Tiger Day at Bovington Tank Museum

28 September 2017

Wargamer Collection Calculator has had a casualty! David is out of action. He is recovering well, you will all be happy to hear, but our planned annual trip to Colours at Newbury sadly had to be shelved.

However, our long-time friend and associate Andreas Moench (aka the Hun) came up with an alternate plan.

TIGER DAY 2017! What a coup. For just £16 quid each we set off from Twickenham on a five-hour, 112-mile round trip on an homage to see the best tank ever to have produced by the human race - the Tiger 1.

To our surprise we were informed that our tickets were annual tickets and will last a year. 

My wife is ecstatic at the news!



The TIGER 131 and me 

Tiger 131 real name Sd Kfz 181 Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf E is famous for being the first Tiger Tank to be captured intact when it was knocked out at the end of the Tunisian campaign in North Africa.

Tiger 131 served in the 3 Platoon (Troop), 1st Kompanie, Schwere Panzer Abteilung 504th, of the German Army. Tiger 131 was captured on 21st of April 1943 by 48 Royal Tank Regiment, A Squadron, 4 Troop, at Djebel Djaffa. Tunisia. Tiger 131 was subsequently visited by King George VI and Winston Churchill and then sent to the School of Tank Technology for evaluation and in November 1944 it was finally displayed on Horse Guards Parade.

I know it’s an evil thing, all weapons are, but I think this is the best looking Tank in the world bar none. It is really functional, impressive and very loud.



Other Tanks 

There were hundreds of tanks there and I would recommend it as a day out for anyone remotely interested in wargaming, history, modeling or the world wars. Another favourite of mine is the Lee / Grant tank, a very famous tank in the desert war and they only had one. Superb.


After we mooched around some more and visited too many tanks in the main hall, we were alerted to the fact the Tiger was going to start up and head out for a drive.

On the Move 

The time to see Tiger 131 action had come and what an impressive beast it was. Very loud, clanking about the road and rumbling around the track. I was in heaven and Andreas could not even speak. The crowd itself was very quiet - simply stunned and reverential in a way.

I will let this picture speak for itself.



Another aspect of the day was the Tiger Tank Collection. The Tank Museum has brought together every member of the Tiger Tank family in one room.

Here we got to see the Tiger 1, 2 King Tigers, a Jagdtiger and the Elefant! Just WOW!

King Tiger (Porche) or Tiger II


The Jagdtiger 


King Tiger (Hershcel) or Tiger II


Elephant 


Tiger 131

I will leave you with a picture of of Tiger 131, now alongside its brothers. The Tiger inspired a long line of larger tanks as seen above.



I will be back!

(Haven't I heard that somewhere before?)