The Daimler Scout Car, known in service as Dingo, was a British light fast 4WD reconnaissance vehicle also used in the liaison role during the Second World War. The vehicle was officially designated Daimler Scout Car, but became widely known as Dingo, which was the name of the competing Alvis prototype.
Arguably one of the finest AFV built in Britain during the war, the Dingo was a small two-man armoured car. It was well protected for its size with 30 mm of armour at the front. The engine was located at the rear of the vehicle. One of the ingenious features of Dingo was the transmission; a pre-selector gearbox and fluid flywheel that gave five-speeds in both directions. Original version had four-wheel steering; however this feature was dropped in Mk II because inexperienced drivers found the vehicle hard to control.
Boy! Same 5 speeds in reverse and forward! Nice for getting your a** out of trouble, but I can imagine that beast would be weird to drive.Although the Dingo featured a flat plate beneath the chassis to slide across uneven ground, it was extremely vulnerable to mines. No spare wheel was carried, nor really necessary because of the use of Run Flat (hollow) rubber tyres instead of pneumatic. Despite the hard tyres, the independent suspension gave it a very comfortable ride. A swivelling seat next to the driver allowed the other crew member to attend to the No. 19 radio or Bren gun when required.
Those day it took one full time operator to run the radio.
The Dingo was first used by the British Expeditionary Force (1st Armoured Division and 4thNorthumberland Fusilers) during the Battle of France. It turned out to be so successful that no replacement was sought until 1952 with the production of the Daimler Ferret.
Somehow I find it fascinating that a company that is now German manufactured vehicles for Germany in WWII.
Help me out here folks. Do you remember the TV series about British troups in North Africa fighting Rommel's tanks using vehicles like this? Weren't they the rat pack?
3 comments:
Desert Rats starring Christopher George. I believe they used jeeps with 50cals.
Gawd I love that friggin Dingo. I don't think the Rat Patrol had those though - much too slow, iirc they had a run of the mill jeep with a mg mounted on it. Definitely .50 cal and definitely a great show.
Hi, im lucky enough to own one of these vehicles.
As for your comment much too slow... i think not. The dingo can do 60mph forward and 55mph in reverse. It handles really well on rough ground due to the very advanced fully independent coiled spring suspension and permanent 4WD.
The real Desert Rats, the 7th armoured division and Recce corps used them. Anything so unprotected as a jeep would not have lasted very long in the exposed western desert if used in front of the front-lines as these vehicles were.
The car was normally armed with a Boyes anti tank rifle but more commonly a BREN gun or rarely twin Lewis or Vickers machine guns.
Daimler in the 1930's was a wholly English company and was part of the BSA group. It was not connected with the German Daimler-Benz. This was just as well as we would not have wanted the 'Jerries' to have a direct feed into our biggest arms manufacturer!
If you’re interested I can provide some really good wartime photo's of the cars in action.
Regards
Singe
singeager@hotmail.com
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