What a cryin’ shame, honestly–WHY?
When I was there, they had that beautiful Panther II on display, and the Stug IIIG in original paint and markings along with the Pz III.
What’s behind this liquidation of all these museums and troves of history?
It’s not being liquidated. The equipment belongs to the US Army Armor Center and Schools (aka The Armor School). The Armor School moved to Fort Benning, GA so the museum relocated with the school. It’ll take some time for Benning to set up the museum to the standard it was at Knox.
You can thank your congressmen for initiating the BRAC changes that moved the school. It was a federal law they passed and one that the military must follow.
thank you for taking the time to answer my post, to bad you didn’t get to know the CEV s because they were alot of fun.
I’m very glad you made it through your career, and came home ok through it all.
Thank you for serving your country, and for letting all of us know about Fort Knox, still say it’s a shame. good luck to you.
Correct me if I’m wrong,but didn’t they just finish renovating the Patton Museum a few years ago?
Yes, it wasn’t that long ago, but in 2005 BRAC was announced and the Armor Center’s move to GA was mandated by law.
I see…man, that’s just depressing to see it all getting shuffled around. Somehow, I just don’t think it’ll be as well displayed and taken care of with all the budget slashing that[s going on.
’ .
awwww…When was the stuff ever well maintained?
WWII ended in 1945 and most of the time the equiptment at Knox ( and , presumably Aberdeen ) sat rusting outside.
I visited the Knox display in the late 1970s thru early 1980s.
The only items I viewed on base that appeared to be kept indoors were either modern postwar Soviet or a WW2 American M3 tank and half track.[:'(]
LOL…don’t believe for a minute BRAC is entirely responsible for the move…they just wanted to get it all out of Manny’s critical "AMPS " style contest scrutiny…[whstl][;)][snYea]
If I’m not mistaken, only about 10% of the collection was on display at the Patton Museum. They have hundreds of vehicles stored. I would think that the Army could provide the equipment to outfit several museums. But I realize that we’re dealing with a great big bureaucracy here and common sense and clear reasoning are not a requirement. Rick.
There’s a monetary part to that. It costs money to ship the vehicles and to prepare the sites for display (added museum space, concrete pads, etc.). Restoring the vehicles was a big EPA deal. Most of the old paint (probably lead based) and the petroleum product residue inside the vehicles had to be pressure washed out of and off of the vehicles, reclaimed, decontaminated, etc. It’s a very expensive process. Knox had a great deal of fully restored armor inside the museum from an FT-17 and Mark VII from WW1 to early 1930s armor and to the end of the Cold War. The Elvis in the Army display was impressive to say the least.
Can’t just flush it down the storm drains like the old days. The military is still cleaning up superfund sites around the country.
TV series “Ground War” showed a German AT piece being pressure washed to remove old paint.