Welcome to the WWII Forums! Log in or Sign up to interact with the community.

'The Tiger Collection' - Bovington - 2017

Discussion in 'Armor and Armored Fighting Vehicles' started by von Poop, Nov 2, 2016.

  1. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2006
    Messages:
    6,300
    Likes Received:
    1,919
    Location:
    Perfidious Albion
    Otto likes this.
  2. Dave55

    Dave55 Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2011
    Messages:
    1,377
    Likes Received:
    194
    Location:
    Atlanta
    Don't get too exited over the Elephant. The "US Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center" isn't the same as the former Aberdeen Ordnance Museum.
    Aberdeen's tanks were moved to Fort Benning in Georgia and its artillery was moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

    Fort Lee, Virginia has always had a museum dedicated to the Quartermaster Corps (really) and they've managed to add a few choice pieces from Aberdeen but not many and now have an area called The Ordnance Corps Training and Heritage Center

    http://www.goordnance.army.mil/OTHC/SubjectToRecall.html

    The last time I saw Aberdeen's Elephant about five years ago it had just received a high gloss pseudo Africa Corp paint job on the outside but the inside was a rusted out hulk untouched since 1945. I'd rather have had them leave it the way it was then just get that garish external treatment instead of a full restoration. Looks like a model built by a five year old now.

    Go to Bovington anyway, of course. You lucky dog!!!
     
    von Poop likes this.
  3. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2006
    Messages:
    6,300
    Likes Received:
    1,919
    Location:
    Perfidious Albion
    To be fair, Dave, an awful lot of museum machines are pretty beaten up shells inside. And I believe there are only a couple of Elefant/Ferdinand surviving, so I could handle a strange paint-job over rarity and assessment of scale on something I've not seen in the flesh before. (I've a colour picture of it from the 60s somewhere in original plumage. Shame so few places realised preserving such might be interesting down the line.)

    I get mildly irritated by the out of proportion interest Tiger generates, it basically being just another tank, but have to concede this little gathering draws me.
    The bulk of the world's surviving Tiger variants in one place, along with the only running 1.

    Tiger
    Tiger 2(P)
    Tiger 2(H)
    Jagdtiger
    Elefant
    Sturmmorser

    Yeah, ok, that's quite interesting, and almost everything:
    http://the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_Tigers.pdf
     
  4. Takao

    Takao Ace

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2010
    Messages:
    10,103
    Likes Received:
    2,574
    Location:
    Reading, PA
    Don't worry about the paint job, it is quite accurate, despite Dave's opinion.



     
  5. Dave55

    Dave55 Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2011
    Messages:
    1,377
    Likes Received:
    194
    Location:
    Atlanta
    You

    You're right, of course. Just a bit of misplaced aggression on my part over both the way the transfer to Fort Lee was handled and the silly paint scheme on it.

    As the guy Takao quoted is not correct when he says "The new paint job does not have the same dull "Matt" finish of the paint used during the war. However it should be recognized, that a thin coat of matt paint is not an acceptable protective coating for a museum artifact that is on display outside in the elements."

    The sheen proprieties of paint have nothing to do with the protective properties. Just look at the way military vehicles are painted today in flat matt.

    Here is a shot I took of it the last time I saw it in 2008 at Aberdeen
     

    Attached Files:

  6. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2006
    Messages:
    6,300
    Likes Received:
    1,919
    Location:
    Perfidious Albion
    I'm vaguely remembering this paint 'controversy' now.
    Sounds more a symptom of the pretty bad funding state of the museums, and the fact things which are technically unique in the world possibly shouldn't be stored outside...

    Modern military vehicles are constantly repainted, Dave. Seems to be a popular moan among the armoured crewman! They're also stored inside. I can appreciate the cost balance between accurate scheme and protective outdoor finish when the funds just aren't there.

    The Gibb/Weald Jagdpanther created some misplaced outrage over it's entirely correct paint scheme when it first went public.
    Hmmm. They've been very generous to Bovington in the past over restoration help. Wonder if they might have something to offer re getting this Zimmerit issue fixed. A wholesome organisation, and you never know!
     
  7. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2008
    Messages:
    18,254
    Likes Received:
    5,671
    The Tiger
    TIGER, tiger, burning bright
    In the forests of the night,
    What immortal hand or eye
    Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
    In what distant deeps or skies
    Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
    On what wings dare he aspire?
    What the hand dare seize the fire?
    And what shoulder and what art
    Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
    And when thy heart began to beat,
    What dread hand and what dread feet?
    What the hammer? what the chain?
    In what furnace was thy brain?
    What the anvil? What dread grasp
    Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
    When the stars threw down their spears,
    And water'd heaven with their tears,
    Did He smile His work to see?
    Did He who made the lamb make thee?
    Tiger, tiger, burning bright
    In the forests of the night,
    What immortal hand or eye
    Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
     
    von Poop likes this.
  8. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2006
    Messages:
    6,300
    Likes Received:
    1,919
    Location:
    Perfidious Albion
    Oh, how I often quote that to myself when the more repetitive hyperbole flows. ;)

    I also find it hard to avoid thinking "Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs", but that might just be me...


    Curious draw they have, isn't it.
    The pendulum swings of late and the true excited fanbois are a tad thinner on the ground. Maybe swings a bit too far quite often, though I suspect a more balanced appraisal is winning overall.
    It's only taken 70-odd years!
     
  9. green slime

    green slime Member

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2010
    Messages:
    3,150
    Likes Received:
    584
    Thanks for making me aware of that line up. You are correct, it would be awesome to see.
     
  10. Martin Bull

    Martin Bull Acting Wg. Cdr

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2002
    Messages:
    13,578
    Likes Received:
    1,487
    Location:
    London, England.
    It's just like the Spitfire - the Tiger is now a total icon and as time goes past the fascination seems to grow, not diminish.

    Anyhow, I do need to go to Bovington again, and I'll be watching news about the proposed Tiger 'visitors' with interest.

    Anyhow, I'm a confirmed Tiger nut. I know this one should be under cover, and it's all the wrong colours, and etc etc etc....But every time I drive up that hill outside Vimoutiers the sight of it never fails to thrill me......still a very charismatic and menacing-looking chunk of metal. It's a real Normandy Tiger and I love it ! :tankattack: :tankattack: :tankattack:

    [​IMG]
     
    O.M.A. likes this.
  11. Dave55

    Dave55 Member

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2011
    Messages:
    1,377
    Likes Received:
    194
    Location:
    Atlanta
    The little kids who first played on it after the war are now in their seventies or eighties. Time marches on :(
     
  12. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2006
    Messages:
    6,300
    Likes Received:
    1,919
    Location:
    Perfidious Albion
    That one's in very much the right place.
    It's their Tiger, they can do what they like with it...
     
  13. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2006
    Messages:
    6,300
    Likes Received:
    1,919
    Location:
    Perfidious Albion
  14. Owen

    Owen O

    Joined:
    May 14, 2006
    Messages:
    2,765
    Likes Received:
    760
    Went there yesterday, luckily the new Gallery was open for that day only.
    My Mrs took these pics.
     

    Attached Files:

    O.M.A., Slipdigit, Otto and 1 other person like this.
  15. KJ Jr

    KJ Jr Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2014
    Messages:
    3,148
    Likes Received:
    359
    Location:
    New England
    Awesome! :tiger:
     
  16. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2006
    Messages:
    6,300
    Likes Received:
    1,919
    Location:
    Perfidious Albion
    As I said elsewhere, mate: cracking stuff.
    Such a shame Mrs Sinsheim or Frau Munster wouldn't let a Sturmmorser out to play with it's friends.

    Jagdtiger reportedly currently being repainted.
     
  17. Owen

    Owen O

    Joined:
    May 14, 2006
    Messages:
    2,765
    Likes Received:
    760
    20170325_182703.jpg 20170325_182713.jpg 20170325_182733.jpg 20170325_182738.jpg 20170325_182800.jpg 20170325_182908.jpg 20170325_182918.jpg 20170325_183012.jpg 20170325_183024.jpg 20170325_183201.jpg

    Been back there tonight for a talk by Simon Weston , Falklands War Veteran & took these of the Tigers.
     
    PzJgr, O.M.A. and Slipdigit like this.
  18. Owen

    Owen O

    Joined:
    May 14, 2006
    Messages:
    2,765
    Likes Received:
    760
    here's few more as there a limit of 10 photos per post.
     

    Attached Files:

  19. Martin Bull

    Martin Bull Acting Wg. Cdr

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2002
    Messages:
    13,578
    Likes Received:
    1,487
    Location:
    London, England.
    Just a week until Bovington's 'Tiger Day' on the 29th April. Tickets pre-booked & I'm going down there with a mate - a real 'boy's day out' as neither of us have been there for many years.....
     
    Slipdigit likes this.

Share This Page