Hi,

I'm thinking of going down to the Bovington Tank Museum in the next couple of months. As it is such a long drive from Newcastle upon Tyne, I was thinking of taking in a couple more on the way down or coming back. Can anyone recommend any museums for me to visit? My preferences are for AFV's and/or WWII planes.

Any advise would be helpful.

Cheers

George

If you didn't mind a drive eastwards along the coast from Bovi there's a good museum at Tangmere.

Imperial war Museum North in Manchester (?). Or how about Duxford, lots of both AFVs & aircraft there as it is the IWM reserve collection?

There's loads. I strongly recommend the De Havilland museum at M25 London Colney (2 x Mosquitoes inc W4050 - the prototype, if its quiet, they'll open them up for you)), RAF Museum at Hendon, Imperial War museum in London, Fleet Air Arm museum RNAS Yeovilton near Yeovil, Army Air Corps museum at Middle Wallop, Helicopter museum at Weston Super Mud... sorry Mare, Royal Signals museum at Blandford. There's a few to start you. FAA museum, AAC museum and Blandford museum are all a short drive from the area of Bovy Camp (An hour or so across Salisbury Plain (where the tanks & helis play... sorry.... train. Also, try and get to one of the range days at Gallows Hill. These are the tank training areas for Bovington and they put on a superb show. Details are usually available at the museum. There are shows most summer saturdays I think. Hope this helps

Try ....THE REME MUSEUM of TECHNOLOGY ...at Arborfield ......12 miles south of Reading...Recovery vehicles and the history of REME....HIGHLY RECOMMENDED....M32 ex KOSOVO .....used to hang out here when I had free time.........vehicle section at BORDON is only by appoint ment as it is in the camp(speak to LT COL CLEASBY MBE---a friend .....see---http://www.rememuseum.org.uk/Iindex.htm).....12 miles south of ALDERSHOT -------AIRBORNE MUSEUM ..complete with "Dakota"-----------If you require further help p-m or e-m me ..... I spent 20 years in and around the museums due to my job ARBORFIELD
BORDON
aye
BARV
PS......extra little light on CHALLY is easter egg--------egg hunt on that day SAC

You want to drive down for the day, and take in a few more on the way? Are you an American tourist? :-) :-) :-) .
But seriously, some good suggestions have been given, my bit of (possibly ) helpful info would be to make it a weekend, get a B&B in the area, and do them at your leisure. I have lived about 35 / 40 miles North of Bovington for the last three years or so, and must admit that I have not had the change to go there yet. . But I will... I can recommend the area for a short ( or indeed longer ) stay anyway, as quite apart from the museums, the countryside and other sites ( such as Castles, pre-historic sites etc. etc, ) are well worth a visit.
If you are coming down, drop us a line, and we might be able to meet up on a trip to Bovington.. you know, a burden shared is a burden halved..

Cheers
Henk

Thanks for all the advice. If the wife will let me go I'll try a visit a few of the suggestions. I've got a good range to choose from - Cheers

Henke - the plan is to spend a couple of days travelling down. I'd be a wreck - in more ways than one - if i try to do it in a day!

Thanks again - and keep the suggestions coming.

George

I don't think you'll manage to all of Bovington in a day, I was tanked-out after 4 hours, it's a bit like the British Museum. Specially if there's a display on outside the museum - it was a Chieftain, Sherman and Jagdpanzer when I went., that was another hour gone..

Went down there while I working at Chichester (near Portsmouth) and it seemed like an odyssey to get to Bovington. Couldn't imagine doing it from Newcastle! Since then I've had my horizons expanded by working in France, where we had to drive for 3 hours to get anywhere at all.

Hi- I took No.1 Son there last year, and we stayed at The Frampton Arms pub which was at one time the local for Warmwell airfield, so the bar is full of pics and info from Whirlwind and Typhoon squadrons based there, plus it's about 10mins from Bovington museum.
I don't know if you have anywhere to stay sorted yet, but if not here's the blurb off t'internet (which, I might add took ages to find coz I forgot what the pub was called!)

MORETON (nr Dorchester)
The Frampton Arms, on B3390 between Bere Regis & Warmwell. Tel: 01305 852253. Fax: 01305 854586. Opposite Moreton railway station. Traditional village inn. Two restaurants (non smoking) renown for good food. Sunday roast. Function room. Skittles. Accommodation. Ample car parking.

Hope that helps.

When you're down that way you MUST go to Cerne Abbas to see the big fella!
MC

Once you've done that, there's Maiden Castle (a huge hillfort just outside Dorchester) I would not want to be the Roman legionary told to 'take that hill'

And for those with non tank obsessed partners, it's also Thomas Hardy country, the manor house next to Wool bridge is where Tess of the D'urbervilles spent her wedding night, Dorchester is Casterbridge etc.

Hi George,

If you don't mind stopping en route there's a good aircraft museum just outside York, the Yorkshire Air Museum. Slightly further afield is the Eden Camp near Malton. Both are excellent places to visit.

Also on route is the Royal Armouries in Leeds, which has to have the best collection of small arms on display that I've ever come across, from every era and from every part of the world, including the first prototype Maxim machine gun. particularly good collections of Napoleonic, WWI, WWII but as mentioned, items from every era can be viewed. (free entry too, as it is a national museum).

I highly recomend Duxfrord. It also includes the Americain Air Museam in Britain which has a B-17, B-29 and a B-52!, plus many other americain planes. There is also a small tank museam on the airfield, but it is very good. They also have air-shows at duxford, which are quite good.

cheers

Philip

The obvious thing to do would be to make it a holiday of a few days. I assume you are driving?
Day 1 / Day 2 you have some good choices about 1/3 of the way to Bovington: Eden Camp , the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington (just East of York, not far far from the A1) and, of course The Royal Armouries in Leeds.

You've another 6 hours or so driving from there to Bovington (I reckon, my uncle and I are making the trip from Leeds to Bovington a week on Friday (and planning to set off on Friday luchtime and stay in a hotel on Friday and Saturday nights so we have a full day at Bovington).

As you'll be heading south west from there, Hendon, Duxford & the Imperial War Museum will be quite a way off your route.

Anyway, enjoy your trip!

my girlfriend lives in Warrington and it's only a short drive to manchester from there, so I'm considering paying the Imperial War museum north a visit.

has anyone here been?? will it be worth it for having a look at some tanks and AFV?, in particular I'd like to see a sd.kfz 205 or similar, so if they had one I'd be on my way monday.

hey thanks for the input ! lovely wigan ay, that's where my girlfriend is from originally !!!

WIGGIN as she insists I call it !


Thanks for the heads up on the lack of hardware. I'd be truly gutted if they lacked any hardwear whatsoever but I suppose it's not like WW2 tanks are popping up all over the place is it.

I might go anyway just to see. It's only up the road and they're bound to have something I can use somewhere as reference. even if it's only textures or some photos I can take snaps of with my digital camera.

I can upload the pics from the visit for everyone if it was wanted.


oh and Derek - less mentions of the shopping mall please !! You wouldn't want me and my wallet dragged round there by a woman surely !!!!!

There wasn't a lot of hardware there, but there was one little beauty - a Russian T34





Plus, if you roamed around, there were plenty of Enfields, a Bren, a collection of Stens, various grenades and knives, shells, bombs, bullet casings, a soviet radio!! (cool!) and certainly enough to keep us WW2 fans happy !





I would definitely stop by if you get chance!! I was more than pleasantly surprised, it's free admission and it was a great day out !


---

I have a fair few pics of the T34 if any soviet armour buffs want them?

Hi all, I'm just going to add my tuppence worth. I must highly recommend Duxford, it is a living museum.

While having its fair share of static exhibits it also boasts an active airfield and is the home of The Fighter Collection, a collection of WWII and post WWII aircraft all lovingly maintained in flying condition (you can see them all being worked on in Hangar 2). I don't remember the last time I went there when there wasn't a Spitfire or suchlike flying.

I must also mention the TSR.2 restoration project which is ongoing and open to view.

Don't forget to visit the Land Warfare Museum which is at the end of the Airfield. It really is exceptional, with a large collection of different Tanks from all ages and some exellent exhibits on D Day and Monty.

Duxford will take a full day by itself. Entrance fee is £12 for adults and it's located next to Junction 10 of the M11.

By the way I'm planning a museum crawl over the summer myself with the Fleet Air Arm and Tank Museum taking top billing.

Phil

:-) I think you should leave what you and Uncle Joe get up to off the boards !!

hehehe no seriously though mate the museum was very surprising !! I literally ran over to the T34, jaw wide open, wishing oh just WISHING I could get inside for a look.

The lighting was awkward to photograph in and there was no raised platform to photograph from so turret and rear engine covers etc details are scant.

Christ I want his job a LOT more than I want mine!!

I was never really into Russian stuff until I saw that T34 in the flesh, now I'm planning on making one for my next dio

I'm sure theres a lot of people on here who'd love to see those pics mate, and I'm one of them!!

Thanks to all who replied to my original question. Unfortunately, due to a family illness and a new kitten! my holidays this year were totally disrupted. I was unable to get down to Bovington - again! I did though get to the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington. Had a great 3 hours touing the site. Unfortunately I was unable to see inside the Halifax - pre booking is required! Otherwise I would recommend this museum to others.

Thanks to those who recommended it to me, otherwise I would have missed this little gem.

I'll have to try the other museums that you have recommended as soon as I can.

Cheers

George