Alvis Salamander | |
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![]() Salamander crash tender | |
Overview | |
Manufacturer | Alvis |
Also called | FV651 |
Body and chassis | |
Layout | Rear engine, Six-wheel drive |
Related | Alvis Saladin |
Powertrain | |
Engine | 6,515 cc (397.6 cu in) Rolls-Royce B81 I8 |
Transmission | 5-speed |
Dimensions | |
Wheelbase | 120 in (3,050 mm) |
Length | 216 in (5,490 mm) |
Width | 99 in (2,510 mm) |
Height | 102 in (2,590 mm) |
The Alvis Salamander is a six-wheel drive airport crash tender with off-road capabilities, developed in 1956. [1]
It shares the same common Alvis six-wheel-drive chassis and other components with the FV 601 Saladin armoured car and FV 603 Saracen armoured personnel carrier. In turn it led to the FV 620 Stalwart load carrier which was derived from the Salamander.
The vehicle is powered by a 6,515-cubic-centimetre (397.6 cu in) Rolls-Royce B81 straight-eight engine producing 211 brake horsepower (157 kW) at 4000 RPM and 340 pound-feet (461 N⋅m) of torque at 2500 RPM. [2]
Firefighting equipment was provided by The Pyrene Company Limited. It could produce 7,500 gallons of foam per minute and carried a crew of 6.
125 Salamanders were built and used by the Royal Air Force (as the Alvis Salamander/Pyrene Mark 6) [3] and the Royal Canadian Air Force. From the late 1970s on they were replaced by vehicles like the Thornycroft Nubian Pyrene Mark 7.
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Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd was a British manufacturing company in Coventry from 1919 to 1967. In addition to automobiles designed for the civilian market, the company also produced racing cars, aircraft engines, armoured cars and other armoured fighting vehicles.
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The FV601 Saladin is a six-wheeled armoured car developed by Crossley Motors and later manufactured by Alvis. Designed in 1954, it replaced the AEC Armoured Car in service with the British Army from 1958 onward. The vehicle weighed 11 tonnes, offered a top speed of 72 km/h, and had a crew of three. Saladins were noted for their excellent performance in desert conditions, and found favour with a number of Middle Eastern armies accordingly. They were armed with a 76 mm low-pressure rifled gun which fired the same ammunition as that mounted on the FV101 Scorpion.
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