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Bovington Tank Museum


nuuumannn

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My first visit to Bovington. The conservation hall was closed as it was the day before Tank Fest, which I had to miss owing to other commitments.

 

43364904885_2490870d27_o.jpgChieftain

 

43364907335_20b0a70391_o.jpgTiger II Elefant

 

43364909685_25c36cd779_o.jpgTetrarch

 

44222361152_e29ca3d32f_o.jpgCovenantor

 

44270784621_52d129d93e_o.jpgFear Naught

 

44222369602_25b5aeb088_o.jpgLittle Willie

 

There is a gallery of interesting far fetched designs for armoured vehicles, such as these.

 

44222365192_4b6bd8d39f_o.jpgLandschiffe

 

43364917955_f67e997384_o.jpgSpartan

 

43553445184_d1a1457b18_o.jpgAtomtank

 

44222366372_09c88b3c52_o.jpgWheel tank

 

More images here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/147661871@N04/albums/72157697423021702/with/44222366372/

 

 

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Thanks for posting that. I'm not into tanks as such, but I'm fascinated by concept/prototype tanks, very early tanks and the bizarre ones. Your post set me off on a Googlising tour which kept me amused for an hour or so. I thought this one was particularly interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-Wagen

 

A crew of 27!

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Great photos. I went for first time in a very long while a few months ago. An excellent museum to visit but I too missed out on the restoration hall. Plan to go again very soon.

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I believe it was a paper concept for a nuclear-powered tank from the days when the US thought that anything and everything could be nuclear-powered.  

 

The streamlined shape was supposed to be both buoyant for flotation and more resistant to nuclear blast.

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I live in Yeovil and as such I have the FAA museum 10 minutes away.  The Tank Museum 49 minutes away and the helicopter Museum less than an hour away

Come and live in Yeovil if you like modelling.  Good reason for coming back is the Tiger expo is now on for another year.

 

You can use the museum ticket all year around except special days.  I hope you enjoyed your visit and wont be too long before you are back in Gods own country.

 

Rodders

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  • 4 months later...

Managed to slip away from a family weekend away in Weymouth last year for a couple of hours, although wandering around on me own was strange as I’m usually able to impart knowledge ( bore to tears) to Mrs karma 

it’s a great place to visit and hope to go again with a build in mind for research and to see the restoration centre as I missed it this time

have got quite a few pics of random tanks still to sort through that may be useful for detailing, especially if I decide to try doing a DD Sherman from a standard kit

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  • 1 year later...

Living in New Zealand means getting to Somerset isn't so easy, although I did live in the UK for 10 years a while back, I never went to Bovington while I was there.

On ‎8‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 6:19 AM, Rodders154 said:

I live in Yeovil and as such I have the FAA museum 10 minutes away.  The Tank Museum 49 minutes away and the helicopter Museum less than an hour away

Come and live in Yeovil if you like modelling. 

On my last trip in 2018 I stayed in South Petherton, which was nice. On the day I went to Bovington I drove round looking at sites related to T.E. Lawrence, his grave, site of his bike accident and his wee cottage up the road from Bovington, then drove to Goodwood and watched some aeroplanes flying and cars doing the rounds on the track, then to Eastleigh, Southampton before arriving in Kent where I was staying the next night. I need to put my Yeovilton images up; we got into the Cobham Hall.

 

43854416721_5934e56c22_b.jpg2806 T.E.Lawrence's motorcycle

 

28918145567_49db33575f_b.jpg2806 T.E. Lawrence Grave

 

43854416651_65c083aff4_b.jpg2806 T.E. Lawrence's house Clouds Hill

 

43137114894_8b63e51dda_b.jpg2806 T.E. Lawrence's death site

 

28918145837_01d1b8e1a3_b.jpg2706 RNAS Yeovilton Gate Guard

 

43935352561_b35acb83b4_b.jpg0307 FAA Museum Wyvern

 

Here's a photographic record of my UK trip two years ago, in case you are interested.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/147661871@N04/albums/72157671846190398/with/43935352561/

 

Edited by nuuumannn
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I loved the TE Lawrence photos. When I was a young lad living in Singapore one of my teachers was an old English sinister.  She told us the story that as a young child, she was present when Lawrence had his fatal accident on the road outside her families house.  She felt he had been murdered. 

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Quick point, if going, half of the ww2 hall is closed for a refurb at present. Apparently will be open end of April, in time for Tiger day, or officially early May, if I recall right. Best check if travelling any distance, bit annoying as I'm hoping to go end of March early April. (If I don't go then it'll be another 12mths before I get the chance, it'll be tough but I'll wipe away the manly tear and force myself to enjoy the rest).

Darryl 

 

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It's only half the WW2 hall that is closed, although I can understand that would be annoying enough if you've travelled far.  It's been like that since November.  They've been trying to keep access through the half being worked-on as much as possible, although the vehicles in there are covered over.  This past week they've been doing overhead work which has meant no access to that half.  Autumn/Winter 2020-21 will see Phase 2 of the work in the second half.

 

If the final product is anything like the graphics on display it will be a fantastic improvement.  Biggest thing they've done since opening the Tank Story Hall 10 or more years ago.

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  • 11 months later...
On 2/21/2020 at 10:33 AM, nuuumannn said:

Living in New Zealand means getting to Somerset isn't so easy, although I did live in the UK for 10 years a while back, I never went to Bovington while I was there.

On my last trip in 2018 I stayed in South Petherton, which was nice. On the day I went to Bovington I drove round looking at sites related to T.E. Lawrence, his grave, site of his bike accident and his wee cottage up the road from Bovington, then drove to Goodwood and watched some aeroplanes flying and cars doing the rounds on the track, then to Eastleigh, Southampton before arriving in Kent where I was staying the next night. I need to put my Yeovilton images up; we got into the Cobham Hall.

 

 

 

I drove around the southern counties of England three years ago for a couple of weeks during the European heatwave.  I would love to do it again.  Being very interested in T.E. Lawrence since a small boy (having a first edition Seven Pillars of Wisdom...), Clouds Hill was a must.  Also Lawrence's grave site at St Nicholas's parish church at Moreton in Dorset and the Tea House there that he frequently visited on one of his 'George' Brough bikes for Tea.  Clouds Hill is now National Trust and just fantastic.  Basically left as Lawrence last saw it (though his books were stolen and have gradually been replaced with similar copies by the Trust) before his fatal accident 400 meters or so down the road whilst riding to Bovington camp (down the road) home of the Tank Corps to post a letter.

 

Here is my Clouds Hill Flick album...

 

If you ever do that trip, take in Corfe Castle in Wareham Dorset. Lawrence used to visit that castle often being a student of Crusader castles.  The etchings in Clouds Hill are all original by Lawrence when he was a younger and would pedal hundreds of miles to castles and churches to make rubbings of their monumental brasses.                                         

Edited by pbrowne
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I visited the FAA museum just pre lockdown and in my opinion the majority of aircraft in the Concorde hall should be in Cobham as not FAA related and the Cobham Hall exhibits shifted back where they belong as Albacore, Wyvern, Skyraider, Gannet etc missing to make way for the current obsession with Harriers and helicopters.  

 

Mike

Edited by mick b
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On 21/02/2020 at 04:11, dcrfan said:

one of my teachers was an old English sinister.

@dcrfan prefered your orginal posting from Feb last year, conjured up all sorts of images, none to do with modelling - at least not the sort that goes on around here.

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The Brough Superior motorcycle formerly on display at Bovington was not one of Lawrence's own machines.  He owned half a dozen at different times.  His final and fatal one is privately owned, IIRC by the family.

 

The one at Bovington is similar and was loaned by a heritage trust, and is no longer on display as the Lawrence display has been removed as part of the current redevelopment of that hall.

 

For any of you who are able to get to the Museum when we have the ability to do that again, the World War 2 hall was partly redeveloped last year and the completion was due for this Spring - situation permitting now.

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22 hours ago, dcrfan said:

I had an old spinster teacher when I was a lad in Singapore who told the story LoA died virtually in front of her parents cottage.  She remembered the day well.  

 

Mmm, very interesting.  I'm not doubting what your teacher said, but I don't think there were any houses around where TEL was killed.  Though I could be wrong as things change. Further back towards Clouds Hill, yes, there is the old Knowles cottage, but that's about it.  That is the one house down the slope a bit on the other side of the road from TEL's place.  That house was leased by a Sgt Knowles of the Tank Corps and who initially sub let Clouds Hill to TEL before TEL bought it from proceeds of his writing. TEL used to bathe in the small spring running down the Knowles property (Clouds Hill is on a steep wooded slope with a forest behind it)  as there was no running water at Clouds Hill until he installed a small Vulcan hydraulic ram to pump water from the spring.  The bath upstairs was installed by TEL only after getting water through this ram, and he considered it a great luxury. There isn't even a kitchen (he eat simply, frequently straight out of tin cans heated in water in a pot in his fireplace, we know that through his few Army/Airforce friends he used to invite over, oh and Lady Astor who stayed with him at Clouds Hill for a visit) or toilet, except for a small outhouse that TEL built later. http://www.telstudies.org/discussion/service_years/clouds_hill.shtml

 

Anyway, there are a couple of stone markers to indicate the proximity of where TEL crashed his Brough that eventually killed him.  The one below was erected by one of his Vickers Machine Gunners in Arabia, Tom Beaumont, which is in a small carpark at the site.  The other stone, was erected by T. E. Lawrence Society and that stone is the one in nuuumannn's post above below the Harrier and is located on an overgrown dirt path leading from the carpark about 50 meters, which is possibly the most accurate marker(?).  But I couldn't find that stone.

 

As you can see from the images below, there are no houses, in fact the Bovington camp for the Armoured Corps centre is located on the other side of the road, and part of the Bovington Training Area just behind the carpark (also behind Clouds Hill). Though the road has been leveled and straightened in parts since the 1930's, that area was I think basically military grounds. 

 

Google satellite view of that area:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/search/clouds+hill/@50.715678,-2.2519067,723m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

 

The house opposite Clouds Hill in the above satellite view was I believe Sgt Knowles' cottage and where the spring was, but which I think has dried up from the Pine plantation at the top of the hill and the new road...

 

TEL did crash his Broughs quite a bit, they had bad brakes and could easily do 100mph and 1930s roads to boot. The photo shows Brough with walking sticks who also crashed his Broughs, and of course TEL as a RAF dispatch rider, possibly as Shaw, though if earlier, Ross.

 

44cf1ebeee5a8c0fc4d76b29f2009b01.png

 

 

3803aa5211fbe40c20a4284c0b54eade.png

 

c035449d8758baf2210fd43a3a545b99.png

 

45f7eed89f519cb60f19ec912f5fe32a.png

 

 

Peter

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by pbrowne
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1 hour ago, ERK said:

I nearly got crushed by a Challenger coming across that road a few years back  in my car when I rushed to catch the museum shop  - but was too late.

 

Erk.

 

Too late to get crushed?  You could have turned around and tried again, or was it gone by then?

 

When I took those photos at the memorial stone above, there was an armoured vehicle crossing over the main road where you can see a gate on the other side, might have been a Warrior, though I'm unfamiliar with most of current British armour...

Edited by pbrowne
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47 minutes ago, pbrowne said:

 

Too late to get crushed?  You could have turned around and tried again, or was it gone by then?

 

When I took those photos at the memorial stone above, there was an armoured vehicle crossing over the main road where you can see a gate on the other side, might have been a Warrior, though I'm unfamiliar with most of current British armour...

I was on holiday  close to Bovingdon  I had already been round the museum, I had gone back to my holiday accomodation  when I had one of those moments  where I  thought about dashing back to the Tank museums shop to get myself a tank model  reminder of my visit, it was getting late  but thought if I hurried up I might make the shop, I bombed up that road in the pic  was about to take the turn into the road on the Right, but was met head on by a 60 ton Challenger tank  - he was not ammused  if I remember correctly.

 

I still missed the shop aswel.

 

Erk.

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