philjay Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 (edited) Just a few snaps from my visit (nay pilgrimage) to the Tank Museum when I was down Dorset last week. If you havent been and you find yourself down that neck of the woods it is well worth a visit. I went on the tuesday, cost me £14 admission but that is a 12 month ticket and you can go as many times as you want. Sooo I went again on the saturday ? There is so much there for the tank geek, they had walking tours which I went on 2 and also a chance to get in a Chieftan, (I sat in the Commanders seat in the turret whilst an ex tanker who used to drive these for real recounted his experience). Tiger Hall. The RH one is the only running Tiger 1 which they take out on Tiger Days and Tank Fests. I saw this beast running a few years ago at one of the Tank Fest weekends. Chieftan Sherman Firefly Panzer 4 The exhibits are fascinating but they have now opened access to the storage shed in the restoration section and it was gob smacking how big it was and just how many vehicles they have waiting for restoration or parts. This is a very poor panorama stitch from 3 pics just to give a rough idea of the scale of this place and the kit they have. How many can you identify?? Edited October 27, 2018 by philjay +Graham, +Ibbo and Bottletopburly 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Amazing place, love the Panzer tank. Has it got any of the original WW1 tanks, the rhomboid shaped ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuckstar Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 I really enjoyed my visit a couple of summers ago. They certainly had the ww1 tanks when I was there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottletopburly Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Visited twice over the years for my lad of course ,once during tankfest highlight was seeing Tiger131 rolling hearing the tracks creaking Awesome ,and seeing some modern german leopard tanks racing around the circuit ,who knew tanks can go so fast ,highly recommend visiting ,also read the piece on joe Ekins from kettering who they think destroyed michael wittman's tank https://blog.tiger-tank.com/people/joe-ekins/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Is there a King Tiger preserved anywhere?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottletopburly Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Ron Clarke said: Is there a King Tiger preserved anywhere?? Bovington does I believe not sure it rolls though http://tank-photographs.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/tiger-II-heavy-tank-Bovington.html Edited October 27, 2018 by Bottletopburly +RonC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 What an amazing place. Must put that on my to do list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share Posted October 27, 2018 4 hours ago, Doc said: Amazing place, love the Panzer tank. Has it got any of the original WW1 tanks, the rhomboid shaped ones. Yep Mick, its got Mk1 and 11 both male and female, they dont run them because they are so rare and parts are no longer available but they have an accurate mk1 replica which they run on tank fest days. 2 hours ago, Ron Clarke said: Is there a King Tiger preserved anywhere?? Yep, they have at least 2 at the museum. The Tiger 1 is big but the King is just immense Ron Doc and +RonC 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Thanks Phil must go and have a butchers at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share Posted October 27, 2018 Oh you can actually go in a MK1 as well. They have one that you can walk through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share Posted October 27, 2018 Heres a Mk1 Female Mick The females were armed with machine guns, the males with canon and machine guns tuckstar and +RonC 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share Posted October 27, 2018 4 hours ago, Ron Clarke said: Is there a King Tiger preserved anywhere?? Heres the Tiger 11 (King) prototype Ron. I thought I had snapped the production one as well but cant find it. tuckstar and +RonC 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 I remember making a 1/24th scale model many years ago! I saw a 'shot up' King Tiger in the Ardennes during my Army days! Cheers Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 They are massive pieces very advanced for the time. There were too few of them to make any difference. Them and the tiger 1 were just outnumbered by the allies, theres an interview with an ex Tiger crew man on a loop in the Tiger Hall where he says that as well as that they were far too technical and complicated for battlefield repairs as well. When they broke or were disabled they were frequently abandoned, thats how tge Tiger 131 was captured in Tunisia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuckstar Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Just finished watching the film Fury, again. Do they still have it set up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 I dont think so, the Firefly pic above is it I think. I went to see that film purely to see both the Bovington Sherman Firefly andthe Tiger 1 both were stars of the film. I was dissappointed in the poor tactics shown in the film, not realistic at all when the Shermans confronted the Tiger. One would expect if they borrowed the tanks from Bovington they would get advice from them, perhaps they did and ignored it, why let the truth get in the way of a story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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