The Tank Museum in Bovington (UK) is one of the coolest tank museums I have ever visited - and I have seen quite a few! It's enormous! I was only able to spend about four hours in the museum, and I assure you I could easily have spent an entire weekend in there, basking in the beautiful steel creatures. I took over 300 photos, including some in their private storage sheds, and I will share some of the juiciest ones here. Even more impressive, about a third of these tanks are still running and occasionally get taken out for a spin around the block!
Let's start with our favorite era, World War II... naturally, there are loads of British tanks. Of course, part of this is because the museum is located next to the Royal Armoured Corps headquarters and training base. As one of the staff there put it, whatever they can't find a use for goes into the museum. There are also a bunch of German tanks, shipped to the UK during the war for research and testing. Plus some American tanks that we left behind as just too expensive to ship back to the US. Occasional odd Soviet, French, Italian, and even Japanese tanks can also be found here. Here's a look at some of them (keeping in mind that you're only getting a small taste of the museum!).
Warning: Lots of scrolling below!
First off, the British - after all, it's their museum!
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| Mk IIA Light Tank |
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| Valentine - note the target on the turret! |
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| Black Prince - lots of tiny wheels! |
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| Centurion Mk I |
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| Comet |
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| Covenanter - lots of bolts! |
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| Crusader in desert camo - obviously a "Wallet Warrior"! |
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| Sherman Firefly (British upgrade with 17 pdr gun) |
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| TOG - and you probably thought we made it up! |
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| Tortoise - this one hasn't moved in years, just like the ones I see in WoT! |
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| This oddity consists of a tracked metal garden shed and a piece of naval artillery! |
One for the French...
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| Char S35 Somua, with handy window for traveling in style... |
And now the Germans - quite a selection!
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| Jagdtiger - yes, it's as big as it looks! |
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| Panther, built by the British Army in a captured German factory at the end of the war! |
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| Jagdpanther, also made by the British Army in the same captured German factory! |
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| StuG III with logs (for fascine and for extra camouflage and protection) |
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| Luchs (PzKpfw IIL) - one of only two left in the world! |
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| A more ordinary PzKpfw II |
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| Hetzer gonna Hetz! |
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| PzKpfw VIE Tiger - and it runs! (They wouldn't let me drive it though!) |
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| King Tiger with Porsche turret (this one is an original mockup with fake armor and no engine) |
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| Another King Tiger, this one a production model with Zimmerit |
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| Leopard (no, not the WWII scout, the postwar MBT!) |
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Where does this one go?
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| T-26 captured by the Finns (that's a Finnish swastika, not a German one!) |
The Yankees seem to have left some of their equipment behind!
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| M24 Chaffee, named after famous American general Adno Chaffee |
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| M3 Lee - the tank destroyer known as a tank |
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| M22 Locust - it's so cute, I wanted to put it in my pocket! |
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| M10 Wolverine with a coat of whitewash |
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| This is the oldest known surviving Sherman - it's an original M4A1 (training model) sent with the first batch of Lend-Lease vehicles. Note the extra ports in the front for fixed machineguns. |
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| M5A1 Stuart (I wonder why they didn't camo the turret?) |
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| Patton (the tank, not the general!) |
A couple of Soviet tanks, probably re-captured from the Germans during the War!
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| KV-1 sponsored by the Leningrad Women's Front (although the "Za" should be in front of "Leningrad" - I think the artist thought it was an alphanumeric 3A!). |
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| SU-76M |
Meanwhile, the warehouses out back are still full of even more dusty tanks (not part of the normal tour - special for Wargaming staff!).
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| Yes, a halftrack Land Rover - the only one of its kind! |
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| Interesting goodies from all over the world. Recognize any of them? |
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| A turret's-eye view of another warehouse full of armor |
What would the article be without a plug for the home team?
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| The Wargaming.Net Education Centre - guess who sponsors this? :-) |
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| In the Education Centre, students can try on hot wool tanker uniforms. Fun! |
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| I think the body armor and brain bucket are more fun than the stuffy uniforms! |
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this small tour. Like I said, I have plenty more pictures, if you're interested! :-)
