The Tank Museum: Difference between revisions

| logo = The Tank Museum.png

| map_caption = Location of Thethe Tank Museum within Dorset

| website = [http{{URL|https://www.tankmuseum.org www.tankmuseum.org]}}

'''The Tank Museum''' (previously the '''The Bovington Tank Museum''') is a collection of [[armoured fighting vehicles]] at [[Bovington Camp]] in [[Dorset]], [[South West England]]. It is about {{convert|1|mi}} north of the village of [[Wool, Dorset|Wool]] and {{convert|12|mi}} west of the major port of [[Poole]]. The collection traces the [[history of the tank]]. With almost 300 vehicles on exhibition from 26 countries it is the largest collection of [[tank]]s and the third largest collection of armoured vehicles in the world.<ref group="Note">The ''[[Musée des Blindés]]'' in France has a collection of 880 armoured vehicles, although it includes fewer tanks than Bovington.</ref> It includes [[Tiger 131]], the only working example of a German [[Tiger I]] tank, and a British First World War [[Mark I tank|Mark I]], the world's oldest surviving combat tank. It is the museum of the [[Royal Tank Regiment]] and the [[Royal Armoured Corps]] and is a [[charitable organization|registered charity]].<ref>{{EW charity|1102661|The Tank Museum Limited}}</ref>

The writer [[Rudyard Kipling]] visited Bovington in 1923 and, after viewing the damaged tanks that had been salvaged at the end of the [[World War I|First World War]], recommended that a museum should be set up.<ref name="history">{{cite web |title=Museum History |url=http://www.tankmuseum.org/about-us/history |website=The Tank Museum |access-date=27 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180610054946/http://www.tankmuseum.org/about-us/history |archive-date=10 June 2018}}</ref> Accordingly, aA shed was established to house the collection but was not opened to the general public until 1947.<ref name=history/>

The museum established its own [[YouTube|YouTube channel]] to teach about the tanks in January 2010.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChl-XKVVBAzoEVsnbOfpcqw|title=Tank Museum|website=YouTube|language=en|access-date=2018-01-09}}</ref> Early episodes were largely one-take affairs of museum staff talking about specific tanks in the collection and their role in history, with notable series led by Fletcher called "Tank Chats." The channel has more [[YouTube]] subscribers than famous museums such as [[MoMA]], the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], and the [[Louvre]]; and has gained over 100 million views across its videos by April 2023, the first museum channel to hit such a milestone. With this success, the museum has allocated more resources toward its later videos, making documentary-style videos produced by multiple staff members.<ref>{{citeCite newsweb |last=Marshall |first=Alex |date=12 September 2023 |title=This Museum Has 300 Tanks and Over 100 Million YouTube Views |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/arts/design/tank-museum-youtube.html |first=Alex |last=Marshall |date=12 September 2023 |access-date=13 September 2023 |newspaperwebsite=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2023/04/tank-museum-becomes-first-museum-to-hit-100-million-views-on-youtube/ |title=Tank Museum becomes first museum to hit 100 million views on YouTube |date=21 April 2023 |access-date=13 September 2023 |first=Gaelle |last=Biguenet }}</ref>

As well as containing the majority of the museum's World War I tanks thisthe hall tells the story of the men who crewed the first tanks between 1916 and 1918.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tankmuseum.org/whats-on/exhibitions/bovexb53421|title=Tank Men|publisher=The Tank Museum|access-date=10 June 2018}}</ref>

This hall now explores the rise of the tank and the role of the cavalry on the Western Front.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tankmuseum.org/whats-on/exhibitions/bovexb38200|title=War Horse to Horsepower|publisher=The Tank Museum|access-date=10 June 2018}}</ref>

*Featured tanksvehicles: [[Vickers A1E1 Independent]], [[Peerless armoured car]] & Vickers Light tank, Mark II.

[[File:Tanks in Popular Culture Exhibition.png|alt=Two tanks|thumb|upright=1.3|Tanks in Popular Culture Exhibition. ]]

This hall displays the largest section, with tanksmilitary vehicles from most nations involved in that conflict.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tankmuseum.org/whats-on/exhibitions/bovexb37892|title=Second World War|publisher=The Tank Museum|access-date=10 June 2018}}</ref>

*Featured tanksvehicles: [[Panzer I]], [[Panzer III|III]], [[Panzer IV|IV]], [[Stug III]], [[Tiger II]], [[Hetzer|Jagdpanzer 38(t)]], [[Jagdpanther]], [[Jagdtiger]], [[Sd.Kfz. 251]], [[Somua S35]], [[Comet tank|Comet I]], [[Matilda Mk I]], [[Valiant tank|A38 Valiant]], [[Ram tank|Ram Cruiser Mk II]], [[M24 Chaffee]], [[M4 Sherman]], [[17pdr SP Achilles]], [[M48 Patton]], [[M26 Pershing]], [[T17E1 Staghound]], [[General Aircraft Hamilcar|Hamilcar]] glider, [[DUKW]], [[SU-76]], [[T-26]], [[Kliment Voroshilov tank|KV-1]], [[L3/33|L3/33 LF]], [[M13/40]], [[Tortoise tank|Tortoise]], [[Black Prince (tank)|Black Prince]].

[[File:RAC Memorial Room.png|thumb|upright=1.3|RAC Memorial Room ]]

* Featured Tanks: [[TOG2|Tog II]], [[Chieftain (tank)|Chieftain]], [[Centurion (tank)|Centurion]], [https://tankmuseum.org/tank-nuts/tank-collection/bulldog Bulldog]

New for 2023, “Tanks for the Memories: The Tank in Popular Culture”, was created for the 100th anniversary of Thethe Tank Museum,. It is an exhibition looking at how the tank has become a cultural icon through the manufacture of multiple toys, games, models, and the production of works of art, books, comics, video games and films.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/23678096.new-activities-offer-tank-museum-dorset/|title=New activities on offer at The Tank Museum in Dorset|date=26 July 2023|newspaper=Dorset Echo|access-date=17 October 2023}}</ref>

This hall holds some of the most important tanks and AFVs in history, with a supporting collection housed in a multimedia exhibition. It follows the story of the tank, from its invention in 1915 through the 20th century and into the future.:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tankmuseum.org/whats-on/exhibitions/bovexb37889|title=The Tank Story|publisher=The Tank Museum|access-date=10 June 2018}}</ref>

The Memorial Room was created in partnership with Thethe [[Royal Armoured Corps]] Memorial Trust, and commemorates the sacrifice of almost 13,000 Royal Armoured Corps soldiers who have died in service since the Corps was founded in 1939. The Memorial Room houses the Books of Remembrance, a digitised and searchable version of the Roll of Honour, and videos about those who fought in the RAC.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/253690|title= Royal Armoured Corps Memorial Room and Roll of Honour|publisher=The Tank Museum|access-date=17 October 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Bovington Vehicle Conservation Centre.JPG|thumb|upright=1.35|right|The interior of the Vehicle Conservation Centre]]

The Vehicle Conservation Centre provides cover for more of the collection and puts on view vehicles that had previously not been seen by the public.:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tankmuseum.org/whats-on/exhibitions/bovexb37895|title=The Vehicle Conservation Centre|publisher=The Tank Museum|access-date=10 June 2018}}</ref>

*Featured tanks: [[Charioteer tank|Charioteer]], [[M41 Walker Bulldog|M41 Bulldog]], [[M103 heavy tank|M103]], [[M60 Patton]], [[T-54]], Cold War and Iraqi [[T-55]]s, [[BMP-1]], [[AMX-30]], [[Type 69/79|Type 69]], [[Infanterikanonvagn 91]], [[Excelsior tank|A33 Excelsior]], [[T14 Heavyheavy Tanktank|T14]] and [[SU-100]].