There is a chance to see the world’s only running Tiger I tank in action during its last outing of the year, at Tiger Day on October 1 at The Tank Museum.
Tiger 131 runs only twice a year, at Tiger Day Spring and Tiger Day Autumn, and always attracts huge crowds when it does. Visitors on October 1 will have the chance to see it in action in a 40-minute Second World War tank display, including its Fury movie co-star, the Sherman tank, Fury.
Museum bosses say that as well as an action-packed arena display, including the Panzer III, Comet, Chaffee and more, visitors will be able to get up close to vehicles in the Tank Park and explore military history traders set amongst the museum collection.
Tiger Day Autumn was postponed from September 17 to October 1 following the announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Ticket holders have been contacted about the change in date – and you can see the museum website for further details.
All profits from the Tiger Day event will go towards supporting the museum’s historic tank collection and ensuring that Tiger 131 can be kept in running order for years to come.
Museum curator David Willey said: “A significant amount of work goes into keeping the Tiger running and it is extremely fragile and liable to faults.
“During the war it took 10 hours of maintenance for every hour the Tiger ran – now it takes the museum staff and engineers an astonishing 200 hours.”
The Tiger tank was a formidable weapon introduced by the Nazis and the capture of 131 allowed the Allies to understand exactly what had been unleashed against them.
It featured in the film Fury, a 2014 American war movie written and directed by David Ayer and starring Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña, Jon Bernthal, Jason Isaacs and Scott Eastwood. The film portrays US tank crews fighting in Germany during the final weeks of the European theatre of the Second World War.
Tiger Day premium and advance tickets are still available. You can book online at this address – https://tankmuseum.org/whats-on/events/tiger-day
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