Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars of The RNAS - Middle East

Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars of The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), developed in 1914 and used during the First World War as pictured here (possibly in Egypt). In September 1914 all available Rolls Royce Silver Ghost chassis were requisitioned to form the basis for the new armoured car. The following month a special committee of the Admiralty Air Department, among whom was Flight Commander T.G. Hetherington, designed the superstructure which consisted of armoured bodywork and a single fully rotating turret mounting a regular water-cooled.303-in Mk I Vickers machine gun. The armoured cars served on several fronts of the Middle Eastern theatre. Lawrence of Arabia used a squadron in his operations against the Turkish forces. He called the unit of nine armoured Rolls-Royces "more valuable than rubies" in helping win his Revolt in the Desert

Bodywork Chassis Fully Mounting Regular Rnas Rolls-royce Rotating Superstructure Turret Water-cooled

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