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Members attending the Tank Museum Visit
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On Wednesday, 7th October, approx. 30 Members and
Friends of the Association, gathered at Bovington
for the visit to the Tank Museum (www.tankmuseum.org) which had been
organised by Barrie Mitchell.
The actual Museum is much larger than many of us
realised and £16m from the Lottery Fund has
enabled them to create a magnificent new display
hall with 300 vehicles spanning 100 years.
Bovington is the largest and best tank museum in
the world and gives a fantastic insight into all
aspects of the tank - especially how they were
tactically used by their army commanders and
operated by the crews.
Our guide, Chris Copson was marvellous and spoke
with great knowledge and enthusiasm about the
vehicles from their invention in World War I, right
through to the present day. The tanks and armoured
cars on display have seen action in all major wars
of the 20thcentury,and on into the
21st with Desert Storm etc.
The tour starts with 'The Story of the
Tank' from its invention in 1915 with its
use in combating the machine gun and overcoming the
stalemate of trench warfare, through to the streets
of Basra in Iraq. This British invention has helped to
shape world history. Part of the initial display
includes a mock-up of World War I trenches showing
the utter desolation and futility of this type of
warfare; the mud, barbed wire, physical and mental
pain and astonishing casualties.
The next part of the exhibition has 150 vehicles on
show representing 26 countries and again, 100 years
of history. We stopped at almost every vehicle to
discuss its design and use, together with stories
from the soldiers who fought in them and against
them.
World War 2 tanks such as the German Panzers and
Tigers, Russian T34s and British/American Shermans,
gave rise to much discussion about actual
tank-against-tank battles such as El Alamein. Many
of us found this to be the most interesting part of
our tour, thanks again to Chris Copson's
knowledge and humorous delivery.
After Enfield, those of us who stayed with military
vehicles and their armament, found Chris more than
ready to exchange views on many of the exhibits and
we were pleasantly surprised to find several
"one-off" vehicles in the Museum which
had been built as experimental/prototype models.
Finally, there was opportunity to wander around
freely, including climbing into a Mk 13 Chieftain.
During my time in the MoD, I did a lot of work on
this tank and was surprised to find that they got
to Mk 13 because the multi-fuel requirement meant
that this tank - except for the gun - was never
going to be much of a success! Challenger came
along at just the right time. Our guide, Chris, was
on hand for the rest of the afternoon sitting
inside Mk 4 tank from World War I, happily
explaining how difficult it was to drive and
operate and how vulnerable the crews were to the
ingenuity of the enemy, once they had overcome
their terror of their first encounter on the
battlefield.
A wonderful day out and for those reading this who
are not part of our Association, please do visit the Museum
which has a very nice restaurant and marvel at the
ingenuity and bravery of man when it comes to
fighting for our freedom. Many thanks to those
involved with the organisation of the visit.
Chris Brooks RSAF Enfield 1957-1962
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