| Feature
on the Standard Beaverette: (or the Beaverette Virtual Museum)
Warning, this is a large page with
lots of graphics and will take a little time to download, unless
you are a broadband user.
Beaverette Mark
III at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford
Photo: John Harris
I have put together on this page all that I (and my tame researcher, Google) can find about the
Standard Beaverette. I really ought to get out more! Perhaps I
will be presented with the Standard "Anorack" award for
2006? This material has been collected from a
variety of websites and other sources, some of which contradict
themselves. The idea of this page is that you should write in to
me if you have any further information, pictures or details,
so that in time, this becomes the definitive reference point for
Beaverettes, though I don't purport that it is just yet!
How did it come about:
The idea for the Beaverette is
accredited to Lord Beaverbrook, conservative MP and owner of the
Daily Express and Evening Standard. (Before the war, The Daily
Express had the largest daily circulation in the world)
Lord Beaverbrook was
prominent in Churchill’s wartime government as Minister of
Aircraft Production (40-41), Minister of Supply (41-42), Minister
of War Production (42), Special Envoy to the United States on
Supplies (42), and Lord Privy Seal (43-45).
It is to be expected therefore
that Max Aitkin, for that was his "real" name,
must have been acquainted with Captain John Black, who in the late
30's had received government funding to build two Shadow factories
in Coventry to build aircraft for the hostilities.
The Beaverette therefore came
about because of 3 facts:
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Standard had a number ( around
500) 12Hp chassis left over when car production was ceased.
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The
Air Ministry had a requirement for light armoured cars to defend
Airfields.
-
It was pretty
easy to design and built with flat sheet armoured steel.
Hence the Beaverette was born:
Beaverette Mark I and II
The first cars were the most
crude in design. The 12Hp chassis was fitted with a 14Hp engine ,
to propel the predicted weight of the machine, which was fitted
with a steel plate body of, shall we say, angular proportions. The
Mark I is said to have carried oak planks to the rear extension
for the armour did not reach that far back. Clearly Standard had a
number of front wings also left over so these were the only
consideration made to what might be called "styling".
Whilst I can not confirm this, I believe the Mark II was steel
plated to the rear extension as well, that being the only
substantial difference.. A Bren .303 machine gun was the usual
fitting and some carried a wireless set. The driver and gunner sat
in an open cockpit, the driver having a horizontal slot to view
the road and the gunner a vertical slot to fire out of. Some shots
show a third crew member, though he appears to have no seat and
stands behind the driver with the appearance of waiting to be
shot!
Archive Photography:
These all appear to be Mark I or
II's, though note that in the 4th picture there is an extra rib
around all sides - is this the distinguishing feature of the Mark
II?
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Click
to enlarge
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The only distinguishing
feature on the Mk I is the rib around the waist line,
evident on the left hand car. The remainder are Mk IIs.
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Today,
we would call this a Beaverette Rally, is this the same gathering just
breaking up in the large photo below?
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Click
to see a larger version
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The page below is from
an unidentified magazine of August 1940 where the cars are
incorrectly titled "Mosquitos" and called Ironsides, .
The text also says that they are in exercises with a "famous
cavalary division" which contradicts the popular wisdom that
these cars were only ever in service with the Home Guard and for RAF
Airfield protection. It looks to me like the centre shot is at the
same large gathering as the two shots above. Note also that the
first shot is the only one available of a rear view and clearly
shows soldiers jumping from the flat rear floor of the car
The above page can
be enlarged, by clicking on it
Beaverette Mark III and IV.
By this time Standard appeared to
have exhausted the supply of front wings and chassis so the next
batches of cars were purpose built. The 12 Hp chassis was
shortened to remove the rear overhang and the tin wings were
replaced with armoured steel. For the mark III, a
turret was added to the top of an enclosed cabin. There were two
types of turret:
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an enclosed turret, which must have
made the operation of the Bren machine gun, through a narrow slot, very
difficult, if not impossible. to fire.
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an open turret,
when a larger twin Vickers machine gun was fitted, so the gunner
was exposed, but with more freedom to manouvre.
The Mark IV retains
the enclosed roof and turret, but there is a redesign of the armour
around the driver and navigators heads. Clearly this was designed
to mean that the driver no longer had to lean forward to see
out of his "slot" but his slot was also reduced in
size". The navigator gained two smaller slots in a vee
configuration, again designed to improve visibility (!)
Archive
Photography:
All the below are Mark III's
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Click to
enlarge
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Mk III's with enclosed turrets and Bren Machine guns are
above and those with the larger twin Vickers machine guns
are below.
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Click to
enlarge |
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This Mk III resides in
the Imperial War Museums collection at Duxford: My thanks to John
Harris for these shots, all of which can be clicked on to show a
larger version:
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Access to
the engine was good, provided you had the strength to lift
the centre hinged bonnet!
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The
enclosed turret is fitted to this model
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The crew
had to crawl in through this, the rear ( and only) door and
over the raised hump for the rear axle |
The
"office" is probably the most uninviting driving
seat I have been in! |
Modern Photos of
Mark IVs
This is the Mark IV
that I had the misfortune to drive ( see later) a number of years
ago. The change in armour and slots can be clearly seen.
Photo: Phil Homer
Photographed a number
of years ago in an underground museum in North Wales, this Mk IV has
been cut down for civilian use, also evidenced by the fitting of
headlights and sidelights
Photo: Phil Homer
Irish
Army Service
The shots below have
recently been sent to me by Brendan Bohan. Thes show vehicles used
by 11th Motor Squadron FCA (Forsa Cosanta Aitiuil - reserve unit
Irish Army) in 1960. The first photo shows Mk IV's cut down as in
the photo above, so maybe it was the Irish Army that carried out
this modification:
The second photo,
below, shows a line up of Ford Armoured Cars, they are the ones with
the large gun on top. The Standards can be seen towards the rear of
the convoy, just before the soldiers on bikes!
Driving experience:
About 20 years ago, it was my
"privilege" to drive a Mk IV. Well, actually, I
got it
off a low loader and into the exhibition hall in which the club
was exhibiting at Brighton, that was quite far enough! I can report that visibility was next
to nil, as was performance, and the noise was positively
dangerous! As you might expect, the steering wasn't exactly light,
but there was 2 1/2 tons to drag around without power steering! I
have also found the following account of a wartime experience of
driving one of these machines:
"We took a packed train to Plymouth, he in a
first-class compartment, me in with the workers in the third. On
arrival we went to stay in the Royal Ulster Rifles (Sister
Regiment) barracks in the City. Next morning we were to take (what
we were to call), the 'monstrosity' back to Elstree. The vehicle
was a brainchild of Lord Beaverbrook then a Cabinet Minister, a
great friend of Winston Churchill the Prime Minister. When the war
started the old Standard Car Manufacturer had about 500 car
chassis left in stock. Beaverbrook thought they could help to make
a perfect Armoured Desert Vehicle. These were to be constructed
with about 2 ton of steel plate-fitted on 3 sides of the chassis,
with an open back and top.
On the driver's side there were 2 slits at eye level, one
directly in front the other on the extreme right-hand side, so
that he could see what was happening on his right hand side when
turning. The slits measured about 8x2 inches wide and deep. This
contraption was impossible to drive without a second person. On
the left of the driver a person had to stand up, to look over the
front and sides, to help direct the driver. It was a crazy set-up,
only a politician could dream up such an idiotic machine. Whether
it was all right in the open desert I do not know. It was a
"death-trap" as we learned the previous driver had been
killed when it had overturned, because of the sheer weight, when
turning a sharp bend. I was seriously alarmed when I realized that
I was to drive this 'monster' some 200 miles with the officer
standing beside me. We started off and immediately I discovered
that because of the weight, it was unbalanced, the brakes were
virtually useless. Devon with its main roads, then long winding
roads, up one hill and down another, was challenging and
frightening.
Within about 10 minutes the Officer was screaming at me
"I thought you said that you could drive this bloody
thing" and I was driving too fast. I told him that I could
not drive any slower, the weight of the thing was the problem. We
carried on a bit further and he became annoyed with the situation,
saying I could not drive at all. He said "I'll have a
go", we exchanged places. I was overjoyed to hand over.
Within two minutes he was saying "I now know what you mean,
its a terrible thing to handle". We then decided to take it
in turns to drive, literally crawlng all the way to Bath where he
lived in a grand house in beautiful Georgian Royal Crescent.
I was consigned to the basement to spend the night in the
quarters of the domestic staff, the Officer was naturally upstairs
a real "upstairs and downstairs" situation,
Beaverette Models:
To my surprise, Google has found 4
scale models of the Beaverette,
and two of them still appear to be available. They will form the
basis of another feature shortly - come back soon.
If you have spotted any
errors in the above, or have other information or photographs to
add to it, please send them to me.
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