Established | 1988 |
---|---|
Location | On the A149 coast road near Weybourne, Norfolk, United Kingdom |
Coordinates | 52°56′42″N1°07′50″E / 52.944925°N 1.130662°E Coordinates: 52°56′42″N1°07′50″E / 52.944925°N 1.130662°E |
Type | Military Museum |
Website | Muckleburgh Collection |
The Muckleburgh Collection is a military museum sited on a former military camp at Weybourne, on the North Norfolk coast, England. It was opened to the public in 1988 and is the largest privately owned military museum in the United Kingdom.
The museum is located on the site of the Second World War and post-war Weybourne Anti Aircraft Training Camp. Weybourne Camp is north west of the coastal village of Weybourne. The site, originally called Carvel Farm, was first used in 1935 by the Anti–Aircraft Division of the Territorial Army as a summer training camp. [1] In 1937 and as a result of the growing threat of war, it was decided to make the camp permanent and more fixed structures and defences were erected.
During the Second World War, the camp was surrounded by a perimeter anti-tank ditch and defended by a system of gun emplacements and barbed wire. The interior of the camp consisted of groups of Nissen huts, barracks and other military buildings. The cliff top to the north was covered by a line of heavy anti-aircraft guns and batteries, slit trenches and pillboxes. In 1941, the camp was visited by Winston Churchill, to view a demonstration of the Unrotated Projectile anti–aircraft weapon. [1]
As the war progressed, defences at Weybourne Camp became more complex and were altered regularly and significantly and a grass airstrip was laid out, which remains in use.
After the war, the camp became known as the AA permanent Range and Radar Training Wing [1] and gunnery training continued until 1958. The site still has a RAF radar receiving station and is the location of the University of East Anglia Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory and a Metrological Station.
When Weybourne Camp closed, the site returned to private ownership and many buildings that were beyond repair were demolished. [1]
The Muckleburgh Collection was founded by Squadron Leader Berry Savory and his son Michael Savory. At the time of the museum's opening in 1988, the principal display consisted of 30 vehicles and a small room describing the camp history. [1] The museum has expanded to include over 150 artillery pieces, tanks and other vehicles, most of which are in working order.
The Muckleburgh Collection is home to the Suffolk and Norfolk Yeomanry collection, [2] the North Norfolk Amateur Radio Group [3] and numerous special displays. The vehicles, museum site, and its unspoilt 300 acres (1.2 km2) has been used for television films, documentaries and dramas. [4]
The museum offers rides in a military vehicle and hosts "tank driving" in a FV432. Among the 25 working tanks are a Panzer P-68, a Chieftain and a Stuart M5A1, a Soviet T-55 and a Canadian-built Sherman.
The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) Churchill was a British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, its ability to climb steep slopes, and its use as the basis of many specialist vehicles. It was one of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war.
The Centurion was the primary British Army main battle tank of the post-World War II period. Introduced in 1945, it is widely considered to be one of the most successful post-War tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing combat into the 1980s. The chassis was adapted for several other roles, and these variants have remained in service. It was a very popular tank with good armour, mobility, and a powerful main armament.
The Comet tank or Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34) was a British cruiser tank that first saw use near the end of the Second World War, during the Western Allied invasion of Germany. The Comet was developed from the earlier Cromwell tank and mounted the new 17 pdr High Velocity (HV) gun, in a lower profile, partly-cast turret. This gun was effective against late-war German tanks, including the Panther at medium range, and the Tiger.
The Ordnance Quick-Firing 17-pounder was a 76.2 mm (3 inch) gun developed by the United Kingdom during World War II. It was used as an anti-tank gun on its own carriage, as well as equipping a number of British tanks. Used with the APDS shot, it was capable of defeating all but the thickest armour on German tanks. It was used to 'up-gun' some foreign-built vehicles in British service, notably to produce the Sherman Firefly variant of the US M4 Sherman tank, giving British tank units the ability to hold their own against their German counterparts. In the anti-tank role, it was replaced after the war by the 120 mm BAT recoilless rifle. As a tank gun, it was succeeded by the 84 mm 20 pounder.
The Bishop was a British self-propelled gun vehicle based on the Valentine tank and armed with the 25 pounder gun-howitzer, which could fire an 87.6 mm (3.45 in) 11.5 kg (25 lb) HE shell or an armour-piercing shell. A result of a rushed attempt to create a self-propelled gun, the vehicle had numerous problems, was produced in limited numbers and was soon replaced by better designs.
The 2-pounder gun, officially the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 40 mm (1.6 in) British autocannon, used as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing. This QF 2-pounder was not the same gun as the Ordnance QF 2-pounder, used by the British Army as an anti-tank gun and a tank gun, although they both fired 2 lb (0.91 kg), 40 mm (1.6 in) projectiles.
The Ordnance Quick-Firing 6-pounder 7 cwt, or just 6-pounder, was a British 57 mm gun, serving during the Second World War as a primary anti-tank gun of both the British and United States Army. It was also used as the main armament for a number of armoured fighting vehicles.
The Ordnance QF 2-pounder, or simply "2 pounder gun", was a 40 mm (1.575 in) British anti-tank gun and vehicle-mounted gun employed in the Second World War.
The Ordnance QF 13-pounder (quick-firing) field gun was the standard equipment of the British and Canadian Royal Horse Artillery at the outbreak of World War I.
The British Army made extensive use of a variety of combat vehicles during the Second World War. This article is a summary of those vehicles.
The QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft gun became the standard anti-aircraft gun used in the home defence of the United Kingdom against German Zeppelins airships and bombers and on the Western Front in World War I. It was also common on British warships in World War I and submarines in World War II. 20 cwt referred to the weight of the barrel and breech, to differentiate it from other 3-inch guns. While other AA guns also had a bore of 3 inches (76 mm), the term 3-inch was only ever used to identify this gun in the World War I era, and hence this is what writers are usually referring to by 3-inch AA gun.
The Ordnance QF 32 pounder or (32-pdr) was a British 94 mm gun, initially developed as a replacement for the Ordnance QF 17-pdr anti-tank gun.
Ordnance QF 3 inch howitzer was a howitzer fitted to British cruiser and infantry type tanks of the Second World War so they could fire a smoke shell in "close support" of other tanks or infantry. HE shells were also available.
The Norfolk Tank Museum is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles in Norfolk, East England. It is located just outside the village of Forncett St. Peter and 10 miles (16 km) south of the City of Norwich. The collection is made up of mostly British vehicles from the Cold War. The Museum contains around 30 military vehicles as well as a large collection of small arms. It includes the prototype Centurion AVRE 165, the only remaining Crossley-Kégresse 20-30 cwt half-track and a replica British First World War Mark IV that was built for The TV show Guy Martin's WWI Tank.