Morris light reconnaissance car

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Weapon

Morris Light Reconnaissance Car (LRC)
Morris LRC of the RAF Regiment, Tunisia, 30 March 1943.
Production history
Manufacturer	Morris
Produced	1940-1944
No. built	2,200
Specifications
Mass	3.7 t
Length	13 ft 4 inch (4.06 m)
Width	6 ft 8 inch (2.03 m)
Height	6 ft 2 inch (1.88 m)
Crew	3

Armour	8-14 mm
Main armament	0.55 in (14 mm) Boys anti-tank rifle
Secondary armament	0.303 in (7.7 mm) Bren light machine gun
Engine	Morris 4-cylinder petrol engine 72 hp (54 kW)
Power/weight	24 hp/tonne (14.6 kW/tonne)
Suspension	Mk I: 4 x 2 wheel Mk II: 4 x 4 wheel
Operational range	240 miles (385 km)
Maximum speed	50 mph (80 km/h)

Morris Light Reconnaissance Car (LRC) was a British light armoured car for reconnaissance use produced by Morris Motors Limited and used by the British during the Second World War.

The Nuffield Group had been brought in to supplement production of light reconnaissance cars by Standard Motor Company (Beaverette) and Humber (Humber LAC, also known as "Humberette").

The vehicle had an unusual internal arrangement, with the three-man crew sitting side by side by side with the driver in the middle, a crewman manning a small multi-sided turret mounting a Bren light machine gun on the right, and another with a Boys anti-tank rifle (mounted in brackets in the hatches on the hull roof) and access to radio set on the left. From 1940 to 1944, over 2,200 were built.

The vehicle was used in the North African, Italian and in North-West Europe campaigns. Some served with the RAF Regiment, others were given to Polish units.

One of the surviving vehicles is on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, another at The Tank Museum, Bovington, and another at the Military Museum at Port Dickson, Malaysia.

Variants

Mk I - original version.
- Mk I OP - observation post version. No turret. Equipped with two rangefinders.
Mk II - four-by-four chassis.
Morris Experimental Tank - had two turrets. Never reached production.
Firefly - an experiment by Morris to use 6 pounder guns from the period before the tanks became available to mount them. A 57 mm QF 6 pounder anti-tank gun was mounted in the front of the hull. It was rejected.
Salamander - A narrow two seat version of the Morris LRC with a turret on top. Prototype built but no production.
Glanville Fighter Car - A one-seat version of the Morris LRC with two fixed machine guns. Prototype built but no production.

Notes

Fletcher, David (1989). The Great Tank Scandal: British Armour in the Second World War - Part 1. HMSO. ISBN 978-0-11-290460-1.
^ Brown, Peter. "Morris Light Recce Car Mk I Article". www.missing-lynx.com. Retrieved 17 September 2022.

References

Forty, George (1996). World War Two Armoured Fighting Vehicles and Self-Propelled Artillery. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-85532-582-9.
Moschanskiy, I. (February 1999). Бронетанковая техника Великобритании 1939-1945 часть 2 [Armoured vehicles of Great Britain 1939-1945 part 2]. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
Great Britain's Morris Mk II Reconnaissance Car wwiivehicles.com
White, B T. Armoured Cars - Marmon-Herrington, Alvis-Straussler, Light Reconnaissance. AFV Weapons Profile No. 30. Windsor: Profile Publishing.

External links

British Commonwealth armoured fighting vehicles of the Second World War

Tanks

Light tanks	Light tank Mk I, Mk II, Mk III, Mk IV and Mk V Light tank Mk VI Light tank Mk VII Tetrarch Light tank Mk VIII 'Harry Hopkins' Vickers 6-ton M3/M5 Stuart * M22 Locust * M24 Chaffee *
Cruiser tanks	Cruiser Mk I Cruiser Mk II Cruiser Mk III Cruiser Mk IV Covenanter Crusader Cavalier Centaur and Cromwell Challenger Comet Ram ‡ Sentinel †
Infantry tanks	Matilda I Matilda II Valentine Churchill
Medium tanks	Grant/Lee * Grizzly I ‡ Sherman * Sherman Firefly Vickers Medium Mark II

Self-propelled
artillery

Field	Bishop Priest* Sexton ‡
Anti-tank	Deacon 17pdr SP Achilles Archer M10 tank destroyer *

Armoured personnel
carriers

Scout cars and
armoured cars

Scout cars	Daimler Dingo Dingo scout car † Humber scout car Lynx scout car ‡ S1 scout car †
Armoured cars	AEC armoured car Boarhound armoured car * Coventry armoured car Daimler armoured car Fox armoured car ‡ Greyhound armoured car * Guy armoured car Humber armoured car Indian Pattern Carrier § Lanchester 6×4 armoured car Marmon-Herrington armoured cars Morris CS9 Rhino heavy armoured car † Rolls-Royce armoured car Rover light armoured car † Staghound armoured car * Standard Beaverette
Reconnaissance cars	Humber light reconnaissance car Morris light reconnaissance car Otter light reconnaissance car ‡

Armoured command
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Experimental vehicles

Key: * American lend-lease, † Australian, ‡ Canadian, § Indian, SA South African, ¶ New Zealand, field conversions of vehicles of various origins

Background: British armoured fighting vehicle production during World War II, Tanks in the British Army

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