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Help IDing an APC that almost ran me over.

superburban

Member
484
5
18
Location
SL,UT
One day when I lived in the Philippines (in 2000), I was on a hike in the jungle with a friend in the Aroura province. We were walking down a winding, single lane highway (you dont want to get too far away from the road there), when we heard a strange noise. It was a resounding, reverberating humming sound. It was hard to tell which direction it was coming from, because of the echo effect in the jungle. All of a sudden, the noise got very loud and very clear. In the few seconds after I realized what the sound was, and from what direction it was coming from, we moved our bodies out of the road in a big hurry. The sound was the hum of large, off-road tires on pavement, and the direction was right behind us, barrelling around the bend in the road.

The vehicle was 6-wheeled. It had angular seams. It had a single door in the rear, and another about 1/3 back on the left side. It had a turret in the center with a .50 cal integral and a 40mm out the top hatch. There was an AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) soildier poking out of the top hatch holding on to the spades of the 40mm grenade launcher (I dont know if he was holding on to be ready for action, or if he was holding on for dear life)! The vehicle was travelling faster that most cars would ever go on a road this bendy, I would estimate at close to 45 mph.

This was about the first time I got bitten by the OD iron bug. The next time was about a year later in the Nueva Ecija province. The AFP was showing off some of their firepower as both a recruiting tool, and a warning for NPA terrorists (New People's Army) thinking of causing any mischief. They set up a pretty big exhibit at the big mall in Cabanatuan. I had been bitten by the bug and thought that I would attend, and see if my mystery APC would be there too. Sure enough, it was!

Now, I know that it is a shot in the dark, but I got a better look at another one of these APC's and I am hoping that someone reading this can ID it from my description. I walked up to the soldier (who was armed with an M16 from about Vietnam vintage with the triangle handgaurds and the open flash suppressor and all!) that was tending the vehicle at the exhibit, and asked a few questions (never thinking to ask what it's name was). He said that it was powered by a Cummins diesel engine. He told me that it was American made, and here is the cool part, he asked me if, since I was obviously American made too, I would like to have a closer look.

"Hell yeah!"

He moved the velvet rope and invited me to climb inside. The driver's seat was right next to the engine compartment. The driver on the left, the engine on the right. You had to fold the seat back down and climb over the back to get to the cockpit. There were two rows of seats along the sides with enough room for maybe 8 or 10 people. Then in the middle, there was the turret. It was manually rotated with a crank. Integral to the turret, they had a .50 with elevation adjusted by a crank in the other hand. Out the top of the hatch, there was a 40mm grenade launcher. The floor of the vehicle was littered with grenades and .50 ammo cans! Even so, the soldier was OK with me climbing all over his APC like I was a kid on the jungle-gym.

Anyway, I am addicted now, and it's been killing me, not knowing what model that thing was. Anyone have any idea what it could have been?
 

superburban

Member
484
5
18
Location
SL,UT
Hmm. No. The one I am refering to appeared to be smaller than the LAV300. It's hull is similar in construction, though.
Thanks for the quick reply, though! :D
 

superburban

Member
484
5
18
Location
SL,UT
I found it! It was a Simba! Turns out my memory is slipping! I confused this vehicle with an American one I saw there too. They got all mish-mashed in my brain, but now that I found these pics, I can say that it was definetely a Simba. Made in England by a private venture for the AFP. (And it looks like in the 7 years since this happened, someone went and sawed the middle axle off. Crazy. :wink: )
 

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