J. C. Boylan

Sir,

The letter of Mr. R. S. Cooke in your February issue leads me to divulge some information on Rolls-Royce armoured cars, which, at this stage, is of no use to me but might jog the memones of others, and, at the same time, present one of your farther-flung readers with an opportunity and a challenge. In late April 1942 I happened to visit Fort Duffern in Mandalay. Although I had little time for sightseeing, the spectacle of three Rolls-Royce armoured cars, neatly parked next to the hospital, was impressed in my memory. They appeared to be in an operational state and I recall that they bore the names of Burmese towns. At that time the town of Mandalay was full of derelict vehicles, as the most convenient way out was by boat.

It turned out that the cars belonged to the Burmese or Burma Frontier Force, which had maintained at least one fort on the Chinese frontier at Pan-Kham. It is most likely that the force was equipped in the 1930s with vehicles from the Middle East.

I suspect that there were photographs (post-1942) of Rolls-Royce armoured cars being used by the Japanese forces. These would have been captured in Hong-Kong or Singapore, if any were held there.

If this was so, the possibility of one, or two Rolls-Royce armoured cars, abandoned for lack of spares, providing shelter for peacocks instead of the more conventional chickens and cats, would stand consideration and investigation.

Whitley Bay, J. C. Boylan.

[ Where have all the motor traders gone . . .?—Ed.]