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Whirlwind & Dust Devil
Air Defence Team

      Here are a couple of tracked units for the Third Battalion of the Irish Dragoons. The Whirlwind is the unit with the tall turret. The weapons are RAC-2s and the unit is used in an anti-air roll. The chassis are as large as an Alacorn, but has relatively light armor. The reason for this is because the tremendous rate of fire goes through huge quantities of ammunition. As such everything was sacrificed to allow for maximum ammunition storage.

      Because of the Whirlwind’s need for ammunition a, Whirlwind chassis without the turret was used as a ammo wagon. The ammo wagon could back up to the Whirlwind and create a direct feed into the Whirlwind through ammo chutes in the rear of each vehicle. The ammo wagon was also lightly armored and completely unarmed. It was felt that weapons and armor were unnecessary because the units would be in protected areas defended by other combat units.

      As with most suppositions, this one proved wrong. Often the Whirlwind was subject to unprotected combat. The turret having been designed for an anti-aircraft roll was not well suited for ground level combat. As a result it was decided to add a turret to the ammo wagon. The turret also houses four RAC-2s in a low profile turret specifically designed to engage enemy ground units. Also a low profile helps keep the Whirlwind from accidentally damaging the ammo wagon’s turret in a tracking sweep. The new turret uses the same ammunition as it feeds to the Whirlwind. The new unit was named the Dust Devil for obvious reasons. The Whirlwind and Dust Devil combination has proven to be a devastation combination in combat and well able to defend itself.

 
 



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