warhammer, wh40k, flames of war, bolt action, aeronautica imperialis, star wars, models, news, views and stuff
The GMC CCKW, also known as “Jimmy” was a highly successful series of off-road capable, 21⁄2-ton, 6×6 trucks, built in large numbers to a standardised design (from 1941 to 1945) for the U.S. Army, that saw heavy service, predominantly as cargo trucks, in both World War II and the Korean War.
The Tank Museum’s Australian Army Leopard AS1 Tank was on display at Talkfest 26.
The Leopard AS1 was a custom-modified variant of the West German-designed Leopard 1 main battle tank, brought into Australian Army service in 1977 to replace the aging Centurion fleet. First entering original service in 1965, the brilliantly engineered Leopard marked a fundamental shift away from WWII-era heavy armour, prioritising cross-country speed, agility, and high mobility alongside a powerful 105mm L7 rifled gun—a combination that made it an immense success on the international export market. Australia’s bespoke version, designated AS1 (using the NATO country code ‘AS’ for Australia), incorporated localised adaptations, including advanced SABCA fire-control systems, tropicalisation kits for heat management, tailored air filtration, and specialised storage for long-range operations in harsh environments. Although the Leopard AS1 never saw active combat during its three decades of operation, it served as the core armoured punch of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps until its official retirement in 2007, when it was succeeded by the American-built M1A1 Abrams.
The Willys MB and the Ford GPW, both formally called the U.S. Army Truck, 1⁄4-ton, 4×4, Command Reconnaissance, commonly known as the Jeep. This one was at Tankfest26.
The Vehicle Conservation Centre at The Tank Museum in Bovington is a purpose-built, 4,000-square-metre facility designed to preserve, restore, and house the museum’s reserve collection of armoured fighting vehicles.
I was pleased to be able to view the Vehicle Conservation Centre during Tankfest 26
Opened in 2009, the climate-controlled building moved over a hundred historically significant tanks and armoured cars indoors, protecting rare prototypes, secondary variants, and unrestored machinery from environmental deterioration. Beyond serving as a state-of-the-art workshop where skilled engineers and conservation specialists undertake painstaking repair and maintenance work, the Vehicle Conservation Centre features a public viewing balcony that allows visitors an overview of the reserve fleet and active restoration projects below, offering a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes engineering required to maintain the world’s finest collection of military armour.
This Panzer III was in the arena at Tankfest 26 at Bovington.
The Panzerkampfwagen III, commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Germany, and was used extensively in World War II. The official German ordnance designation was Sd.Kfz. 141. It was intended to fight other armoured fighting vehicles and serve alongside and support similar Panzer IV which was originally designed for infantry support.
However, as the Germans faced the formidable T-34, more powerful anti-tank guns were needed, and since the Panzer IV had more development potential with a larger turret ring, it was redesigned to mount the long-barrelled 7.5 cm KwK 40 gun.
The Panzer III effectively swapped roles with the Panzer IV, as from 1942 the last version of Panzer III mounted the 7.5 cm KwK 37 L/24 that was better suited for infantry support.
Production of the Panzer III ceased in 1943. Nevertheless, the Panzer III’s capable chassis provided hulls for the Sturmgeschütz III assault gun until the end of the war.
The Tank Museum’s Churchill VI Infantry Tank in the Conservation Shed.
The Churchill Mark VI was a crucial mid-war enhancement to the British infantry tank lineage, introduced in late 1943 to resolve the multi-role limitations of its predecessors. While earlier marks like the Mark III and IV carried the anti-tank dedicated 6-pounder gun—which lacked an effective high-explosive shell for infantry support—the Mark VI was built from the outset with the British Ordnance QF 75mm gun. This dual-purpose armament allowed crews to effectively engage soft targets, anti-tank gun positions, and fortified strongpoints alongside enemy armour. Retaining the composite welded-and-cast welded turret design and heavy hull armour of the late-production Mark IV, the Mark VI offered a valuable, standardised upgrade that saw extensive service during the Normandy Campaign and the subsequent push across Western Europe. Although eventually overshadowed by the heavily up-armoured, purpose-built “Heavy Churchill” Mark VII, the Mark VI served as a vital bridge in British tactical doctrine by providing infantry formations with versatile, heavy direct-fire support when it was needed most.
The FV 4005 Stage 2 driving in the arena at Tankfest 26.
An experimental tank destroyer with a 7.2-inch mm gun L4, which was a modified version of the BL 7.2-inch howitzer. It’s not only a huge gun, but also a huge turret. However as a SPG artillery piece, this isn’t too critical, no need to be hull down on a hill ridge. The project started in 1951/52, and developed in July 1955. It used a lightly armoured, fully enclosed and traversable turret on a Centurion hull. The project was abandoned in 1957.
I had seen it before when it was a gate guardian to the museum. Since that visit it was restored to full running order.
This Sd.Kfz. 222 was driving around the arena at Tankfest 26.
The Sonderkraftfahrzeug 222 (Sd.Kfz. 222), officially designated as the Leichter Panzerspähwagen (2 cm), was the primary light four-wheeled armored reconnaissance car used by the German Wehrmacht during World War II. Built on a heavy-duty Horch 801 chassis featuring four-wheel drive and all-wheel steering, the compact vehicle was designed for speed, agility, and cross-country mobility to perform scouting duties ahead of mechanized panzer divisions. Its open-topped, ten-sided polygonal turret was fitted with a wire-mesh anti-grenade screen and mounted a 2 cm KwK 30 (later KwK 38) autocannon alongside a coaxial 7.92mm MG 34 machine gun, providing surprisingly formidable firepower against light vehicles, infantry, and low-flying aircraft. First deployed during the invasions of Poland and France, the Sd.Kfz. 222 excelled on Western Europe’s developed road networks and saw widespread action with the Afrika Korps in North Africa. However, its operational limitations became starkly apparent on the Eastern Front, where the Soviet Union’s severe rasputitsa mud and harsh winters severely hampered four-wheeled off-road mobility, leading to its gradual replacement by eight-wheeled armored cars and half-tracks like the Sd.Kfz. 250/9.
The Sd.Kfz. 265 Panzerbefehlswagen (light armoured command vehicle) was a German Army’s first purpose-designed armoured command vehicle; a type of armoured fighting vehicle designed to provide a tank unit commander with mobility and communications on the battlefield. A development of the Army’s first mass-produced tank, the Panzer I Ausf. A, the Sd. Kfz. 265 saw considerable action during the early years of the war, serving in Panzer units through 1942 and with other formations until late in the war.
This rare Sd.Kfz. 265 Panzerbefehlswagen is on display at Bovington.
The Sd. Kfz. 265 was based on the Panzer I Ausf. A chassis, but it had its turret removed and replaced with a superstructure that housed additional radios and other communications equipment. The superstructure was located at the rear of the vehicle, and it was designed to provide the commander with a good view of the battlefield. The Sd. Kfz. 265 was also equipped with a single 7.92mm machine gun, which was mounted in the hull.
The Sd. Kfz. 265 was crewed by three men: the commander, the driver, and the radio operator. The commander was responsible for directing the unit’s movements and for communicating with other units. The driver was responsible for driving the vehicle, and the radio operator was responsible for operating the vehicle’s communications equipment.
The Sd. Kfz. 265 was a relatively simple and inexpensive vehicle to produce, and it was well-suited for its intended role as a command tank. It was reliable and easy to maintain, and it had good mobility and range. However, it was lightly armoured and lightly armed, and it was not suitable for combat.
The Panzer I Command Tank was first used in combat during the Spanish Civil War, and it saw extensive use during the early years of World War II. It was eventually replaced by more capable command tanks, such as the Panzer III Command Tank, but it remained in service until the end of the war.
I didn’t know until some years ago that the German tanks in 1940 were painted grey and brown, I had always thought they were just grey. I personally blame Matchbox for this.
It was only after Blitzkrieg was released back in 2010 by Battlefront that I noticed the grey and brown camouflage scheme.
As recently as ten years ago the overwhelming consensus regarding early war German AFV paint schemes was that they were all painted in uniform overall panzer grey (Dunkelgrau – RAL 7021 – formerly RAL 46). However, in 2002 Tom Jentz and Hilary Doyle published an article based on primary sources stating all German vehicles at the beginning of World War II were painted in a two tone camouflage scheme of panzer grey with one third of the vehicle painted in a disruptive pattern of dark brown (Dunkelbraun – RAL 7017 – formerly RAL 45). The order to move to an overall panzer grey scheme was not signed until the end of July 1940.
This Stug III was running at the Tank Museum’s Tankfest 26.
The ‘Black Sea’ Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) Ausf. G refers to a historically significant MIAG-assembled assault gun (chassis number 95825) that boasts a unique and documented wartime provenance. Manufactured in October 1943, the vehicle was destined to bolster the 191st Sturmgeschütz Brigade on the Crimean Peninsula but never saw combat. In November 1943, while being transported across the Black Sea aboard the German cargo steamer Santa Fé, the ship was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine and sank off the coast of Sevastopol, taking its entire cargo of armoured vehicles to the seabed. Following its discovery and recovery by divers in the late 1990s, the vehicle was acquired and meticulously restored to operational condition by The Weald Foundation. Notably, despite being built at the MIAG factory, this survivor features a cast Topfblende (sow’s head) gun mantlet—a combination previously assumed to belong strictly to Alkett-built production runs. To preserve its exact historical state at the moment of its loss, the vehicle remains finished solely in its factory-applied Dunkelgelb base coat without any camouflage or unit insignia, standing as one of the rarest fully documented StuG III Ausf. G survivors in existence.