‘What a magnificent show they put on for the assembled crowd of tank fans’
This was my first visit to one of Bovington Tank Museum’s Tankfests, although I had visited the museum both as a visitor, and more recently, to cover their Tiger Day earlier this year. Held at the end of June over one of the hottest weekends of the year, I don’t think many of the 22,000 visitors present were envying the crews, sweating in their black overalls and reproduction uniforms inside the tanks rumbling around the dry and very dusty arena.
Those crews also probably got a real taste of what it was like to drive these machines in desert or tropical conditions back in the day.
Having said that, what a magnificent show they put on for the assembled crowd of tank fans, with Tankfest tickets to both Saturday and Sunday being fully sold out. A truly international display of tanks and military machinery was put through its paces, many from the museum’s own collection, and some, like the French Char B1, making its first appearance on British soil. It was brought over especially from the Musée des Blindés, de Saumur, in France, and accompanied by the diminutive World War One Renault FT-17 and TSF, both recently restored by the Wea…
