Day Out At The Muckleburgh Collection

At Christmas my son and I decided it would be a good idea to take my grandson to a tank museum as he is tank mad. I have no idea where this comes from, say he smiling. A check on the internet found the opening date and we decided to go on the Monday of the half term holiday. The day arrived, cold and wet, but the youngest member of the party was full of beans and expectant for what the day would bring. The journey went very quickly with not too many “are we there yet granddad”?

Arriving at the site you are greeted by a Churchill tank on its base in a nicely mown field. We followed the signs down the road to the car park and noticed on the way that the main building had been enlarged with workmen still working on the outside. From the car park we walked back to the entrance going up a ramp to the main door. Inside we are greeted by a mannequin dressed as a guardsman who stands near the pay desk.

The collection is divided up into sections and one starts with a collection of army cap badges, a lot of which no longer exist in the present day army. In this hall are the Suffolk and Norfolk yeomanry exhibits as well as weapons, bayonets and some memorabilia from Nazi Germany. Of interest was a display of models of RAF air sea rescue boats in various scales.

The next is the artillery hall which houses some very nice pieces including a first world war gun, a British 25lb gun, limber and towing vehicle, 6 lb anti tank gun, a 2 lb anti tank gun and others which all appear in pretty good shape.

Following the arrows leads us into the RAF reconnaissance and then onto the Tank hall. In here you will find a Centurion, Chieftain, Pz61 and a M47 Patton and also in this hall were some wheeled vehicles including an amphibious jeep.

Moving on we come to the Tank transport and recovery hall with some very large wheeled vehicles. You then continue back across the artillery hall to the armoured car hall which houses vehicles from Britain, USA, Germany and the Soviet Union.
We got to this point and decided to have a coffee as it was cold outside and in but a steaming pot mug of coffee fixed that. Lucky that the toilet was near as age, cold and liquid had a pronounced effect on the older member of the team.

When we had parked the car the younger member had spotted a three tonner fitted out for rides around the camp and as a tanoy message announced the first trip of the day we had to go and try it out. After getting the tickets we climbed the steps and were shown to seats and strapped in as this was going to be rough. As we started off we were on the leeward side and it wasn’t too bad but as we progressed and turn to go along the beach, we got the full force of the cold wind straight off the North Sea. On the first leg we had passed a T-55 which is one of the sixteen working tanks at the museum and can be used for tank driving by any one who would like to experience the thrill and power of such a machine.

After this chilling ride we decided to have a hot lunch which turned out to be very good and very reasonably priced.

We then took a look outside at the Harrier, meteor, V1 on a section of ramp and the artillery pieces alongside the road. A short distance away is a ground radar installation which had a long wheelbase Landover parked near it painted in desert colours. Further back down the road is the compound with vehicles and guns awaiting restoration and their looked to be some interesting ones under wraps.

The museum has a very good collection of models both aircraft and vehicles which is well worth a look at.

We walked on round the displays and then made our way back to the shop and purchased a few books, kits and toys before heading for the car and the return home.

This was a great day out with three generations of the family having a boy’s day out and looking forward to the next one. This is a very nice museum with a varied collection which is well worth a visit and deserves support.

http://www.muckleburgh.co.uk/home.htm

Bill C.