Carmichael Redwing FT/5 — Series III

Carmichael was founded in Worcester in 1849 as a coachbuilder and turned to fire-engine building in 1947, with its first appliances supplied to the Worcester Fire Brigade. Its Redwing range of Land Rover fire appliance conversions on the 109-inch chassis became a mainstay of county and private works brigades from the early 1960s: the FT/5 was the normal-control conversion (examples survive from as early as 1961), while the forward-control FT/6 of 1961 added an extended cab for a five-man crew. Their compact size suited restricted factory sites, and examples were exported to brigades in Malaya, New Zealand and Trinidad, with the British Army Fire Service also using the type.

This example, registration KFP 697P (chassis 917 08759C), is a 1975 Series III 109 with the 2.25-litre diesel engine and four-speed gearbox, converted by Carmichael to Redwing FT/5 specification. It was allocated to the works fire brigade of the Cape Hill Brewery in Smethwick, West Midlands — founded by Henry Mitchell in 1879, part of Mitchells & Butlers from 1898 and of Bass from 1961. The brewery closed in 2002 and was demolished.

The appliance was donated to the Dunsfold Collection in June 2025 by the National Brewery Heritage Trust and was featured in Land Rover Monthly's October 2025 issue. Carmichael itself continued building fire vehicles under successive owners and, after several liquidations and relaunches, its successor business was acquired by the Netherlands-based Royal Terberg Group in 2018.