Ned Kelly’s Ploughshare Armor - Unlike everyone else on this list, Ned Kelly wasn’t a trained soldier or career mercenary, he was just a criminal (and folk hero) who built a suit of steampunk battle armor so that the police couldn’t shoot him in the face—truly a dream we can all get behind.Kelly’s tale takes place in the small Australian town of Glenrowan, where he and three members of his gang fled in the winter of 1880.
They had recently murdered Aaron Sherritt, a supposed traitor to their gang. The police, who knew where Kelly was located, were keen to make Glenrowan the last place the Kelly Gang would terrorize. They closed in, surrounding the Anne Jones Hotel where the gang was holed up.Having planned ahead, Kelly and his men were each equipped with a set of plate armor, made from pieces of farm equipment. The suits, which made the men effectively bulletproof, turned what should have been an execution into one of the most famous last stands in criminal history.
The armor was so effective that Kelly was able to brush off point-blank shots to the chest, and when the armor was later investigated, it was discovered that Kelly had been hit in the face several times. However, the one part of his body the armor didn’t protect was his legs, and the police used this to their advantage by crippling the outlaw with a few well-placed shots to the thighs and groin. His men were killed in the fight. Kelly survived but was hanged a few days later.
Today Kelly’s armor sits in the State Library of Victoria, serving as a permanent testament to the ingenuity of a cornered man with nothing to lose and only glory to gain.
They had recently murdered Aaron Sherritt, a supposed traitor to their gang. The police, who knew where Kelly was located, were keen to make Glenrowan the last place the Kelly Gang would terrorize. They closed in, surrounding the Anne Jones Hotel where the gang was holed up.Having planned ahead, Kelly and his men were each equipped with a set of plate armor, made from pieces of farm equipment. The suits, which made the men effectively bulletproof, turned what should have been an execution into one of the most famous last stands in criminal history.
The armor was so effective that Kelly was able to brush off point-blank shots to the chest, and when the armor was later investigated, it was discovered that Kelly had been hit in the face several times. However, the one part of his body the armor didn’t protect was his legs, and the police used this to their advantage by crippling the outlaw with a few well-placed shots to the thighs and groin. His men were killed in the fight. Kelly survived but was hanged a few days later.
Today Kelly’s armor sits in the State Library of Victoria, serving as a permanent testament to the ingenuity of a cornered man with nothing to lose and only glory to gain.
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