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Timoney Mk 4 Armored Personnel Carrier | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Timoney MkIV APC Copyright Dennis J. McCarthy(?) |
Timoney MkIV APC at the NTM, Howth Copyright Irish Armored Vehicles |
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Background | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Due to the expansion of the Defence Foreces in the early '70s, the Timoneys made an offer of their, at that time, new, and innovative, Armored Personnel Carrier and it was expected that the Government would order between 100 and 200 vehicles, however, as the threat passed, this requirement was dropped and in the event only 3 Prototypes and 5 MkIVs were ordered. The order for the MkIV was placed in December 1977, but the last vehicle did not enter service until 1980 due to a fault in the first batch armor delivered from Creusot_Loire. The MkIVs were delevered in three batches, 364 KZE and 365 KZE on June 14th, 1979, 366 KZE and 368 KZE on November 5th, 1979 and 367 KZE in 1980 (367 KZE had accumulated 2,912 Km by April 1980). As would be expected with what was basically a pre-producution batch of vehicles, these vehicles suffered from a number of technical problems including leaking brake seals, however, all these teething problems were solved and the vehicle was used in service by various units including the 1st Tank Sqdn. (now 1st Armoured Cavalry Sqdn.) and Border units.. At this time the Belgian Governement was also looking for APCs and following extensive testing, 123 were ordered. These were built under license by a local firm, Beherman-Demoen as the BDX APC. These vehicles benefitted from their relatively large production run and gave excellent service, with some continuing in service in Mexico today! The pictures above were both taken at the National Transport Museum in Howth, a fine group of people, but they are badly in need of funds. Due to lack of space the MkIV is in open storage, a situation that hopefully will not continue much longer. |
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