Tankfest 2006!

Armchair General

And finally, we reached what was to become one of the highlights of the day – Tiger 131 slowly reversed out of her parking space and commenced her tour of the arena. In fact, things had been looking a bit dicey only an hour before. Having been informed by a representative of the Museum that one of the cooling fans had broken, it was touch and go as to whether the Tiger would be running on the day. Thankfully, the part of the engine that had broken wasn’t significant enough to prevent a tour of the arena.

With the rain spattering off the massive glacis plate at the front of the vehicle, it was a truly magnificent site to see this old lady moving under her old power.

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This is something that you will not see anywhere else in the entire world, a fully operational Tiger Mk I driving around…it was a moment to savour.

Alas, Tiger 131 only made one circuit, which was a pity, although I hung around for an extra hour or so after the end of the day’s displays to watch as the Museum staff started her up again to return her to the workshops for the evening.

The final picture here was taken after most people had gone home, it was worth the wait to see the Tank moving again, if only for a few minutes.

Click here to see a video of the Tiger Tank in action (approx 1 minute long, 8.44 MB in size).

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