Yes, there IS a Flying Iltis ...

[Robert Dabkowski]

... which won't surprise any of you who have seen me drive ...

Please try
http://www.armyrecognition.com/forum...opic.php?t=767 and then think very kind thoughts about the Canadian sons who patrolled some of the world's worst "hotspots" in these toys, everyday, for years.

Robert in Toronto

[rob love]

Glad those weren't real people in there.

It makes me smile to see an Iltis like that. I hated those trucks.

[Snowtractor]

...it may have failed the test. Isn't an Iltis vs an antitank mine a no brainer....kind of like a chicken vs an SUV.
Sean

[Spurrat]

I felt like doing that to every Iltus I ever drove as well!

Thanks for sharing the picture, scary.

[Wayne McGee]

If the Iltis had have been left alone to perform the tasks that it was designed for, then it, or some form of it would still be in service as a light C&C feild car.
As it was, before the origonal batches paint was dry, the Airborne was dumping them out of the back of Herky Birds and bolting on TOW launchers, Infantry Units were stripping off the canvas and superstucture and with the aid of bailing wire and duct tape were straping on GPMG's and cam nets to make recce cars.
It was foolish to beleive that that the Iltis had any prospect of being a weapons carrier, a patrol vehicle or perform any sort of forward combat function.
It's unfortunate that the Iltis is going to be remembered as a dissmal failure when it is our own fault that it ends up as a "only-used-once-mine-detector"

Cheers

[Robert Dabkowski]

... you are being much to harsh on the Iltis. Rather than being remembered in a poor light, the release and sale of some 2,200 to the Canadian public will assure the Iltis an honoured place in Canadian military history. Everytime a restored Iltis drives by, I for one will remember just how stupid the Liberal government of the day was in asking that little truck to do so many jobs for which it was NEVER designed. Never again, I hope.

And yet, for years, it did them all, remarkably well. As a taxpayer I feel that I got my money's worth, for sure. And will continue to do so for years more in the one that I bought at auction, last year. As long as I remember that its a 'jeep', not a tank, I'm sure that it will do just fine in whatever terrain that I point it into.

I doubt that the troopers nor their commanders were happy with the marching orders received from their political masters back then but in so many places around the world, they (and their lltis) got the job done.

Added a few hours later ...

"You know what sped it along and why the G-Wagen was adopted

A $126-million contract was awarded to Mercedes Benz Canada on
October 21, for the procurement of 802 G Wagons and 118 armour
protection systems (APS). The contract includes an unfunded option to
buy up to 499 additional vehicles and up to 135 additional APS kits
at an additional cost of $99.4 million—an additional 42 APS were
purchased under this option in December 2003 for $4.44 million
bringing the total number of APS kits to 160.

Production for the G-Class will remain at the Magna Steyr Plant in
Graz, Austria, where over 185,000 have been produced throughout the
years.

KEY WORD HERE IS **MAGNA**
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...15/ai_85095821

Canada's Magna International Inc. acquired control of Steyr-Daimler-
Puch in 1998, giving Magna, one of the world's largest auto
suppliers, the ability to produce whole vehicles.

Now who is the Liberal Politician, former president and chief
executive officer of Magna International, a major automotive supplier
founded by her father ?

The Honourable (?) Belinda Stronach...

2002 - Magna opens new plant and begins assembling vehicles
2004 - Belinda quits Magna and pursues politics full time
2005 - Belinda Stronach crosses floor to Liberal party
2005 - G-wagens are ordered - built by Magna Automotive
2007 - Belinda leaves politics to return to run Magna

Sounds like another Liberal back-patting/scratching party to me..."

I have no idea if the above posting is true or not as I found it, as presented above, elsewhere.

Can anyone provide confirmation ?

Robert in Toronto




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[Wayne McGee]

If the line diagram you drew is true, then my buddy, the Defence Minister should dump that two-faced, pocket-lining, Bitc.......hey, wait a minute, she dumped him allready.
Maybe, thier break-up was a ruse.
Steyr?..hmm...Don't they make that piece of crap "Star Wars wanna-be" Bullpup rifle? If DND starts fast-tracking the purchase of that useless gat we'll all know they're still ticklin' each others naughty-bits.
I think.....wait...no more thinking till I get on my tinfoil hat!



Cheers!

[rob love]

The G-wagon is used by more NATO countries than any other Light Utility Vehicle. Whether or not Belinda is going to make money from them to buy her next hockey star boyfriend gifts is not really relevant to their being chosen. These were picked through proper trials run by the DND. (not like, say for example, the LSVW).

Wayne: I was a mechanic on the Iltis when they were adopted, and over the 20 years that I repaired them, I saw the same faults and weaknesses in the last years as I saw in the first. Do a search on this forum with Iltis, and my name as the author....I vented in depth on some of the repeated failures these trucks produced.


Back when we bought the Iltis, they were $24,000 a piece. I remember jokingly trying to trade one with the Americans for a Humvee, but all the American could say was "Hey, you are missing 4 cylinders!".
The Humvee, when new back in 86, was $35,000 a copy. You got a lot more for the money buying American in my opinion. Best part of buying American, is that parts are available through COLOG cheap and plentiful. There were periods when we were grounding Iltis for stupid things like speedometers (manufacturer had quit making them), and even air filters (none for almost 1 year.).

We'll see in 2 or 3 years, once the surplus parts dry up, how many of the Iltis are still driving around. I suspect I will still see more M38s and A1s than I will see Iltis by then (in fact I see more of the old jeeps around now.)

Kudos to the Belgium government, for not trying to flog a dead horse.

[Wayne McGee]

Don't even get me started on that useless piece of kit.
I do dissagree with the apples/oranges arguement between an Iltis and HumVee. The vehicles from the ground up were designed from two entirely different perspectives. I can state for a fact that if I named the route, I would leave a hummer hung up and wedged in the woods, eating my dust.
The point I was making, was that, from the beginning, there was no intention of using that fine little range car for performing the tasks that it was designed for.
If in your experience you discovered flaws in the vehicle, I would suggest that the problem was on this side of the pond.

[Keith Webb]

= Weasel in German. You learn something every day!



Source

[rob love]

Originally posted by Wayne McGee

If in your experience you discovered flaws in the vehicle, I would suggest that the problem was on this side of the pond.

I was in Cypress in 89 or 90...we replaced the ILtis there after just 4 years of service. No GPMGs, airdrops, TOW missiles etc were on these ones. They were just used in the recce role.

One thing that we had done to the majority of them there was to replace the electric fuel pump with the VW rabbit mechanical pump. Despite the sweltering heat, there was no vapour lock with the mechanical pump, and they proved far more reliable than the electric pump ever was.

[Mike Timoshyk]

I was in Cypress in 89 or 90...

Different missions at the same time....you OP SNOWGOOSE me OP DANACA....Different tasks, same hangovers

[PPS]

Photos of the Iltis in its various poses can be seen at:-

http://www.iltis.ca/

Paul