Think I may be pottering Dorset-wards again next year. Aberdeen's Elefant and Munster's Sturmmorser hopefully heading to Bov next year. You do not see that every day...: http://tankmuseum.org/year-news/bovnews53673
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!!!
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
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
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!
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?
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!
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:
The little kids who first played on it after the war are now in their seventies or eighties. Time marches on
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.
Been back there tonight for a talk by Simon Weston , Falklands War Veteran & took these of the Tigers.
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.....