crossing the Rhine. One appears to have a T marking, the other doesn't http://www.dorsetrarebook.../genealogy/17th-tank.htm Lt Gen (then Major) Pope took command of 5th Armoured Car Company in Ireland. 5th ACC may have been a reduced version of the 17th Battn.
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Anne14	Peerless armoured car in Co Clare	#2	[url]	[-]
Head Constable Posts: 21 22-Dec-2011 2:12 PM	Horizontal Flip in Photoshop. Anne14
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Peter Mc RIC		#3	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1203 22-Dec-2011 9:50 PM Inspector-General	Thanks for the correction on the make and also the flipped photo, hopefully someone can tell us where this was taken now. An expert elsewhere has identified the armoured car as an Austin 3rd series. Out of interest I've attached the other photos, courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France who contacted me asking for the information. I love the vignettes of Irish life in the photos, the juxtaposition of the Irish side car with the tanks, and can you make out the donkey in the fields behind the Whippet tanks? Peter Mc Last Edited By: Peter Mc RIC 22-Dec-2011 9:53 PM. Edited 2 times.
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jdoyle		#4	[url]	[-]
Sergeant Posts: 7 27-Dec-2011 12:16 AM	Remove this ad nice photos there. Not seem either of them before. Any idea how they ended up in a French institute or any info about who took the photos? A340 appears on this list of Whippets as being in Dublin from 1918 https://sites.google.com/...ppets/whippetlist300-399 That looks like a fairly good road that these tanks are on. I see what you mean by the donkey and side car. Very surreal. I can't make out the identity marks on all the photos but the end info appears to read _K 167 113 side car photo, 3 officers in view _K 167 114 Bridge photo _K 167 115 rear of tanks (with donkey) just wonder if there is there anything else in the French files that follows this pattern that can be identified back to a source.
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Peter Mc RIC	Ennis	#5	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1205 27-Dec-2011 1:10 AM Inspector-General	To tidy up on this thread - experts elsewhere have identified these vehicles as an Austin 3rd series armoured car, and 2 Medium A (Whippet) tanks. The soldiers are men of the B Company 17th (Armoured Car) Battalion who landed in Dublin on 18 January 1919 and had (amongst other things) 8 Whippet tanks (including 4 named A351 Fanny Adams, A289 Fanny's Sister, A378 Golikell and A230 Gofaster) and Austin Armoured Cars. Their divisional sign was the white/red/white stripes shown on the car. The other 4 Whippet tanks were A308, A242 and A317 and A340 (shown for the first time here). By 1920 there were a further 8 Whippet tanks present in Ireland - 16 in all - though they were not found suitable for use in the Irish countryside. By 1922 all bar two had been scrapped. The photo of the Austin was taken outside the RIC Barracks at Ennis, Country Clare in November 1919. and the same place today, still used for policing - (Abbeyfield) How they ended up in the French National Library is anyone's guess. Peter Mc Last Edited By: Peter Mc RIC 27-Dec-2011 1:43 AM. Edited 2 times.
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vintary	more info	#6	[url]	[-]
Recruit Posts: 1 1-Jan-2012 11:56 AM	The image of the two Whippet’s (K 167 115) appeared in the Irish Independent newspaper in December of 1919, under the title ““Patrol duty in Co Clare””. The image was referring to the increase in Sinn Fein attacks on RIC barracks in the area. There was no further information with the image. ( Irish Independent newspaper 19/12/1919 page 3 ). There is no great difference between the armoured body of the Austin and Peerless. In 1919 the Austin chassis, which was shaft driven and had pneumatic tyres was replaced by the Peerless chassis, which is chain driven with solid wooden wheels. The chassis of the peerless protrudes several feet out from the rear of the armoured body. There were 16 Austin armoured cars in Ireland compared to over 70 peerless (In British service). The gun flaps mentioned by “idoyle” are to Russian army design; the Austin was only supplied to Russia until the fall of the Czar in 1917. The surplus remaining cars only then taking over by British forces. While in Russian service the Austin mounted a Maxim water cooled MG, which was prone to small arms fire. The Austin and Peerless in Ireland mounted a Hotchkiss MG. I was hoping someone might have a direct reference to the letter “T” ..??
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Peter Mc RIC		#7	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1212 4-Jan-2012 9:42 PM Inspector-General	Thanks Vintary, the newspaper reference was interesting -maybe the Indo used a French photographer?! I'd seen the 'T' on another photo when I was researching the above, but can't recall now where, it was of a similar car in France. I assumed it was T for Tank Corps but that might be simplistic. Anyone any better ideas? Peter Mc
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Peter Mc RIC	Belfast Telegraph 26 Nov 1919	#8	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1223 18-Jan-2012 10:34 PM Inspector-General	Remove this ad With thanks to Nigel Henderson for sending me this. The photo seems to be a composite, perhaps made up from two different plates Peter Mc
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Peerless armoured car in County Clare

Peerless armoured car in County Clare