"Tiger II now at Ft Benning" Topic
20 Posts
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Wolfhag | 17 Oct 2021 8:04 a.m. PST |
Here, Tiger II "332" arrives at the Training Support Facility at Ft. Benning, GA by way of HET, tug, and Herc! See some of the process involved in the historic move YouTube link Wolfhag |
Oddball | 17 Oct 2021 8:11 a.m. PST |
I have contributed to and been waiting for an armored museum along the lines of Bovington to be opened since I was 10. The US has a wonderful collection of both rare American vehicles and many "only one left in world" captured enemy vehicles. All sitting in a warehouse like the ending to the first Indiana Jones. The infantry museum at Fort Benning or whatever it is called now is great, just need to see the armor restored and displayed. I only got on average about another 25 – 30 years, the curator in the video Rob Cogan was born AFTER I'd been kick'n in donations for this yet to be build museum, so…….get it built Lets go Army. |
14Bore | 17 Oct 2021 10:26 a.m. PST |
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Wackmole9 | 17 Oct 2021 10:36 a.m. PST |
It strange we can get $$$$ for a Huge Air force museum, a wonderful Marine Museum, US Infantry museum, and a soon to be built Navy Museum. but we can't even get the Armor Museum open to the public. |
Korvessa | 17 Oct 2021 10:52 a.m. PST |
About 35years ago I visited Aberdeen Proving Grounds and they had a bunch of cool WWII tanks. Is it still there? |
evbates | 17 Oct 2021 11:41 a.m. PST |
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The Virtual Armchair General | 17 Oct 2021 11:48 a.m. PST |
Wow. That is some beast. I've seen other videos of other Tiger II's in Europe, but they never cease to impress. Now, I know, as we all do, that these Tigers, of both marks, were great monstrosities which ultimately represented a waste of production capacity for far greater numbers of Panthers and other vehicles. According to their own records, rarely more than half the available numbers of Tigers in a unit were capable of operations on any given day due to mechanical failures. And yet…. Is it possible we sometimes overlook the sheer size and power of intimidation just encountering one could cause upon an enemy? Was the Tigers' reputation (deserved or not) sufficiently great enough to degrade enemy effectiveness in a real, if unmeasurable, way? Or, to paraphrase Bonaparte, was the weight of a Tiger II worth three times itself against the morale of the enemy? Since these super-tanks did not--could not--win the war for Germany, clearly they were not worth their cost, but as gamers who play primarily at the tactical level of war, perhaps even just the appearance of such an apparition on our table tops should constitute a negative to those encountering one? TVAG |
Dan Cyr | 17 Oct 2021 12:20 p.m. PST |
If it was broken down or in the shop for repairs, drank 3-4 amount of gas, struggled on rough ground and could not find many bridges that could hold its weight, no. It was a strictly defensive weapon, long range gun, armor up front, slow, but if the Germans could have built 5-6 StuG III, PzJag IV or Pz IV for the effort and resources of one, then those defensive weapons would have been much more valuable. Nice target for artillery, Typhoons and Thunderbolts though. |
machinehead | 17 Oct 2021 12:36 p.m. PST |
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Wolfhag | 17 Oct 2021 2:09 p.m. PST |
The American Heritage has many vehicles from the Littlefield Collection. The Marine Corps Museum is a mostly private venture. Nothing is stopping private citizens from funding a 501c3 for an armor museum. There is also a nice one in Wyoming: nmmv.org Wolfhag |
Blutarski | 17 Oct 2021 7:06 p.m. PST |
Does anyone know what happened to the museum known as the International Museum of WW2 in Natick MA? AIUI, the collection was bought for USD 25M back in 2018 by a member of the Estee Lauder cosmetics family who expressed intentions to move the collection to a place offering wider/easier public access. Visited there several times back in the day and it housed quite an interesting collection of artifacts, documents, weapons, uniforms and other ephemera. It was located in an unmarked building in an anonymous commercial/industrial area of Natick MA. No signage whatsoever. The only way you knew you were in the correct place was the pair of 16-inch naval projectiles fl;anking the front door entry and an original Higgins Boat stowed in the back lot. B |
Wackmole9 | 17 Oct 2021 7:08 p.m. PST |
2nd wolfhag on the WY Museum. The problem I have with the current set-up is, We paid for the new storage buildings and the Armor train Center pays for the upkeep( also our Money) Why can't it be open to the public once a month. I real can't see the benefit to cost to have young army armor officers look at outdate tanks. |
Oddball | 18 Oct 2021 5:36 a.m. PST |
Blutarski, That was a great museum in Natick. At first you had be the guest of another who had already been to the museum. Only 8 people allowed in at a time. Real "private" collection thing. Once you had shown yourself to be a "gentleman", you were allowed to make an appointment to bring 3 of your friends in on a following tour. Seems the guy who had all this stuff was the personal lawyer for Gen. Patton's family (they lived in MA for some reason). I got to talk and have a gin and tonic with him (which really surprised me) after my second visit. Really cool guy, but he was older, so may have passed. When it was like that you could touch, hold and examine most of the items in the museum. I remember we did an experiment with squad automatic weapons. We tried out the MG-34/42, BAR, Bren and Soviet DP. Weight, carry and firing positions. Winner was the Bren, it just had a good balance, weight distribution and when you brought it up to fire, slid right into your shoulder. We also laid down of the floor to try out prone firing. That's were I also learned that Kubelwagons had keys to start them. Ya, got to sit in the vehicles also. Would love to know where that stuff went. |
Oddball | 18 Oct 2021 5:45 a.m. PST |
The American Heritage Museum listed above in photos is the GREATEST vehicle museum in North America. I am have been 1/2 dozen times, things are always changing. It is a place anyone with interest in military vehicles should attend. It is the best. Worth getting a hotel/motel room just to see this place. That good. They even got some of the tank turrets that move, kinda like Disney animatronics for history geeks. They offer rides in M4, M24 and other vehicles, most of their stuff is operational. Also have other buildings with vintage car collections from 1900 to 1930's, several Dosey's. And a third building on aircraft/Indy car racing. They are associated with Collings Foundation that does the flying museum of W.W. II / military aircraft that tragically suffered the crash of their B-17 in Conn. a few years ago. |
machinehead | 18 Oct 2021 8:47 a.m. PST |
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Wolfhag | 18 Oct 2021 9:45 a.m. PST |
International Museum of WW2 update: link link Wolfhag |
Major Mike | 18 Oct 2021 9:50 a.m. PST |
The Armor Museum fell between the cracks of a bill by Congress. Anything built or in the process of being built as a museum was grandfathered in the bill, so, like at Benning, you have a really nice Infantry Museum. Because they decided to move the Armor School to Benning, all the armor at Ft. Knox was to go too, even though there was a museum at Ft. Knox for the collection. Once at Benning, the new mandates from Congress took hold, the equipment was for the use by the military to show the development of Armor thru the ages not to be a museum for available to the public. It all languished in an exposed motorpool for years as slowly they were given small sums of money to "maintain" the equipment and eventually got a maintenance building to work on the vehicles and eventually build storage sheds (overhead cover) . Now they have a nice, large open bay facility to display many of the vehicles. They desire to open at least one day a month to the public. We shall see when that occurs. |
Ed Mohrmann | 18 Oct 2021 11:41 a.m. PST |
Down our way in Danville, Virginia (about 35 miles from me) is the Americqn Armor Foundation's museum. There's an extensive collection of military gear other than heavy ordnance and vehicles, especially small arms, infantry support weapons (MG's, Mortars, Flamethrowers, etc.) uniforms and equipment such as Range finders and other items. And tanks, half-tracks, LVT's and so forth. Oh yeah – a terrain setting over which periodically radio controlled model tanks will battle, usually once a month. aaftankmuseum.com |
Marc33594 | 18 Oct 2021 12:03 p.m. PST |
Been to the Danville one, took a friend of mine visiting from Australia there. Did it as a break of our tour of Civil War battlefields. Well worth a trip. |
Legion 4 | 24 Oct 2021 8:56 a.m. PST |
Yes, the Armor school is now at the same place as the Infantry school at Ft. Benning, GA is now more of a Combined Arms Center. As Infantry & Armor work very closely together in Modern mobile Combined Arms warfare/Air-Land Battle doctrine. When I was at Benning for Inf Ofc Basic & Adv courses, then later the 197th Mech Hvy Bde, etc., all back in the '80s. The Infantry Museum had a number of WWII AFVs as well as a few at the Infantry School, etc. Would have loved to see the AFVs from Knox, etc., there now. When I was ay Knox as an ROTC Cadet, seemed we didn't have the time, IIRC ? When an ROTC Cadet, we went to Aberdeen Proving Grounds and they had a huge number of WWII AFVs. As Korvessa as mentioned. They have been moved, I'm not sure where ? Hopefully to a good home(s). BTW, Benning's name will probably be changed to Ft. Moore after GEN Hal Moore, Mel Gibson played him in "We Were Soldiers". Moore is an excellent choice IMO. With a great career as a US Army Infantry Officer. they were given small sums of money to "maintain" the equipment and eventually got a maintenance building to work on the vehicles and eventually build storage sheds (overhead cover) . Very good to hear ! The US Gov't should had/have provided some $ for these pieces of history. To be maintained & displayed. AFAIK the gov't didn't ? But the gov't always has other priorities as usual. Besides remembering our history … |
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