Armoured Cats save soldiers lives
Having survived certain death after running over improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in their armour-plated Caterpillar machines while serving in Afghanistan, two British soldiers visited Cat's Desford facility to thank the workforce, UK distributor Finning and armour plating specialist Penman.
Soldiers Daniel Boden (pictured) and Craig Cook were driving specially Finning/Penman prepared Cat machines built for the MoD when, in separate incidents, they ran over IEDs. In each case the machines were totally written off but both men walked away unscathed.
"We were travelling in convoy when the explosion occurred and I thought at first one of the other machines that had been hit, I didn't realise it was mine," said Boden. The explosion beneath his modified 434E was so powerful enough it blew one of the rear wheels completely off the machine and left the other hanging off.
The explosion beneath the front right wheel of Cook's 938G wheel loader cracked the front axle casing, ripped off most of the solid tyre and distorted the rim out of all recognition. "There was an orange flash and a lot of dust, but I don't remember any noise," said Cook whose baby daughter Faith was born one week after he returned from his six and a half month tour of duty in Afghanistan.
The explosion also took out some of the hydraulic hoses leaving the articulated machine stranded. "It four hours to get it the 400m back to the base," said Cook.
In meeting the MoD's requirements, Finning worked with Penman to armour plate the cabs and fit blast-resistant glass. While not divulging full details, Penman's managing director Bryan Findlay, said his company's work added 5t to the weight of a standard backhoe and 3t to the wheel loader.
Finning has supplied the MoD with 15 modified backhoes, 11 wheel loaders (with another 11 on order) and 20 of Cat's 257 multi terrain loaders. It only found out how effective the modifications had been when Cook's wife Michele wrote a letter thanks the team for work that had saved the life of her husband and father of her (then) unborn baby.
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