On June 28, 1880, the gang of "Australian Robin Hood" Ned Kelly was destroyed, famous for the fact that he and his people used homemade bulletproof armor, forged from plow parts and sheets of boiler iron. In their last fight, Kelly's gang was blocked in the house and fired back from three dozen police officers and constables until the besiegers opened fire from a 12-pound cannon.
Kelly, wearing his 44-kilogram armor, decided to go for a breakthrough, but the other three gang members did not support him. Then he single-handedly walked slowly towards the police, firing in Macedonian from two revolvers and not paying attention to the return fire. At least 12 bullets ricocheted off the iron plates before the law enforcers realized they should shoot in the legs. Taking a bullet in the knee and another in the thigh, Ned collapsed heavily, dropping his weapon.
His accomplices died in a house that was burned to the ground by cannon shells. According to some sources, they suffocated in the smoke, according to others, they committed suicide. And Kelly himself was cured, but only to be hanged for banditry, robbery and murder, since he had two constables, a police sergeant and a police informant on his account.
The name of the master who made the armor for the gang remained unclear, because, for obvious reasons, he decided not to advertise himself, and Kelly did not give him away. Tests have shown that cuirasses and helmets forged by him with a thickness of about 6.5 millimeters hold a rifle bullet at a distance of 10 meters, and a revolving one - actually at close range. Such resilience made a great impression on the public, and the future "father" of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan-Doyle, in all seriousness, offered to dress the British infantry in such armor. But, of course, the idea of making the soldiers carry half a centner of armor on themselves did not find support from the military.
Cutscene - Australian police officers posing in the armor of the Kelly gang.
Bandit armor and revolver carbine belonging to Ned Kelly. Only he and another gang member had helmets with visors, the other two were content with cuirass. The round holes on the iron sheets are not holes, but technological fixing holes left over from the blanks - plow plows.
Promotional video:
A group of constables who took part in the liquidation of the Kelly gang.
On the left is an announcement promising £ 8,000 (AU $ 1.5 million at current exchange rates) for the capture of Kelly. On the right is a monument to Kelly, installed near the site of his last fight. Many Australians regard him as a national hero and fighter for justice against the British colonial administration.
