Specialist Police Vehicles. Part-One.

Riot Control and Dispersal.

Every police force and Paramilitary Police have developed their own types of riot dispersal vehicles to meet the needs of the various situations that may occur? Many countries including the U.K do use semi-militarised vehicles as in N-Ireland, but France, Belgium and the U.S.A. have also those types to deal with bomb and gunfire.

The riot control vehicle was developed from both the early armoured cars and armoured personnel carriers, which were of military usage. From 1947 what we have today began in the United States, being developed from military trucks adapted to deal with the Gangsterism of the 1920'-30s.

Shorts-Landrover developed the Simba series of armoured vehicles from the early 1970's to the present, armour plating was an essential to these waggon's from IRA, Loyalist and other smaller factional groupings. Blast, nail, pipe bombs, Snipers, sustained machine gunfire, petrol and other mixed concoction bombs were the main threat in the major towns and cities!

But the former RUC Royal Ulster Constabulary, had relied on the Thompson's Handy Andy truck conversion from 1922 to 1969, but in the Ulster countryside it was the landmines and home-made Culvert bombs that were fatal to these new Land rovers?

Britten-Norman Trislander.

1984 Taken over by Swiss Pilatus.

This is perhaps one of the strangest aircraft still flying today and operated in the U.K. by Channel Islands Aurigny Air Services. Call sign AYLINE, they have four aircraft in service G-BDTO, G-BOVT and G-RLON. Each has a 2+16 capacity seating. The fourth aircraft G-JOEY is stored at Guernsey airport. 

Meanwhile the origins of this three engined BN-2A Trislander has 75% components of the earlier Islander/Defender, which we will take a look at further on in the year. 

The 1984 Mk-III-4 embodied a rocket motor for the event of engine failure on take-off. Passengers designed for 16/17, powered by three Lycoming piston engines, cruising speed 175mph (282km/hr), range with full payload 160 miles (257km).

This aircraft was produced for a time in Belgium and has been exported to the U.K, Africa, Australia, U.S.A, Canada, Indonesia and South-America.