Today, September 4th, 2021, will be forever remembered as the first time we've seen military tanks in person!
I being an avid lover of WW2 history, I've always wanted to see tanks in real life. I knew there were tank museums around the world, one of the largest and most famous being THE Tank Museum in England, but I never came across any near by. That is until we talked with a hobby shop owner and he told us that a tank museum in Virginia was having their last flamethrower demonstration on the 4th of September! As soon as I got home I googled the museum's name, The AAF Tank Museum, and found out they were less than 1hr and 45min away! And when Mom said we could go, I nearly lost my mind!
Fast forward to today, we drove up to the museum with our neighbor and some friends who were meeting us there. Pulling up to it, we were immediately met with an M113 Armored Personal Carrier. After we parked and went to the restroom, the moment came. We walked down a short hallway and came into Room 1 of 3.
If you were to walk into a warehouse full of gold that was all yours, you can imagine your reaction. Now replace the gold with over a hundred tanks and artillery, hundreds of small arms and machine guns, and literally tens of thousands of WW2 insignia, unit badges and photos...and have the same reaction. That was me. It was extremely hard to follow the "don't raise your voice" rule at that moment. I stood gaping, looking back and forth from a German Pak 40 Anti-tank gun, 3 US M3 "Long Tom" Howitzers, a US M18 Hellcat, and the other tanks to our left that, at the time, were to far away to be recognized accurately.
Room 1 consisted of full sized dioramas of tanks and large artillery pieces, including the ones stated above, a Soviet T-72, a US Cobra Helicopter, an RC Tank arena, some '50s Cadillacs, photos from WW2, two or three M113s, an M3 Bradly Fighting Vehicle Simulator Turret that we could all go inside, and many other dioramas from various wars.
Room 2 was what I dubbed the "Hall of Tanks." It was lined on both sides with DOZENS of tanks, trucks/armored cars, and self-propelled guns. Some of my favorites were the German Panzer Mark IV, The only US Sherman M4A3E8 "Easy Eight" with an M2 bulldozer still in existence, a large 6in Self-Propelled Howitzer with a squirrel on the barrel😂, ALL of the over 10 M48 or M60 Patton Main Battle Tanks, a WW2 Soviet T34/85, and literally everything else in that room! This is also where we got to meet the "Bicycle Man," we guess he is a Vietnam Vet. He rides around in his 3 wheeled bicycle announcing when events are taking place, and also having fun directing us on how to pose for a silly photo!
The flamethrower demonstration was coming up, but we had time to explore the smaller Room 3 before hand. This room had a WWI French FT17 Tank! Also in the room were M3 Bradlies, M113s, Jeep Willies, and other Cold War era vehicles. There was also a 14 or 16in shell in the room you could sit on, so we obviously had some fun with that!
Finally, the moment had come...FLAMETHROWERS! This was done outside of Room 2. My first surprise was the 3 zones of viewing, warm, hot, and melt. I went into the hot zone and Titus and our friend were crazy enough to go into the melt zone. After the "If you get hurt it's not our fault" speech, the gentleman told us about the 2 flamethrowers showcased. One was WW2 era and the other was from Vietnam. He then told us that they would only be on 70% power, which I thought was strange at first, seeing the movies (which usually exaggerate everything) showed them being rather small. He then said, "Hey people in the melt zone, last warning. Bye!" And the flamethrowers were aimed at their target, a mannequin in a 'house' with a pink umbrella, cabinets, a few chairs and other items.
If you've ever stood next to a bonfire, you know how hot it is. Now multiply that by 2 (if not more) and have that suddenly thrusted at your exposed face and eyes in a split second. And at the same time, a 20 foot tall fireball turns the 'house' into a smoldering ruin with just a few "only 70%" bursts. I've never been so scared in my life! I couldn't talk for a good 2-3 minutes after that😂! After the canisters ran out, we all got to take photos with the flamethrowers before heading back inside.
There was one part of the museum that we had yet to explore, the uniform rooms. These rooms were full of authentic uniforms, boots, hats, helmets, insignia, badges, etc., from WW2. They even had a real uniform of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in one of the rooms! A startling moment came for us when we walked into a room filled with Swastikas. In the back was a diorama with authentic Schutzstaffel (S.S.) Officers' uniforms and clothing of Concentration Camp inmates. There was also a collection of a Brigadier General's complete collection of uniforms!
The final room was the hand-held weapons room. This room had all of the major small arms from WW2, and even some from other wars in the 20th Century! My favorites were the M1A1 Thompson "Tommy" Submachinegun, the German Panzerschreck (their version of the Bazooka), the M1 Garand, and the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, or BAR gun.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. We toured the gift shop (with prices that were actually just as good as online shopping🤔) and headed out. As we left, I looked over my shoulder at the smoke from the 2:45pm flamethrower demonstration, which was underway, and my favorite band's new single came up on my playlist... Sabaton's Steel Commanders!
Flers–Courcelette showed the way
Evolution leading to El-Alamein until today
We're the first ones into the fray
Steel Commanders
Rule the battlefield-
Spearhead Flanders
Tankers leading the-
Storm of panzers
Battle calling the-
Steel Commanders!
Written by Jared A. Otto
