The Tank Museum

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 north of the village of Wool and 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.
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 was appointed an OBE. David Fletcher, who had been a historian at the museum since 1982, retired in 2012 and was also appointed an MBE "for his services to the history of armoured warfare".
The museum established its own YouTube channel to teach about the tanks in January 2010. Early episodes were largely one-take affairs of museum staff talking about specific tanks in the collection and their role in history, with notable series led by Fletcher called "Tank Chats." The channel has more YouTube subscribers than famous museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Louvre; and has gained over 100 million views across its videos by April 2023, the first museum channel to hit such a milestone.
Exhibition halls
World War I Hall (Tank Men)
As well as containing the majority of the museum's World War I tanks the hall tells the story of the 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 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 largest section, with tanks from most nations involved in that 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 were involved in some of the fiercest fighting since the Second World War.
Featured tanks: Conqueror, Chieftain, Challenger 1 and TOG2.
Cold War Hall
Collection of vehicles from the Cold and Gulf War.
Featured Tanks: Tog II, Chieftain, Centurion.
Tanks For the Memories - Tanks in Popular Culture Exhibition
New for 2023, “Tanks for the Memories: The Tank in Popular Culture”, was created for the 100th anniversary of The Tank Museum. It is an exhibition looking at how the tank has become a cultural icon through the manufacture of multiple toys, games, models, and the production of works of art, books, comics, video games and films.
Featured tanks: Mark IV.
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.
Royal Armoured Corps Memorial Room
The Memorial Room was created in partnership with the Royal Armoured Corps Memorial Trust and commemorates the sacrifice of almost 13,000 Royal Armoured Corps soldiers who died in service since the Corps was founded in 1939. The Memorial Room houses the Books of Remembrance, a digitised and searchable version of the Roll of Honour, and videos about those who fought in the RAC.
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 Tiger 131, the only surviving Tiger I tank in operable condition, which appeared in the 2014 film Fury, and the replica Mark IV tank built for the film War Horse.
See also
Tank museums
Norfolk Tank Museum - United Kingdom
Kubinka Tank Museum – Russia
– 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
Notes
References
External links
Tank Museum website
The Tank Museum YouTube Channel
Tank100 blog commemorating the centenary of the First World War.
Tiger Collection blog
1947 establishments in England
Museums established in 1947
Military and war museums in England
Army museums in England
World War I museums in the United Kingdom
Museums in Dorset
Transport museums in England
Tank museums
World War II museums in the United Kingdom
Charities based in England