This is something gloriously off-topic folks. I don't usually write about two-wheeled vehicles but I'd like to make an exception this time. Usually when we think about scooters, especially the iconic Vespa we think of cute transport. This is still cute but it packs a real punch. I mean have you ever seen anything so cute but could take out a main battle tank? This folks is the Vespa 150 TAP.
This is quite ingenuitive. Take something robust, light, small and then add some ridiculous firepower and you get the 150 TAP. The TAP stands for Troupes Aéro Portées, which are the French Paratroopers. In 1956 they requested Ateliers de Construction de Motocycles et Automobiles (ACMA), the licensed assembler of Vespas in France at the time to come up with something that the TAP could increase the mobility and firepower in the front lines. ACMA basically came up with a Vespa that could carry a huge gun. A 75mm recoilless rifle was mounted on a modified Vespa frame which could be air dropped together with the paratroopers behind enemy lines.
It also looks so darn cool. Imagine riding a Vespa with a high gun stuck onto it. According to what I read you are not supposed to shoot the recoilless rifle with it mounted to the scooter. This is just a means to carry it easily and to add firepower to the paratroopers. The 150 TAP recoilless rifle would be parachute-dropped in pairs, accompanied by a two-man team. The gun was carried on one scooter, while the ammunition was loaded on the other. Some also carried at least six rounds whilst carrying the gun like in the photos.
The recoilless rifle however is not designed to be fired from the scooter as there are no fixed aiming devices on the scooter. You basically ride the scooter, get off, remove the big gun and mount it on a tripod which is also carried by the scooter and then fire it. Obviously this disappointed me a little as I do wish I could buy one of these and fire it on the move.
These days, paratroopers usually make do with dirt bikes, ATVs, dune buggy like 4x4s and bicycles. I don't think any of the newer sort of airdrop vehicles are as cute as this. ACMA (which sounds like ACME from the Looney Toons cartoon) must have had a field day designing this scooter. That big gun had a range of 6.4km and could take out a main battle tank with its high explosive artillery shell. But it looked so darn cute. How can something so cute and dainty be so incredibly deadly.
150 TAP scooters were built in 1956 and 1959. Two batches totalling approximately 500 units. Cheap to procure and produce as a normal scooter was modified for the job. Not a special platform like most military vehicles are these days. I do not think anyone will think of building such a military vehicle today. Imagine taking a Fiat 500 or a Kia Picanto and mounting a turret on its roof. It would be cute, and deadly. I do wish I could have one for blasting holes in cars driven by idiots who don't signal when they turn or cut queues.
This scooter is also a nice glimpse to the past. I somehow think people pre-1990 did things slightly differently. This '50s scooter with modifications proves this point.
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