The RAF's helicopter servicing Land Rover in its Defender 110 form: a roof platform to work on a helicopter at height, work lights, a yellow band along the body and a heavy front winch, photographed at RAF Wattisham in 1994 — the successor to a Series III version that had gone to the Gulf.
Servicing a helicopter on a dispersal means reaching its rotor head and engine bays, and the RAF's solution since the Series III era was a Land Rover with a platform on the roof — a mobile work stand that could also carry the ground crew's tools and start the aircraft from its own electrics. The Series III version served through the 1980s, and one was photographed near Al Jubail in Saudi Arabia during Operation GRANBY in January 1990, its roof platform and starting cables on the side identifying its trade.
After the Gulf War the Series III vehicles were replaced by a Defender 110 version, which is the vehicle in this record: the same roof platform, work lights, a yellow band along the body for visibility on the airfield and heavy front winch fittings, photographed by Dick Ward at RAF Wattisham in 1994. As a British military Defender of the pre-Wolf years it carries the naturally aspirated 2.5-litre diesel. Fleet quantities are not published.
Specification
MANUFACTURERLand Rover
MANUFACTUREDDefender 110 replacement for the Series III servicing vehicle after the Gulf War; photographed 1994
ENGINE2.5 L naturally aspirated diesel inline-four (British military pre-Wolf Defender)
PRODUCTION RUNUnknown — fleet size not published
COUNTRY OF ORIGINUnited Kingdom
OPERATED INUnited Kingdom
STATUSunknown
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINEDefender
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE110″
CATEGORYMilitary · UK
Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.
