Game Design, Programming and running a one-man games business…

Tankfest 2011 Pictures

cliffski

So today I spent half the day at TANKFEST, at the tank museum at Bovington, England. It was very TANKy, to put it mildly. I was amused to notice signs pointing to ‘tank museum and monkeyland’. lets just hope there is never a security breach at monkeyland, because they will be heavily armoured primates, that’s for sure.

TankFest is where you get to see old tanks (like the churchill) and new ones (challenger) charging about on a tank-race-track, as well as go fondle them up close. The best bit for me was probably the WW2 re-enactment guys who were there in force, very WW2-geeky of me, I know. Let the tank-porn commence:

This is the As90 artillery system(above). I climbed inside it and had a chat to the dude manning it. I was curious because it’s the thing that makes my windows rattle when they test it on salisbury plain. Grrrr. It can fire 3 rounds before the first hits the ground, and then scarper quickly before the enemy fires back.

This sums up the day really. people dressed as German soldiers, and kids climbing on a WW2 tank. Kids these days have no respect for history. Bah grumble, ‘get off my tank’ etc…

 

I don’t remember the exact number, but this is one of those US half tracks with the rear-mounted anti-aircraft guns that can massacre ground troops. Quite speedy too.

For reasons that escape me, I was drawn to the area with German soldiers in trenches. They had a little mock-trench standoff re-enactment between the Germans and the Russians.

Some of our plucky desert rats showing the lesser nations just how many guns we can stack in neat little formations. OH YES.

For undisclosed reasons I was drawn to trying to get some ‘top view’ photos of the tanks. Here are some of the ones parked outside. Inside, there are about a hundred trillion tanks. It’s a HUGE museum.

Is that a T-34? I think so. Anyway, it was the only Russian WW2 tank in the outside display. They had some other, MUCH BIGGER ones inside. I still vote for the Jagdpanther and the Tiger as my favorite tanks. I think I’ve convinced my better-half that having a ‘favorite tank’ is normal for a man of my age.

7 thoughts on Tankfest 2011 Pictures

  1. I’m back in Bournemouth today and this is totally tempting me.

    Thing is the ladylumps is Belgian and therefore can not appreciate proper war machines. I might be able to convince her if I take her to monkey world after. :p

  2. Hmm… for ‘undisclosed reasons’ you were trying to get some ‘top view’ photos of the tanks. I think I can guess what you wanted them for! ;)

  4. That is a T-34-85 to be exact. You can tell by the ‘mickey mouse’ hatches and the large turret ring allowing a much bigger turret to be mounted to accomodate the 85mm gun. The T34-85 was produced well after the war for the soviet sattlite nations and this is most likely one of them. They had a much higher build quality than the ones built during the war as those were only meant to last for a short little while.

  6. The Jagdpanther was the best tank destroyer ever to have rolled over people’s feet! <3

  7. @Semni – the T34/85 first rolled off the production lines right at the end of 1943 though it didn’t see service until early 1944.

    It’s true that they were produced post war in the USSR, Poland and Czechoslovakia – That particular one is Czech IIRC – though the differences are minimal and you have to be a fully paid up geek like me to spot them. :o)

    BTW the ‘Mickey Mouse’ hatch arrangement is on the T34/76 Model 1942 with the hexagonal turret.

    http://www.battlefield.ru/en/tank-developments.html

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