reply to post by deltaalphanovember
the pookie was built by Davies engineering using components from a VW kombi, this same company builds the Thunderbird Microlight in Tarlton South
Africa and the owner Trevor has a pookie behind one of the hangers.
the fact is that Rhodesia and South Africa were in the forefront of anti landmine and landmine detection vehicles due to the nature of the bush war
and of course the threat of landmines on dirt roads and farm tracks.
The lack of reliable IED and landmine proof vehicles in use in the current conflict an Afghanistan unfortunately is not through lack of design
technology but rather through lack of forsight in planning and implementation of the correct vehicle for the right job, in march 1986 I was in a
Buffel which happened to be following a police Casper which hit a double "cheese mine" in a puddle in mamelodi, the total damage was one lost wheel
with no injuries and no one was strapped in , if the buffel had hit this then it would have rolled, as no seatbelts were worn due to danger of petrol
bombs the buffel occupents would have been seriously injured.
this shows the right vehicle can protect those even when systems are not used as they should be, IED's would certainly have more of an effect but hey
a casper or even buffel would be much better than a lightly armoured land rover.
the Pookie was used to detect landmines and the F1 tyres were there for low pressure footprint to spread the weight to stop detonation of mines and
other devices, they suffered from damage on rough terrain and on potholes but hey rather a blown tyre than dead people in a convoy.
