Earlier this month I went on a quick trip over to the UK. The main purpose was for me to visit RIAT 2025... which got cancelled due to the current geopolitical situation in general and the middle east in particular. Luckily London and thereabout had enough museums to keep me entertained anyway, so I'm not too bothered by it. I'm still able to form proximately coherent sentences if nothing else.Anyway, the first batch of photos have now been processed, and so we're off to the tank museum at Bovington, about three hours by train and foot from Waterloo station (those brits really are obsessed with ABBA...)Starting off at the very beginning, here's Little Willie, the very first prototype tank ever.
Tank, Mark 1Painted up as they (likely) were during their very first combat deployment. It isn't known which specific tank form back then this is though, and so it's exact combat history isn't known.
The wheeled tail unit was to help with both steering and balance (raise it to lighten the front., push it down to push the front down) but proved to be of limited value, and is thus nowadays a good way to identify a Mark 1 as they never used it on any of the latter models. Also note the field improvised anti-grenade-roof, somewhat reminiscent of the plentiful field improvised cages seen on armoured vehicles in a current war. Everything old...
Mark V MaleThe Mark V was a significant upgrade over earlier variants, including such novel technology as a steering system that was handled by the driver alone, instead of four people all around the inside of the tank trying to somehow communicate in the infernal noise and smoke inside. Amongst the other upgrades is the semaphore system we can see on top for tank-to-tank communication.These early British tanks all came in male and female variants. The former had a 6 inch gun behind a rotating shield and a side machine gun port in each sponson, the latter had two machine guns instead, each behind a rotating shield. For the Mark I they made equal amounts of both, and I have a vague memory that they went with a 1-2 ratio for some later mark, but I wouldn't trust myself on that if it mattered.
A quick look inside through the door at the rear of the left sponson. I'm sure the engine will be great company.
Mark IXThe first APC. Supposedly, somehow, fits 30 dismounts, and don't ask me about their combat effectiveness when they arrive (I wonder what the average number of toes lost to the drive shaft was, as it sits completely out in the open right through the "troop compartment"). At least they should be very motivated to get out at the end.
Sponson trailer with a Mark I sponson.For rail transport the sponsons had to be removed, and these trailers were made to make handling them a bit easier.
Mark VIII "International"A US-UK joint development, few had been made and none had seen combat at the end of WW1. In US service it then apparently trundled along all the way until 1932, and they still had a few to offer Canada as training tanks in WW2.
Mark V** FemaleA stretched version of the Mark V, to improve its trench crossing ability.
Looking forward from the door behind the left sponson.
Got a gun carrier, op?
Mark IV MaleThe most prolific tank of WW1, with a bit over 1200 made (male and female together). Apparently six survive to this day, so not even half a percent...
The huge fascine on top is to fill in trenches that may otherwise be too much for it to cross.>>65377231Gun Carrier Mk.1? Unfortunately not.
Machinengewehr MG08/15Tankgewehr M1918German sniper's body armour.
Independent Heavy Tank A1E1.The only one ever built, but it likely inspired various Russian designs (T-28, T-35...)
Light Tank Mk.IIA, and a cavalryman who has just realised the final Victory Over Horseshit.
Peerless (that's the not overly humble manufacturer) Armoured Car.The first armoured car with a steering wheel at each end.
Comet, or as it mum calls it when it's deep in the dodo: Tank, Cruiser, Comet I, A34
Matilda 1, placed next to the Comet as a general overview of British tank design&production improvements over the coarse of WW2.
How well equipped were the British ground forces to fight off a German invasion after Dunkerque? Say hello to the Bison, a pile on concrete on the back of a lorry. Admittedly never seen as an armoured fighting vehicle but rather a sorta-mobile pillbox, but still. A number of different variants were made, and few appear to have been seen as fit for preservation, as this one's a post-war replica.(Also, in hindsight, putting the budget into making sure there wasn't an invasion at all in the first place appear sot have been a wise choice.)
Sd Kfz 265, a command version of the Panzer I. Captured in Libya.
Armoured Car, Rolls-Royce 1920 Pattern, Mark I. Dragged out of retirement to complement the Bison&Co.
Somua S35
Carro Armato M14/41
>>65377240>Faggot Carrier
Matilda II, the only British tank in active service throughout all of WW2. (Well, as the west counts things, China and Japan might have some ideas about the start date.)
The paintjob here is the "Caunter" desert camouflage which the museum has luckily put a bit of research into at some point in the not too distant past. Previously they had a Matilda painted up in what was supposedly the Caunter scheme and, well, let's just said it led to a lot of head scratching and odd miniature kit paint recommendations: http://www.maquetland.com/article-phototheque/420-matilda-2-bovington
A9 Cruiser
A10 Cruiser, this being a special close support variant with a 3.7" howitzer instead of the normal 2pounder gun, mostly meant to fire smoke shell.A close sibling of the A9, which sacrificed some speed in order to have at least dual layers of toilet paper for armour. Also separate machinegun turrets aren't fashionable any more, we'd apologise to the drivers but apparently they've all gone deaf for some reason. A stopgap design.
M3/M3A1 Stuart, an M3 hull with an M3A1 turret.
Valentine Mk.II. Or to be formal: Tank, Cruiser, Mark III, Valentine IIAll variants together the Valentine was Britain's most produced tank of WW2. Also their go-to chassis if someone wanted to make a bridge layer, bulldozer, or some other "funny".
Sd Kfz 251 and Carro L3/35 Lancia Fiamme.
Churchill Mk.II
Dingo Scout Car
Panzer III ausf. NBecause apparently the III did have enough turret ring for the short 75mm gun after all, if they really wanted.
M3 Grant, the very helpful stopgap.
Crusader MK.III
With curator-repellent trailer.
Type 95 Ha-Go
Universal Carrier
Valentine Bridge Layer
Type 94 pistol
Type 91 machine-gun and 37mm AP cartridge (as sued in the Ha-Go).
Tetrarch in a partial Hamilcar glider.
Churchill AVRE
>>65377265>sniper armor>giant hole in itBummer. Looks like it came through the sniper first too. >>65377478Thats a cool display, always loved the squeeze bore on it.
And the 40lbs (of which 12.8lbs was HE) "flying dustbin" it tossed around.
>>65377325Sexo
Humber Scout Car
Ram IIThe first tank designed and built in Canada, based on the M3 Lee and ending up not entirely dissimilar to that other one that was also based on the M3. Due to the southern neighbours producing a "largely sufficient" amount of that other one though it only ended up used as-is for training, wand only the rare observation post or APC variant seeing actual combat.
Panzer II ausf. L and Panzer VI ausf. B
Sd Kfz 234/3
The near enough mandatory Goliath
Staghound
M10 AchillesA British variant of the US M10 tank destroyer that replaced the 3" gun with the 17 pounder.
The first Sherman of the day: an M4A4, aka Sherman V, in British service.
Panzer IV ausf D
Morris Light Recon Car
M5A1 Stuart
>>65377142I fucking love dioramas in museums.
M9A1 Half-track
AEC Armoured Car
Stug III ausf G
Sherman Crab Mk.I
I guess just sticking a mine flail at the front without giving some thought to just how much dirt would end up trying to get absolutely everywhere wouldn't have made you very popular with the crews.
An M4A1 with its characteristic cast hull, and the 76mm gun.
Ram KangarooOne of the previously mentioned Canadian Ram tanks, converted into an APC by simply lifting off the turret.
Centaur DozerTrying to get some use out of the decidedly not very successful Centaur tank.
Good thread op thanks
Jagdpanther
Truppenfahrrad M42 and Panzerfaust, the workhorse combo of Germany's late war anti-tank forces. (As opposed to their literal work horses of the early war, most of which had been eaten by the late war period.)
T-34/85
>>65377131Bovington is a nice museum; I was there at Tankfest in 2022 or 2023 and had a real swell timeI'm glad you enjoyed it OP!
Valentine ArcherAn SPG conversion of the Valentine, with the gun unusually enough pointing backwards. Good for defensive fighting, maybe not an ideal fit against the Germans in 1945. Though one British officer did remark that the rear-firing aspect and the very limited traverse did help greatly in ensuring that these very much not tanks any more vehicles weren't forced back into a tank role, something the Americans often had problems with regarding their tank destroyers.
>>65377240>>65377255That is indeed one huge faggot riding on that tank.
M24 Chaffee."unlike the Sherman it looked like a tank should, rather than the illegitimate child of a farm tractor.">>65377650>Bovington is a nice museum;It is indeed. Well worth the train trip there.
Jagdpanzer 38(t)
Fury, the "hero tank" used in filming of that movie, where it was mostly driven by museum staff.>>65377673Jagdtiger
Type 59-II
Centurion #1: a Mk.5/1
L1E3 Amphibious Tank
>>65377271>it likely inspired various Russian designs (T-28, T-35...)I guess they had to use up the rest of the drugs somehow.>>65377325Seeing that camo I instantly reacted with "Reee clean that fucking mold line on the turret, are you blind????"
Ferret Scout Car
AMX-13>>65377688>"Reee clean that fucking mold line on the turret, are you blind????"I should probably warn you then: there's a T-34/76 coming up in a little while.
>>65377415>>65377411Flammencarro my beloved
>>65377450Flamethrower variant?
Centurion #2: a Centu ... Rion.
>>65377701No, just extra fuel and stowage.
Centurion #3: a Mk.I
Tank, Heavy, TOG II*
M4A3E2 Sherman "Jumbo"
Tank, Heavy Assault, Tortoise, A39And yes, these are all out in the cafeteria.
>>65377713How nice of them to preserve a piece of royal navy history since the royal navy is too broke to preserve shit themselves. Joking aside, fantastic thread OP.
>>65377713If this was given to the French, would it have become the Tog Frog?
Conqueror
Challenger
Centurion #4: Mk.XIII
T-72
1V15 MT-LBuCommand post variant of the MT-LB.
>>65377710Crazy how this thing is still sort of serving in South Africa
Marder 1A3
>>65377756It certainly stuck around, we only got rid of them entirely here in Sweden around 20 years ago (though the army did start screaming about new tanks back in the eighties).
Samaritan
>>65377697>I should probably warn you then: there's a T-34/76 coming up in a little while.Oh I'm used to Soviet shitboxes, I don't expect much from those.>>65377705>>65377708>no cross-section of the crewWeaksauce.>>65377752That's an endangered species at this point.
Challenger 2, with the side facing the camera having some Ukraine-style field upgrades.
Tank, Mk.II, femaleIntended as training tanks for the Mk.I, the Mk.II was built with plain old sheet steel instead of proper armour plate. Then the British had a bit of a tank shortage in April of 1917 and off to the front they went anyway.
>>65377320The Rolls was always one of the sexiest A/Cs to me
Renault FT. The first tank with the driver in front - engine in the back - main armament in a turret on top layout.
Britain's first attempt at a not-heavy tank: Medium Tank Mk.A, nicknamed The Whippet due to its blister 8mph top speed.
Crossley-Chevrolet Armoured Car.Originally just the Crossley Armoured Car, but after about two decades of service the chassis was worn out, so the bodies were transplanted on to Chevrolet trucks just in time for WW2. Being intended both for "security" work as well as for war, the bodywork could be electrified as an anti-riot measure.
Lanchester Mk.II
Carden-Loyd Mk.VI Carrier
Vickers-Armstrong Mk.ERejected by the British army, it became a major export success instead, both sold to and license built by a number of countries. Most notably is probably Russia, who churned them out en masse as the T-26. Due to its early war use a decent number of them can nowadays be seen in the Finnish armour museum in Parola.
Medium Tank Mk.IINot exactly the most modern looking thing (the front is to the right in the picture), even/especially parked next to the Vickers, but apparently it's the tank the British use dot figure out a more-modern-than-WW1 tank doctrine with in the late twenties and early thirties.
Thank you for improving the board quality OP, we love you (nohomo)
>>65377486>Bummer.More likely the appendix from the look of it.
>>65377492>START THE PURPLE!>START!>THE PURPLE!
A13 Cruiser Mk.IIIFast. A good AT gun. Armour that could usually stop birdshot at common naval combat ranges. It had it all.Oh, and I have some mead. It might perhaps become noticeable.
Char B1When tanks get stuck in development hell: What should have been a contemporary of the Medium Mk.II, but entered service in 1936.
Panzer II ausf notspecifiedonthesign
Light Mk.VIbLike an eight year old kid trying on his uncle's fencing gear.
Panther
And here's the T-34/76. Likely Czech built (so not as horrible as it could be), captured in Korea, and for some reason painted up as a Finnish "field expedient acquisition".The sign does make note of how British tanks had interior padding, whereas Russian tank crews had to wear padded helmets instead. Which I find noteworthy, given that the British preference for berets instead of helmets may supposedly have been a large part of why their Sherman crews had worse survival rates when hit than the US Sherman crews (if I remember my Moran correctly.).
>>65377897Looks like a C.
And here's #131, The Klonk.Swedes of suitable age may now remember Mora Träsk.
In case of war, don't stand here.
Sd Kfz 2
Panzer III, one of the latter versions I think.
Close-up of the wire cutter's handles, made from a form of pressed paper, or so they're usually described at least.
Nashorn
Leopard
Chieftain, where the museum places the birth of the MBT. No close-ups of any of its hatches will be forthcoming.
Scorpion
Good thread OP.
T-62, ex libris Saddam
The chieftain's Leyland L-60 engine. A two-stroke(!) multi-fuel affair that happily refused to run reliably on anything. Top Gear's British Leyland challenge episode does come to mind.
Challenger 2
Centurion #5: Mk.III
>>65377131Thanks for the best thread on the board, probably the whole site.
Saladin
M48 Patton, not to be confused with the M47 Patton or the M46 Patton. I guess that's the thing about official tank name,s you kinda have to slap one on there before you know if it's one that'll stick around or not.
Churchill Mk.VII Crocodile, ie the flame thrower variant.
Firefly, because of course they have one.
Cromwell
Daimler Armoured Car.The British Daimler, not Benz' pal.
>>65377975I think the multi-fuel idea was that you could pour any fuel into an engine and it function. Everyone decided to make their multi-fuel engine run on just one fuel except the L-60 which could be made to run badly on any of them with only a day to change type.
Another T-72, this time with the snorkel on for wading.
Continuing the beach party theme, here's a Sherman in a swimsuit. The total volume of the whole affair being enough to make the tank buoyant, and the tracks should provide a non-negligible amount of propulsion even in the water.
And to round it off some more Desert Storm loot, this time a(nother) Norinco Type 69-II.An archive of these photos and the 550-something photos that wouldn't fit the image limit for those who care: https://www.mediafire.com/file/gda53lcvs7fm6e9/England_-_Bovington_Tank_Museum.zip/fileAnd to all those who have expressed their gratitude about this thread here, thank you, and you're welcome.
>>65378021Amazing thread, OP. Been meaning to visit this museum for years but never found the time.
THANK YOU OP
>>65378021You are a fucking king.
Always enjoy the trip photo dumps. I remember seeing on some of the Tank Museum's videos they had a "Tiger family" exhibit for a bit; Tiger I, II, and a Ferdinand on loan from the US. Looking it up and that was already years ago, wow. >>65377578I have a soft spot for these things.>>65377713Oh that reminds me of a much simpler time when I was just really starting to get into armor from WoT and then learning about the real things.
>>65378334>I remember seeing on some of the Tank Museum's videos they had a "Tiger family" exhibit for a bit; Tiger I, II, and a Ferdinand on loan from the US.They also have a Tiger II with a pre production turret ("Porsche"), possibly itself out on loan to somewhere though since didn't see it anywhere in the museum now, but I saw it at Arsenalen in Sweden in 2022 and Parola in Finland in 2023.
>>65378021Thanks! I always love your museum threads
>>65377131That's a sizeable willy though.
>>65377179>>65377182>It was thought this problem might be solved by cramming a few infantry soldiers into each tank, but the atmosphere inside was of such poor quality that the soldiers became ill and eventually lost consciousness. When exposed to fresh air again, the crew were incapacitated for about an hour while recovering from the noxious fumes inside the tank. They would be sick and suffer from severe headaches.First principle of Anglo tank design: "A tank is a machine generating service related injuries."
>>65377131>ABBANah, it's named after The Kinks song actually
>>65377492He was in it for the lolis.
>>65377756It is THE tank to be fair to it
>>65377131Very cool, went there during tank fest once and it was great.What was your favourite tank/exhibit?
>>65377131Myself and some friends go to Tankfest, it's always a great time. We saw the new Chally 3 this year, and the Nashhorn and Stug throw its track. Its such a great place.>>65377231I actually asked about the 3 inch GC this year, apparently its out the back on the 'to do' list, but getting funding is hard.
>>65379649That's V2, it's currently being restored to running order in the workshop. They have two more Kingtigers in the conservation centre iirc.
>>65377159Weren't there "hermaphrodite" variants as well? I vaguely remember reading about some versions having a cannon sponson on one side, and a machine gun one on the other.
>>65380136Now that you mention it I do have some vague (pre-this trip) memory of that. Though whether that's something they made a barely-non zero number of, just a field repair, or complete nonsense...>>65380029>What was your favourite tank/exhibit?The star of the show is IMO the room full of the British WW1 heavy tanks both since that's a lot of rarity crammed into a single room, and because it's where the tank started.I do wish they'd put the Mk.I down on the floor so you could get a better look at it though. Museums trying to add drama, tell stories... I can get that from a book or a movie. But when it comes to seeing the actual artefacts in person, well, only a museum can do that job, so I'd like them to put that as their main priority. (Of course, just as with playgrounds, attracting families, attracting tour groups... perhaps that's just what it takes to sell tickets and thus to keep the doors open and the collections maintained? I guess I shouldn't be too hard on such practices. Though that does highlight the importance of those of us who have a real interest in the items on display beyond checking a box/coming up with an activity for the kids to haul our asses off to the museums. And yes, these are thoughts that popped up in my mind far more at the British Museum than at Bovington)Honourable mention to the two Matilda I on display, it's just a really cute little thing.
>>65377357>More were lost to breakdown than Italian fire>British reliability is worse than italian fire is powerfulNobody is getting out clean from this
>>65377131does Bovington have a IS-3?https://youtube.com/watch?v=QJ9-NHWzmb0There were 40 egyptian ones captured
>>65384223There weren't any on display during my visit, and none are mentioned in http://the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_IS3.pdf
>>65380214Yeah the WW1 section is cool. It's amazing to see how far they were developed, with even a kind of proto-mechanised infantry being tested with some of the huge late war tanks.It does suck that you cant get really hands on with some of the tanks, but amongst other things, there are alot of kids around. It would be amazing if they had a few out that you could actually get inside to help appreciate them better.
>>65377131>Earlier this month I went on a quick trip over to the UK. The main purpose was for me to visit RIAT 2025>2025Huh?
>>65377713Reminder that Bovington thought the TOG II was equipped with a 17pdr but it was actually a 20pdr and they only admitted the mistake like last year or something.
>>65385472>It would be amazing if they had a few out that you could actually get inside to help appreciate them better.You do get to go on a hunchback trip through the Mark V** (up to the driver's position along the path seen in >>65377224 (You) and then back down the other side), but more wouldn't have hurt. Something more modern perhaps, letting people actually get into a turret. Oh well, there's a Leopard you get to climb into the turret of in Munster, and a full access MT-LB in the playground at Parola.>>653854822026, I've gotten old enough that it usually takes to about October for my mental calendar to update the year properly.>>65385486Well, given how long they went with the bright blue Caunter scheme... Overall they seemed to play along with commonly held notions a lot instead of going for the Mythbusting like the Germans in Munster.
>>65377265Doesnt really look like sniper armor. Looks like more stormtrooper (Sturmtruppen) armor. German snipers really didnt really wear armor outside of the same “stirmpanzer” helmet plates used by their machine gunners.
