Penulis
Vespa TAP 150
Many motorcyclists over the years have wished for more "presence" with which to balance the inequities of the road-going pecking order, but until I wandered into the newly opened Vespa Museum near the Australian Albert Park Formula One Circuit this week, I had no idea that there had ever been a production two-wheeler which could command complete respect from fellow-roadgoers (apart from maybe a Harley-Davidson with open pipes).
French VespaTroupes Aéro Portées (TAP). licensee ACMA (Ateliers de Construction de Motocycles et Automobiles)
Vespa 150 TAP
From forceful fighter jets to tough-as-hell tanks, the world’s militaries often use monster machines to flex their might. But intimidation comes in all sizes. And if we’re going by the most perniciousness per pound, no tech tops the tiny military scooter French paratroopers briefly (and successfully) employed in the 1950s.
In the 1950s France, in the midst of dealing with insurgencies in its colonies in Algeria and Indochina, recognized a military need for easily transportable artillery that could quickly be deployed to the front lines. It happened upon one very novel solution: a militarized Vespa scooter with a built-in armor-piercing gun.
The Vespa 150 TAP, built by French Vespa licensee ACMA, was designed expressly to be used with the French airborne special forces, the Troupes Aéro Portées (TAP).
The world’s fightingest motor scooter sported a beefed-up frame and lower gear ratios than the standard models. It bristled with equipment racks for lugging gear and wore a dull olive drab or sand-colored paint scheme in the place of flashy civilian colors like Metallizzato Grigio Azzurro. The bike was powered by a 145.5-cubic-centimeter, single-cylinder, two-stroke motor with a rotary valve design, which allowed a 2 percent oil mixture. Soldiers wryly said the 246-pound machine could attain speeds of about 40 miles per hour … eventually.
Vespa 150 TAP
The Vespa TAP was designed to be airdropped into a military theater fully assembled and ready for immediate action. This high level of mobility made the TAP the perfect anti-guerilla weapon, since enemy irregulars could appear at a moment's notice even in remote locations.
Vespa 150 TAP
Outfitted with an M20 recoilless rifle, the TAP proved more than capable of destroying makeshift fortifications used by guerrillas in Algeria and Indochina. The M20 was designed as an anti-tank recoilless rifle that was outfitted with a high-explosive anti-tank warhead. Under ideal circumstances, the rifle could penetrate 100mm of armor from 7,000 yards away. The M20 outfitted on the Vespa was never actually meant to be fired while the vehicle was in motion. Instead, the Vespa frame functioned as a way of transporting the artillery to the front line. Once there, the rifle would be removed from the Vespa and placed on a tripod for accurate firing.
Vespa 150 TAP
The unique thing about the high-powered weapon is that it was so light. By venting propellant gases out the rear, the 75mm had almost no recoil and no need for a weighty breech block, which meant it could be carried by a soldier—or, in this case, even an Italian motor scooter.
Vespa 150 TAP
Remarkably, aside for a slight overhaul of the engine, plus the inclusion of the rifle and ammunition mounts, the standard Vespa and the TAP were designed almost identically. The TAP had a strengthened frame and lower gearing, but besides that it drives just as any Vespa would.
Vespa 150 TAP
Vespa 150 TAP
French Vespa licensee ACMA (Ateliers de Construction de Motocycles et Automobiles) produced 500 (perhaps more) examples of this military Vespa with integrated M20 recoilless rifle / light anti-armor cannon, in two production runs in 1956 and 1959. About 500 total TAPs were produced throughout the 1950s.
However ingenious the TAP was, the vehicle was never used outside of the French military during engagements in Algeria and French Indochina.