Hal Jespersen’s Tank Museum Visits
This page is a compilation of visits I (Hal) have made to major tank museums around the world. All of this information is available in my other travel pages, mixed up with non-tank related material, but here it is all in one place. I have not included individual tanks that I have met along the way, such as in town square monuments—only significant museums. Here are the visits:
- The Tank Museum, Bovington, England
- Panzer Museum, Munster, Germany
- Armor and Cavalry Collection, Fort Moore (née Benning), Georgia
- Musee des Blindés, Saumur, France
- Aalborg Defence- and Garrison Museum, Denmark
- Bastogne Barracks, Belgium
- Military Vehicle Technology Foundation, Portola Valley, California
- Museums I would like to visit someday
The Tank Museum, Bovington, England
This visit is part of a 2022 trip to the UK specifically for the Tank Museum's annual Tank Fest. I had visited the museum previously as part of my D-Day 75th anniversary trip, but I have not included those photographs because they are a small subset of these.
Friday, June 25
My train on the South Western Railway left London's Waterloo Station at 8:35 and arrived at Wool Station in Dorset at 11:10. The museum is 1.7 miles from the train so I took a cab ride; it later turned out that there was a bus that covered this distance, but its schedule was spotty.
I was a bit surprised at how active the museum site was. I had seen some YouTube videos of previous TankFests and they emphasized what was going on in the tank arena, but what I didn’t know was that the entire grounds had turned into a giant fair/flea market. There were numerous food stands, beer tents, picnic areas, military memorabilia and souvenir sales, reenactor encampments, a “mini-stage” with some musical performances, a lecture stage, and of course lots and lots of military vehicles scattered all over. A company I admire, Armortek, had their large remote control models operating. (These are often 1/6 scale intricately detailed metal works of art.)
I went through the regular museum building and it seemed pretty much the same as when I visited in 2019, although every square inch of empty space was filled up with sales tables for military books, models, and paraphernalia. I attempted to photograph many of my favorite armored vehicles, and for once I believe I have them all correctly labeled, rather than relying on my spotty memory. In the vehicle restoration building, they have dozens and dozens of tanks packed in like sardines, but many of them are not in photographable condition.
Since lots of things were going on in parallel, I had to pick and choose what I attended. I attended to hunger pangs by having six freshly fried mini donuts as a late breakfast and a gigantic, delicious bratwurst for lunch. In the arena there was a very interesting presentation/demonstration of Sherman tanks, World War II vintage and later. They arranged a little parade of five tanks, in the following sequence: M4A1, A2 (which was a movie star, being disguised as an M4A3E8 Easy-8 for the movie Fury), A4 (which was the basis for the British variant, the Sherman Firefly, and had an unusual 30-cylinder engines, five car engines bolted together on a single drive train), M50 (which was the postwar Super Sherman modified by the Israelis to include the main gun from the French AMX 13 tank; this particular tank had been transferred to the Southern Lebanese Army and was painted blue), and M51 (another Israeli modification that used the 105 mm French AMX 30 gun).
There was a parachuting demonstration with six guys from the British army called the Lightning Bolts (I say guys advisedly because I think there were two field grade officers and a captain, which doesn’t seem to be an appropriate mix for paratroop demonstrations). They were in a Cessna 208, which circled the field a number of times determining which way the wind was blowing and how high they could get up into the clouds before their exploits would have been invisible to us. Eventually they acrobatically maneuvered to landing in the arena, each of them trailing colorful smoke. Afterward they had a parachute packing race and then they offered virtual reality experiences of what it was like to jump. I found it interesting that the UK government would not allow kids below the age of 14 to use the Oculus virtual reality headsets, saying that it was a health issue.
David Willey, the curator of the museum, and a longtime YouTube TankChat host, introduced and described an impressive display of Cold War tanks, each of which raced around the arena, getting progressively louder and more powerful. They were the French AMX 13, a British Centurion modified for the Swiss Army, a Swiss PZ61 (about the only tank that the Swiss government ever designed and built for itself), a muscular German Leopard I, a Chinese Type 59 (a knockoff of the Soviet T-54), an M60A1 (which was the main battle tank in the tank battalion I served in back in the 70s), a British Chieftain, a Soviet T-72 (the primary tank currently being slaughtered by the Ukrainians), and a British Challenger I that had been built for the Shah of Iran (but who do not live long enough to receive it).
The following session was about armored personnel carriers and scouting vehicles, which hold less interest for me, and since I was starting to drag following a poor night of sleeping, I decided to bail out for the day. I was directed to the shuttle bus stop to get back to the train station, not realizing that we had to wait almost a half an hour before the bus showed up; I could’ve walked to the station in that time. I took the train about 30 minutes to the town of Weymouth, which is sort of a tired beach resort city on the English channel. The very modest 60s-era hotel I booked was the closest one to the tank museum available at the time I became aware of the railroad strike. Dinner was at the hotel’s very casual pub/restaurant.
Saturday, June 26
Saturday is the main event for TankFest. I booked an extra package called the Officers’ Mess, which gave me a number of benefits, the most important of which turned out to be expedited entrance. I was amazed that easily 10X more people were here today, snaking a line over hundreds of meters, more like an E Ticket ride at Disneyland. The holdup was the security process, which seemed more intrusive (and slower) than TSA. But those of us in the Mess bypassed most of the delays. We had free run of the area—unlike average folks who faced a number of time and place restrictions—and exclusive use of the museum mezzanine and a covered grandstand overlooking Kuwait Arena for the main show. Breakfast, lunch, and lots of snacks and drinks were included.
The main program started with a reenactment battle, set up with a scenario late in WWII where desperate German troops are trying to ambush an approaching American reconnaissance force. There were about a dozen vehicles and a few handfuls of reenactors and they put on a good show considering the limited space to maneuver. They had a lot of pyrotechnics, although few of the explosions sounded anything like real tank fire. Featured were a Chafee, a Hetzer, some scout cars, and two Shermans. The US won the encounter. Yay!
A session on D-Day invasion vehicles wasn’t too interesting, with the highlight being a jeep. Then a big session (sans battle) on World War II armor, with a Panzer III/L, Japanese Ha-Go, M3 Stuart, Valentine, M18 tank destroyer, T34/85, M24 Chafee, and a Comet.
The next session on Sherman tanks was essentially a rerun of Friday’s talk, with the same five tanks running around. As was Cold War Armor, with a Scorpion, AMX13, Centurion Mark 7, PZ61, Leopard I, Type 59, M60, Chieftain, T72, and Challenger I.
I ducked over to the Mini-Arena to see some reenactors portraying the 29th Infantry Division display D-Day infantry weapons (and radios, which they badmouthed severely). Back at the big arena there was an armored personnel carrier and scout car session, including a Ferret, an FV432 Bulldog APC, and a Bronco ATTC Warthog, which was fascinating because it was actually two tracked vehicles connected together, like an articulated bus.
The final event before lunch was a battle demonstration by the Royal Armoured Corps, which trains right next to the Tank Museum. They had a Jackal light reconnaissance vehicle, a Warrior infantry fighting vehicle with a 30 mm cannon, Foxhound and Mastiff transport vehicles that had V-shaped hulls to survive IED attacks, and a Titan scissor-bridging vehicle built on a Challenger II chassis. They confronted a T-72 and a squad of soldiers with a lot of pyrotechnics on both sides, and you can probably guess who won the engagement.
Panzer Museum, Munster, Germany
This visit was part of a larger tour in 2024 called Heart of Germany.
There was not a lot new to me in this museum, but I just love seeing and communing with these noble iron beasts. Most of the vehicle information placards are bilingual, but the large displays with general information about the wars and other topics are only in German. The supermajority of vehicles are German from the world wars, the Cold War, and recent times, but there are some Soviet and British tanks and a number of US vehicles in Bundeswehr colors. I took photos of about a third of the displays, ignoring most cars, trucks, artillery pieces, and motorcycles. Two highlights for me were a beautiful Tiger replica made of plastic (used for some camouflage training) and a prototype of the MBT-70.
I put copies of all of the informational signs represented by these photos in a large PDF.
Armor and Cavalry Collection, Fort Moore (née Benning), Georgia
This trip was in 2023 to attend the first open house of the Armor and Cavalry Collection following its relocation from Fort Knox.
There was a big line of vehicles trying to get through the visitor lane into Fort Benning, and once I had my drivers license scanned by the MP, it was actually about 6 or 7 miles to get to the armor collection. One forgets how big these military installations are. I had quite a feeling of nostalgia driving through because it has been over 40 years since I have been on an army post.
The collection is in a large warehouse and there are well over 100 specimens of armored vehicles and weapons, focusing pretty heavily on the US, but also a number of German and British, and a smattering from other countries. The collection ranged from World War I up through the present, including some very rare prototype vehicles. It is an impressive collection, exceeding in my opinion that at Bovington in the UK (see my visit to that tank museum), although they have not yet invested in much museum-like infrastructure. Some of the tanks had placards that described their characteristics, but the vast majority had simple notecards with only the name of the tank. And there were no general displays talking about how tanks were developed and deployed, famous battles, etc. I talked to their Director, Len Dyer, and he said they certainly intend to beef up this aspect in the future, but they were rushing to make the collection available after their long absence. I happened to run into a guy visiting from the UK who works for the company Armortek and he suggested that this museum was like Bovington 30 years ago.
I am posting below photographs that I took of only a part of the collection. I did not bother with many of the wheeled vehicles or the artillery pieces. I also did not photograph every single one of the dozens of Sherman tank variants. For those who find these photographs less than interesting, follow this link to my videos from later in the day when the “Scouts in Action” did a live fire rehearsal for the biannual Gainey Cup cavalry squad competition.
There were a few highlights for me. First, I have never actually been up close to an M1 Abrams. (My tank experience in the Army of the 1970s was with M60A1s.) Here was an M1A2 SEP v3, the latest version. They also had an M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, which is theoretically not that interesting, but I was impressed with how hulking big it was. I was nostalgic to see an M577 command vehicle; when I was the signal officer of a tank battalion I had two of these large armored vehicles in my platoon. There were prototypes of vehicles in the pre-M1, MBT70 program. And a bunch of rare heavy US tanks, including the monstrous T28 Superheavy, which had four tracks to carry its 95 tons. On the German side, there was a Tiger that had part of its sides sliced off so you could see inside. There was also a Tiger II (King Tiger) and the prototype Panther II, which was never produced.
Scouts in Action: Gainey Cup Rehearsal
The Gainey Cup is like a cavalry version of the best infantry squad competition they hold at Benning. It was about 6 miles away at the Red Cloud firing range and before we got into the bleachers, we had to sign liability waivers and were issued two forms of hearing protection, earplugs and big muffs; both were required. This was a rehearsal for the actual cup competition on Monday, so we got to see only a small number of soldiers. They started with helicopter rope dropping insertion onto the battlefield, advancing cautiously, and mortar firing on quite a distant target. Then two M1127 Stryker vehicles showed up and some of the guys jumped in and light machine guns started firing off at old vehicles a couple of kilometers in the distance. Next two M2 Bradleys arrived, firing their 25mm chain guns. And then two M1 Abrams started blasting away. Those guys were right in front of us and were therefore quite loud, even with the hearing protectors. The whole exercise lasted about a half an hour and was accompanied by narration as well as hearing the radio traffic between all of the parties involved.
Musee des Blindés, Saumur, France
This was a side trip from a 2023 tour I took about the Battle of the Bulge. I departed Paris's Gare Montparnasse for an early train to Saumur, about 200 miles west. The first leg of the trip was a TGV to Angers, which was very comfortable in first class, although these high-speed trains sway back and forth, like an airplane in constant turbulence, which leaves me a little queasy. I transferred to another train for the final 20-minute leg to Saumur.
I did quite a bit of walking today. Since the weather was good, I hiked 2.2 miles from the Saumur train station, crossing two bridges over the Loire, to the Musee des Blindés (armored vehicles). This is a really excellent museum, with many dozens of tanks and other vehicles from WWI, WWII, the Cold War, and modern times. All the major western countries and the Soviet Union are represented. The signage is mostly tri-lingual and gives lots of details. There weren’t many surprises, but there were a few experimental or otherwise obscure choices, as you will see from my photos. (There are a lot here, but I did cull them by omitting most field guns and non-tracked vehicles.) As might be suspected, French tanks are comprehensively represented. I particularly took to the Leclerc, which is a massive, evil-looking tank. On a few signs, tanks from Britain and the US snarkingly point out that they are similar in design to various French models that preceded them. I also liked a short film about the first WWI battle fought by French tanks, April 16, 1917, at Berry-au-Bac, near Chemin des Dames. (I recently visited a monument to this action on my WWI tour.) It had a lot of tank video footage that I hadn’t seen before. One more plus: the gift shop has more model kits in one place than I have ever seen.
I put copies of all of the informational signs represented by these photos in a large PDF.
Aalborg Defence- and Garrison Museum, Denmark
This trip was a brief portion of a cruise I took to Norway and Denmark in 2023. In Aalborg, Denmark, I walked a couple of miles to the Defence and Garrison Museum, housed in a seaplane hangar constructed by the Germans in WWII. It was a small but decent military museum featuring armored vehicles, planes, artillery, and other weapons and vehicles. The highlight for me was a Leopard I tank. A man I talked with told me that Denmark has sent 100 of these to Ukraine. There was also a Centurion and a variety of 1950s era American tanks and APCs. They had a number of exhibits about the Danish army in NATO and I was intrigued to see Soviet invasion plans—revealed by the Poles—that called for numerous nuclear strikes on Denmark, designed to prevent its use as an American shipping center.
Bastogne Barracks, Belgium
This visit was part of my 2023 Battle of the Bulger tour. We arrived at Bastogne Barracks before the Nuts Weekend (anniversary) crowds and enjoyed 1.25 hours visiting the armored vehicle displays and watching a few AVs motor around the vehicle restoration center parking lot. The two actual tanks were an M47 Patton an and replica of Cobra King, the M4A3E2 Jumbo that was famously “First in Bastogne.” The real Cobra King is displayed at the National Museum of the US Army, Fort Belvoir, VA.
Nuts Day video:
There were a number of reenactors camped here for the weekend, both American airborne and Nazis. I came here in 2019 and we got to see more things, including inside said restoration center and the 101st Airborne Division HQ. They also had better lighting inside the tank buildings. (I talked to a guide from the War Heritage Institute, which manages this facility now, and he said the faint lighting was on orders from HQ in Brussels. Eurocrats, sigh.) Anyway, I have more photos from my 2019 visit here.
Military Vehicle Technology Foundation, Portola Valley, California
Note: the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation described here is no longer open. The Jacques Littlefield collection of armored vehicles has been transferred to the American Heritage Museum in Hudson, Massachusetts. I hope to visit there someday and improve upon the lamentable photography of this page.
I visited the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation in Portola Valley, California, about a dozen miles from home. A wealthy man named Jacques Littlefield started a private collection of military vehicles in 1976 and by the time of his death in 2009 had collected over 250. The foundation currently maintains a part of his 500 acre property in Portola Valley and the vehicles, which are focused strongly on armored fighting vehicles (tanks, artillery, troop carriers, and even missiles) from all over the world. They give tours by reservation on Saturdays and I accompanied Mike and about a half dozen guys through the collection. Mike, who is in automotive mechanics instructor by trade, has an encyclopedic knowledge of armored vehicles. He told me that he has over 800 books about tanks in his collection. The tour was two and half hours, but it was at a breakneck pace. We had to skim by a number of interesting items in the collection and Mike raced along as if he were on speed in order to give the details of the vehicles he did cover.
I am embarrassed to say that I screwed up the photography on this visit. The images here are thumbnails only. After I uploaded the full scale images to my PC, I erased them from the camera, only to find that I had somehow deleted them all on the PC! I was able to recover thumbnail sizes from previews stored by Adobe Bridge (which lamentably does not use the PC's Recycle Bin for deleted images), so that is all I am able to offer here. My apologies. The tour was such a whirlwind, I was not able to remember exactly which vehicle was which, so some of the photos below do not have captions. Photography there is a little difficult because the vehicles are really crammed into their three large warehouses. There are a number of vehicles that are stored outside, which is sort of sad because they will never be more than rust buckets.
One of the fun things about U.S. Army tanks is that they named many of them after Civil War generals, which you can see below. My favorite vehicle name in the collection was the Weasel. I was familiar with all of the U.S. vehicles in the collection, either from my own experience in the Army or from visits to other armored vehicle museums in the past. However, they had a rich collection of British, French, German, Soviet/Eastern Bloc, Chinese, and Israeli vehicles, too, ranging from several from World War I up through almost the present day. Mike told us that President Clinton signed a law that prevents private collectors from having the most recent vehicles. Thus, they do not have a real M1 Abrams tank, although they have partially disassembled prototype from General Motors—the loser (to Chrysler) in the competition for building that tank. They also have a training turret used for Abrams training. I was offered the opportunity to climb inside, but I am really too tall to consider it. I probably would've gotten stuck! Some of the earlier tanks were so tiny inside that they must have recruited midgets to fight in them. Mike emphasized throughout how dangerous it was to operate those vehicles in combat. He also told us some grisly stories about tanks in the 1991 Gulf War, which he said he avoids discussing when the Cub Scouts come through.
In addition to the fully restored vehicles, they also had a collection of associated equipment, such as antitank weapons, and tank shells and missiles.
Future Museum Visits?
Here are museums I would like to visit over the next few years:
- American Heritage Museum, Hudson, Massachusetts
- National Museum of Military Vehicles, Dubois, Wyoming
- Gen. Patton Memorial Museum, Chiriaco Summit, California
- Ontario Regiment RCAC Museum, Oshawa, Ontario
- Arsenalen, Strängnäs, Sweden
- Oorlogsmuseum, Overloon, Netherlands
- Polish Army Museum, Warsaw
- Military Technical Museum, Lešany, Czechia
- Armoured Vehicles Museum of the Army (MUMA), Madrid, Spain
- Museum of Military History, Vienna, Austria
- Australian Armour and Artillery Museum, Smithfield, Cairns, Queensland
And here are some good ones I will probably never get to visit: