Nottinghamshire military museum takes delivery of 64-tonne tank

A military museum has taken delivery of a 64-tonne British tank as part of a restoration project.

The Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum at Thoresby Park, near OIlerton in Nottinghamshire, is the new temporary home of the FV 214 Conqueror.

The tank - one of the heaviest produced in the UK - was transported from Dorset earlier this week.

A four-hour operation saw it manoeuvred into place.

Volunteers at the museum will spend the next few months restoring the tank - which saw service between 1955 and 1966.

It was transported to the attraction from the Bovington Tank Museum on Tuesday before being sited on a specially created concrete plinth.

Thoresby was used as a training ground for British Army tanks during World War Two.

Keith Girling, Nottinghamshire County Council's armed forces champion, who served in the Grenadier Guards for 18 years, said: "Thoresby has a long association with the British tank, and it only seems fitting that a great venue...will be home to such a historic and significant exhibit.

"I'm sure the presence of the FV 214 Conqueror will no doubt prove to be a huge attraction to people coming to our county."

He wished the museum luck with the refurbishment project.

"I look forward to seeing the results of their hard work," he said.

The FV 214 Conqueror was built to counter the Soviet IS-3 series heavy tank during the Cold War.

About 180 of the tanks were built in total, which were used in the then West Germany with the British Army of the Rhine.

Museum curator Mick Holtby said: "Thoresby was a tank area.

"Tanks trained here and you can still see the metal roads round the estate, but this is the first time that we've had a tank here at Thoresby Courtyard for around 80 years.

"It is going to provide us with a wow factor.

"Visitors will want to come and see it and that's why we have put it where we have, because when people come out from the car park they will see it and think 'wow, that's a beast' - and it is a beast.

"A lot of the restoration work will be cosmetic and if we get it looking something like what it did, then we'll be delighted."

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