The Wheatcroft Collection facts for kids

The Wheatcroft Collection in the United Kingdom is a huge and important collection of old military vehicles. These include both "softskin" vehicles, like trucks and jeeps, and "armoured" vehicles, like tanks. It's located in Leicestershire, England, and is one of the biggest private collections of military vehicles anywhere in the world!

What's in the Collection?

The collection has about 200 amazing items. More than 130 of these are vehicles, and a huge 88 of them are powerful tanks! Most of the vehicles come from Germany, America, and Britain. There are also some from other countries like Norway, Japan, France, Russia, and Sweden. The owner, Kevin Wheatcroft, has been collecting these military vehicles for over 30 years.

Allied World War II Vehicles

One exciting project happening is the restoration of ten M4 Sherman tanks. This will bring the total number of Shermans in the collection to 15! Each of these ten tanks is planned to get the correct engine for its type. Eight special engines (called Wright Continental R975 C1s) were found in a barn and bought for the collection. All of them are going to be fixed up. Another similar engine was found in South Africa and is in perfect condition.

Some of the Sherman tanks already in the collection include an 'Easy Eight' model. Once all the restoration work is finished, the collection is expected to have all the main types of Sherman tanks, plus an M10 Tank Destroyer.

The collection also has two Churchill Tanks, which were important British tanks during the war.

German World War II Vehicles

The Wheatcroft Collection is especially famous for having some very rare and valuable German military vehicles from World War II. These include four Panther tanks, and one of them is almost completely restored! There's also a StuG III assault gun, a Panzer III, and a Panzer IV tank. Many parts from other vehicles are also being collected. Four Hetzer tanks are currently being restored. The collection is even working on fixing up the only surviving German E Boat, which was a fast attack boat.

Seeing the Collection

The collection is not currently open for everyone to visit. The owner's goal is to fix up and save as many of the vehicles as possible. After that, he plans to make them available for the public to see in a museum.