RAF Series III Helicopter Servicing Platform
Royal Air Force Series III 109-inch hard top fitted with a roof-mounted helicopter servicing platform and a starting-cable reel on the side of the body, photographed in desert sand during the 1991 Gulf deployment and used to support helicopters in the field.
History
Joint-Forces.com's survey of Land Rovers in RAF service records a small batch of Series III 109-inch hard tops converted to helicopter servicing platform vehicles: a flat platform with notched corner stands was fitted over the roof so that ground crews could work on rotor heads and engine bays without separate steps, and a reel of starting cable was mounted on the side of the hard top, wired to a socket box on the body, so the vehicle could supply electrical power for helicopter starts. The photographed example, registration 52 AJ 92 carrying unit board 76, was serving in the Gulf in 1991 and had been repainted in desert sand over its original green, the older colour still showing at the roof gutter.
The registry's model is a Series III 109 hard top in sand with the roof platform and corner stands, the side-mounted cable reel with its socket box and trailing lead, bonnet spare, sand-painted wheels and black military plates.
Imagery
Registry record
- Manufacturer
- Land Rover (Series III 109-inch hard top)
- Manufactured
- Series III production; photographed 1991
- Modifier / coachbuilder
- Royal Air Force workshops (servicing platform and starting-cable installation)
- Engine type
- Rover 2.25 L four-cylinder petrol (Series III; not stated in the source)
- Production run
- Small batch; number unknown
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Operated in
- United Kingdom
- Status
- unknown
Catalogue data
- Record kind
- Named model
- Model line
- Series III
- Wheels
- 4
- Nominal wheelbase
- 109″
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.
Sources & citations
Researched sources
- Military Land Rovers Pt.6 — In RAF Service ↗ — Joint-Forces.com (accessed 2026-09-11)
Catalogue references
- https://www.joint-forces.com/land-rovers/15678-military-land-rovers-pt-6-in-raf-service https://www.joint-forces.com/land-rovers/15678-military-land-rovers-pt-6-in-raf-service ↗
Registry record updated 2026-09-11T12:53:55.720Z · status: researched