These are some rare period pictures of the Land Rover 110 in Royal Airforce fire brigade (‘Brandweer’) service. Unlike Dutch army and navy Land Rovers, it was fitted with a petrol engine. They were sold off long ago and not many survive.
In the 1980’s, both the Koninklijke Luchtmacht (Royal Airforce) and the Koninklijke Marine (Royal Navy) ordered Land Rover 110’s to replace the ageing 109. The navy opted for a 110 fitted with a diesel engine and 24v installation and to this day they still use Defender 110XD WW’s. The Dutch airforce was the only military branch that bought petrol versions, first with 2.25 4 cylinder engines, later with 2.5 litre displacement. All cars were 12 volts and most were used to guard the airbase where they were deployed, except for this rare fire brigade version.
Visually the 110 on these images, a fire brigade car with a LM (‘Luchtmacht’) registration plate, is typical for a Dutch military Land Rover. Land Rovers in service from 1977 on were fitted with wing mounted blackout head lights and the rather ugly square tail light clusters, both by Hella. The pvc softtop was unique for Dutch military Land Rovers, the Royal Marine Land Rover 110 was equipped with a canvas hood without side windows.
Ronald Janus
De Autoboerderij
