Bovington

[Jobu88]

Fulfilled a to-do item recently & traveled to Bovington to check out the tanks. What an amazing collection.
Some of the WW II tanks were much smaller than I had imagined. The Panzer III for example looked like it
would be cramped if the crew were all 12 year-olds.

On the other hand, the Tiger II was truly impressive & must have been even more so in 1944.
I'm 6' 1" tall and the average German was probably between 5'8" and 5'9".



The "other" Tiger II with the rounded turret ( not quite visible).



The famous Tiger 131:




On the way home we hit Stonehenge. It was ass-cold & snowing off and on.



And of course, no trip to the UK is complete without a stop at the pub. The Trout Pub in Itchen Abbas.
My pal Andrew (left) works for BAE at Farnborough.

[Copper]

Here is an article I id for the Blitz Newsletter in 2004.. (man time flies).

Dear Sir

I am a member of a large Wargaming club based on the internet known as the 'Blitz'. Many of the members from as far away as Canada, Russia and the USA have been following the progress of the restoration work the Bovington Tank Museum have been doing on the Tiger I. Now that the restoration is complete I would like to add a little article about it in our monthly newsletter to enable the rest of our members see the fantastic work the museum has done.

I would also appreciate it if you could answer a few questions that I could put in the article.

What does it mean to the museum to have the only fully running Tiger I?

If only we did.....! The Tiger runs but I would hesitate to call it 'fully running'. The tank has been restored to a superb condition inside and out but the engine is still very delicate. We tried to keep originality where we could but this means having to rely on 60 year old components that may have had frost damage, stresses and wear that could cause a failure at any time. There are a number of other German tanks in Private hands being restored where Maybach engines are being re-built. We will be interested to see how this progresses. There is a real dilemma here. Everyone wants to see the tanks run and where possible, using original engines. The trouble is the original engine was desperately unreliable and now you have 60 years of aging on top. It may be that in time someone decides that it is worth re-casting Maybach 210 or 230 engine blocks. For us, at present, our grant money from the Heritage Lottery Fund is spent and we are not a rich organization by any means. Having said that, if nothing goes ping we will be running the Tiger, very gently, at our Tankfest event here at the Museum on May 23rd this year. This will be the first time it will be out running in public so really would be worth the trip along to see. We will also have our Panzer III running, the S Tank, our new Challenger 1 and Centurion BARV and about 30 other museum vehicles along with the modern British Army and private owners, so if you are interested in tanks, this is the day for you.

Roughly how many man hours went into the complete restoration process?

I honestly don't know and don't think anyone does. There were so many separate efforts from organizations helping with components or making parts for nothing. The Managers of various paid contractors would probably have heart attacks if they really knew how much time was spent on various tasks when compared to the actual bills. Our thanks genuinely go out to all who have helped.

Do you intend taking the Tiger I on tour or will it be based at the museum, also how often will it be driven?

The idea of a tour sounds very attractive but unless someone is prepared to pay for it in a big way we couldn't really fund it ourselves. We are also keen that when people come here to see what is obviously a prime exhibit they are not disappointed. Of course there is also the financial reason. We are a Charity and need paying visitors to survive. We want visitors to come here and spend there money so we can keep the collection going. As to how often, we really need to see how she performs before we make any commitments. Whatever, it won't be often I'm afraid.

Are you carrying out any other restorations at present that would interest our members?

There is a huge interest in German tanks out there and the time and money spent on our Tiger may make us seem all part of this German WW2 mania. But I keen we also remember we are the British Tank Museum and however good the kit, valiant or professional the crews were; the Germans were still the bad guys. I would love to see a bit more balance and care and interest lavished on the Allied veterans and their equipment. For example we will have a Sherman Firefly veteran along at our Tankfest who knocked out three Tigers in a row the last being Wittman's. You will all have heard of Wittman but can you name the man or even the unit that knocked him out? At present we have, a Challenger A30 (basically a lengthened Cromwell Hull with a big slab sided turret housing a 17 pounder gun) being restored. It came off a range and is in appalling condition. It will never be a runner but we hope to get it back to a good cosmetic condition, i.e. look the part.
There are a number of other vehicles that we are 'tidying' the Pershing in the Museum for example is being needle-gunned and re-painted but again resources limit what we can really get on with. The list of vehicles needing real attention is endless...!

Does the Bovington Tank Museum have a membership package and if so could you please give me the details?

We have a Friends Organization that gives free entry and a magazine three times a year - and of course it’s a way of supporting our activities. The Friends is also our volunteer base - so if any of your members are in striking distance of the museum and fancy helping out....

All this in formation can be found on our website at: http://www.tankmuseum.co.uk

Thank you in advance for answering these questions.... hopefully we will see some of the clubs members making the trip down to see the displays and good luck for all your plans in 2004.

Yours sincerely

Shane Greer