Tank Festival

Yes, we’ve been to a tank festival. I couldn’t believe there is such a thing, but it is so worth attending. I loved every minute of it. I shared pictures as I took them throughout the day instead of grouping them. This is a better reflection of how the day was. Given the opportunity, I would go there for the whole 3 days of the festival next time. The Tankfest was at the Tank Museum in Bovington, southern England.

This place is huge, so we saw the tanks in the museum, which is housed in two buildings. We went to see the historical part, where there were historical re-enactors talking about the experiences the soldiers had in the wars. It was fascinating to hear them talk. I could have stayed longer listening to them.

The museum is very big, which is to be expected considering the size of the equipment in it.

At the festival, as at any other one, there were food and drink stalls. We managed to find quite a few vegan options. We could hear the commentary and see the screen transmitting live from the arena.

The second part of the museum was so big and we saw half of it before going out to see the tanks, and then we returned for the second half of the museum. This is one of the exhibits that caught our eyes. The soldier was hit by a piece of glass, on the frontline, and he used that piece of glass for the engagement ring. It was such a lovely story.

Historical tanks could be seen for a short while, between representations. I liked walking around and seeing museum pieces that are still being used for shows.
Below is a single-man tank, an idea developed by the French during WWI. They were thinking of having these tanks attacking, instead of infantry. I have to admit this is a bold and interesting concept, something more akin to a sci-fi novel these days.

A Spitfire was part of the show, much to everyone’s delight.

The show included shells and explosions. It was spectacular. I enjoyed it very much.

Back to the museum we saw Leonardo da Vinci’s tank concept, above, before going to see all sorts of tanks, such as the one from the picture below.

There was a special exhibition, opened by Valerii Zaluzhnyi [four-star general who served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from 2021 to 2024, currently serving as the Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK].

One of my favourite pictures from the war. It is an old one, but so beautiful. This is a turret flown off a T-72 russian tank, similar to the one from the picture below. soviet tanks, like the T-72 have the ammo stored where the crew is, meaning that even if a small drone enters the tank, the ammo will cook off and there will be a catastrophic explosion, with turrets being tossed dozens of meters into the air. The western tanks are designed to protect the crew, meaning the ammo is in its own compartment.

A spent NLAW, particularly suitable to be displayed in the UK, and drones. The drone on the left is an FPV single-use one, the one in the middle is a reconnaissance drone, and the one of the right is dropping stuff, mainly 3D printed bombs like the one in the picture or other stuff for soldiers – water, food, medicine. It’s much safer for everybody to drop supplies like that instead of sending a person.

This is a Challenger 2 tank with a cope cage on top. That cage protects against drones.

A flag from Mariupol, one of the few possessions a lady fleeing the city took with her. She wants to fly the flag again, after the war is over.

On 29 July 2022 the Olenivka prison massacre happened. Hundreds of POWs were kept in a building which was shelled by the russians. Over 50 soldiers died and over 100 were injured. This is a war crime and international bodies have said that they will ensure the Ukrainian POWs will receive the treatment they are entitled to by the Genera Convention.

I loved watching a military pontoon bridge expanding. I find this kind of equipment really interesting.

The event ended with a parade of British military equipment currently in use. It was a treat.