The Tank Museum is celebrating yet another successful TANKFEST, as the 2024 iteration of the event saw over 24,000 visitors from across the world attend. The three-day spectacle, which regularly features lectures, live arena displays and appearances by several historical armored vehicles, was considered an all-out success by organizers.
As with previous years, TANKFEST 2024 saw a host of historic vehicles make an appearance, the most notable being a Cold War-era FV4005. The “largest gun ever fitted to a tank,” the prototype, developed for the British Army, saw an 183 mm gun attached to the hull of a Centurion tank.
While military officials had intended to mass-develop the FV4005 for use in combat, the vehicle was almost immediately proven to be outdated, thanks largely in part to the advent of guided missiles. This, paired with other notable inadequacies – the low rate of fire and the susceptibility of its High Explosive Squash Head (HESH) ammunition to crosswinds – resulted in further work on the FV4005 being canceled in August 1957.
Along with the FV4005, attendees also got to witness the public debut of the Ajax, the latest armored vehicle developed for use by the British Army.
Speaking about TANKFEST 2024 in a press release, Tom Holmes, the Tank Museum’s events manager, said:
“TANKFEST has sold out every year since 2016, and this is down to the team that innovates the programme every year to offer an incredible line-up of vehicles, our sponsors, and the tank fans who support the event.
“It was incredible to see and hear how the crowds responded to the debut of the FV4005, and we are already making exciting plans for 2025 with a new project to revive the M47.”
The M47 in question was acquired by the Tank Museum in 1987, when it was retired from use with the Italian Army. The aim is to raise £50,000 to restore the tank, named for American Gen. George S. Patton, back to its former glory.
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TANKFEST is next slated to take place from June 27-29, 2025.