The Tank Museum facts for kids
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The Tank Museum
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| Established | 1947 |
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| Location | Bovington, Dorset England |
| Type | Military Museum |
| Public transit access | Wool railway station |
The Tank Museum in Bovington, England, is a super cool place filled with amazing armoured fighting vehicles. It's located in Dorset, not too far from the town of Poole. This museum tells the exciting history of the tank, from its very first days to modern times.
The museum has almost 300 vehicles from 26 different countries. This makes it the biggest collection of tanks in the world! It also has the third largest collection of all armoured vehicles. You can see famous tanks like Tiger 131, which is the only German Tiger I tank that still works. You can also see a British Mark I from World War I. This is the oldest combat tank still around! The museum is also linked to the Royal Tank Regiment and the Royal Armoured Corps. It is run by a special group that helps people learn.
Contents
The Museum's Story
The idea for the Tank Museum came from a famous writer named Rudyard Kipling. He visited Bovington in 1923. He saw damaged tanks that had been saved after World War I. Kipling thought these tanks should be kept and shown to people.
So, a small building was set up to hold the tanks. But it wasn't until 1947 that the museum opened its doors to everyone.
Later, a man named George Forty became the museum's director in 1982. He helped make the collection bigger and more modern. Another important person was David Fletcher. He was a historian at the museum for many years. He helped share the history of armoured warfare.
The museum also has a very popular YouTube channel. It started in January 2010. The channel teaches people all about tanks. Early videos often featured museum staff talking about specific tanks. David Fletcher had a popular series called "Tank Chats." The channel has become super successful. It has more subscribers than famous museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art! By April 2023, its videos had been watched over 100 million times. This was a first for a museum channel!
The museum even helped during the Russo-Ukrainian War. It shared blueprints and track samples of old Soviet equipment. This helped a company make new tracks for Ukraine to use.
Explore the Exhibition Halls
The Tank Museum has many different halls. Each one tells a unique part of tank history.
World War I Hall: The First Tank Men
This hall shows most of the museum's World War I tanks. It also tells the stories of the brave men who drove these first tanks. This was between 1916 and 1918.
- Featured tanks: Mark I tank, IV, V (one of the few World War I tanks that still works!), IX & Mark VIII "Liberty" tanks.
Inter War Hall: From Horses to Horsepower
This hall looks at how tanks became more important. It also shows how cavalry (soldiers on horses) changed after World War I.
- Featured vehicles: Vickers A1E1 Independent, Peerless armoured car & Vickers Light tank, Mark II.
World War II Hall
This is the biggest section of the museum. It has military vehicles from most of the countries that fought in World War II.
- Featured vehicles: 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 focuses on the Battlegroup Afghanistan exhibition. Soldiers from the Royal Armoured Corps fought in some very tough battles here.
- Featured tanks: Conqueror, Chieftain, Challenger 1 and TOG2.
Cold War Hall
This hall displays vehicles from the Cold War and the Gulf War.
- Featured Tanks: Tog II, Chieftain, Centurion.
The Tank Story Hall
This hall has some of the most important tanks and armoured vehicles ever made. It also has cool multimedia displays. It tells the story of the tank from its invention in 1915. It covers the 20th century and looks to the future.
- Featured tanks: Little Willie (the very first British tank!), Whippet, Renault FT, Char B1, Panzer II, Tiger 131 (this famous Tiger I tank was captured in 1943. It was fully fixed up by the museum and is the only one that still runs! It was even used in the movie Fury), M3 Grant, T-34, Panther, DD Sherman, Churchill Mk VII, Sherman Firefly, M48 Patton, T-72, T-62 and Challenger 2.
Royal Armoured Corps Memorial Room
This special room remembers the almost 13,000 soldiers from the Royal Armoured Corps who have died serving their country. The Corps was started in 1939. The room has books that list their names. You can also find digital versions and videos about these brave soldiers.
The Vehicle Conservation Centre
This centre protects even more of the museum's collection. It lets visitors see vehicles that were not shown to the public before.
- 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.
Tanks in Movies
The museum's collection includes some real movie stars!
- Tiger 131 is the only working Tiger I tank in the world. It was featured in the 2014 film Fury.
- The museum also has the replica Mark IV tank that was built for the movie War Horse.
See also
- Tank museums
- Norfolk Tank Museum - United Kingdom
- Kubinka Tank Museum – Russia
- Musée des Blindés – France
- Military Museum Lešany – Czech Republic
- Deutsches Panzermuseum – Germany
- Yad La-Shiryon – Latrun, Israel
- Parola Tank Museum – Finland
- Australian Armour and Artillery Museum – Australia
- Nationaal Militair Museum – Soesterberg, The Netherlands
- Ontario Regiment Museum - Ontario, Canada
- Royal Tank Museum – Amman, Jordan
- American Heritage Museum – Massachusetts, United States
- Other
- United States Army Ordnance Museum - Virginia, US
- Polish Army Museum – large collection of Soviet, Western and Polish AFVs
- Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles - Nebraska, US
- Base Borden Military Museum - Ontario, Canada
- Lists of armoured fighting vehicles
- Tank classification
