The Tank Museum facts for kids
 |
|
The museum
|
|
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
| Established | 1947 |
|---|---|
| Location | Bovington, Dorset England |
| Type | Military Museum |
| Public transit access | Wool railway station |
The Tank Museum (previously The Bovington Tank Museum) is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Wool and 12 miles (19 km) west of the major port of Poole. The collection traces the history of the tank. With almost 300 vehicles on exhibition from 26 countries it is the largest collection of tanks and the third largest collection of armoured vehicles in the world. It includes Tiger 131, the only working example of a German Tiger I tank, and a British First World War Mark I, the world's oldest surviving combat tank. It is the museum of the Royal Tank Regiment and the Royal Armoured Corps and is a registered charity.
Contents
History
The writer Rudyard Kipling visited Bovington in 1923 and, after viewing the damaged tanks that had been salvaged at the end of the First World War, recommended a museum should be set up. Accordingly a shed was established to house the collection but was not opened to the general public until 1947.
George Forty, who was appointed Director of the Museum in 1982, expanded and modernized the collection. He retired in 1993 after which he received an OBE. The museum established its own YouTube channel to teach about the tanks in January 2010. David Fletcher, who had been an historian at the museum since 1982, retired in 2012 and was also appointed an MBE "for his services to the history of armoured warfare".
Exhibition halls
World War I Hall (Tank Men)
As well as containing the majority of the museum's World War I tanks this hall tells the story of men who crewed the first tanks between 1916 and 1918.
- Featured tanks: Mark I tank, IV, V (one of the few World War I tanks still in working order), IX & Mark VIII "Liberty" tanks.
Inter War Hall (War Horse to Horsepower)
This hall now explores the rise of the tank and the role of the cavalry on the Western Front.
- Featured tanks: Vickers A1E1 Independent, Peerless armoured car & Vickers Light tank, Mark II.
World War II Hall
This hall displays the biggest section, with tanks from most nations involved in the conflict.
- Featured tanks: Panzer I, III, IV, Stug III, Tiger II, Jagdpanzer 38(t), Jagdpanther, Jagdtiger, Sd.Kfz. 251, Somua S35, Comet I, Matilda Mk I, A38 Valiant, Ram Cruiser Mk II, M24 Chaffee, M4 Sherman, 17pdr SP Achilles, M48 Patton, M26 Pershing, T17E1 Staghound, Hamilcar glider, DUKW, SU-76, T-26, KV-1, L3/33 LF, M13/40, Tortoise, Black Prince.
Battlegroup Afghanistan
This hall contains the Battlegroup Afghanistan exhibition. The men of the Royal Armoured Corps who have been involved in some of the fiercest fighting since World War Two.
- Featured tanks: Conqueror, Chieftain (which is accessible), Challenger 1 and TOG2.
Tank Factory
This hall explores the design & technology that goes into making tanks and AFVs. There is a mock production line of Centurions, as well as prototype and experimental vehicles.
- Featured tanks: a T-55 with sections cut out enabling visitors to see inside, Swedish S tank, prototype FV101 Scorpion and various Ferret armoured cars, along with the first M4 Sherman supplied to the British in World War II, and an A13 Covenanter.
The Tank Story Hall
This hall holds some of the most important tanks and AFVs in history, with a supporting collection housed in a multimedia exhibition. It follows the story of the tank, from its invention in 1915 through the 20th century and into the future.
- Featured tanks: Little Willie (the forerunner of British tanks), Whippet, Renault FT, Char B1, Panzer II, Tiger 131 (a Tiger I captured in Tunisia in April 1943 and fully restored to running condition by the workshops at Bovington, this is the only Tiger I left that is capable of running under its own power; it was used in the film Fury), M3 Grant, T-34, Panther, DD Sherman, Churchill Mk VII, Sherman Firefly, M48 Patton, T-72, T-62 and Challenger 2.
The Vehicle Conservation Centre
The Vehicle Conservation Centre provides cover for more of the collection and puts on view vehicles that had previously not been seen by the public.
- Featured tanks: Charioteer, M41 Bulldog, M103, M60 Patton, T-54, Cold War and Iraqi T-55s, BMP-1, AMX-30, Type 69, Infanterikanonvagn 91, A33 Excelsior, T14 and SU-100.
Film
The museum’s collection includes the replica running Mark IV tank built for the film War Horse.
