We had the chance to tour the world's largest collection of military vehicles! An amazing tour! Thanks to Military Vehicle Technology Foundation www.mvtf.org/
That ranch and tank collection used to belong to the late Jacque Littlefield. I had the opportunity to tour that facility before Mr. Littlefield passed away in 2009. I hope I get to re-visit it after I retire.
+My dad and brother visited Mr. Littlefield back around 2000. My dad is an old tanker and one of his old military buddies was friends with Mr. Littlefield who invited them down for a private tour.
Would have liked to have heard more of the interesting information from the curator. I clicked on the video to see and hear information not just see pictures of stuff. Kind of rude to ignore the curator.
I was a tanker on the M551 Sheridan in 1972, I was a driver, loader and Tank Commander before I got out in 1974.. It was one fun tank to be on in the day.. I Troop 3/2 ACR
I went there in 2006 and met Mr. Littlefield. He let us climb all over the tanks. We were there officially to see the Scud Missile launchers up close and personal...The head mechanic said that it would never close because it was written in his (Littlefield's) will to keep it open. That didn't happen after he passed away and it has been sold off.
I was trying to learn something and couldn't hear because the guy keep walking away from the tour guide. The guide had a lot of really interesting info.
From what I can see it is a Panzer 4 J. Since it lacks the side vision ports for the driver and most likely did not have an electrical turret drive like the Panzer 4H and G
Focus on the guy giving the presentation. The camera was all over the map and the sound going in and out was annoying. This whole exercise was a missed opportunity.
This is the Portola Valley collection and was auctioned off years after the owner died. I was glad to have seen this collection before it was sold off. The owner was in the computer/software business and obviously very wealthy. If memory serves me, it was around 2015-16 the collection was sold.
8:42 There was a episode of tank overhaul dedicated to that panther, thought about it but wasn't sure till he mentioned it was found in a river in Poland.
The Panther had it's turret intentionally destroyed by explosives, so they had to totally rebuild it. The turret was just a shell in 2007, with the newly restored gun sitting next to it.
My first job in the Army was anti-armor. Studied everything from WW2 era on and had to be able to identify them via partial images. Even had flash cards! Wish I still had those decks... Fun to see all of this. There is a similar collection in Virginia and it's only open to the public once a year. Best wishes, Tom Z
bcbloc02 seeing that they would be "reproductions" you could probably only get $11M for them. But I say go for it!!! Hey you can make your own AR, so why not your own tank.... 😜
There is actually tank replicas you can purchase already, you can order a tiger 1 replica for like 300,000 and there is also a panzer 4 replica you can buy for like 4,000.
Seriously, why are you even there, every time the guide is giving you interesting facts of stories you stick a camera into a hull or wander away. then people just walk around like arrogant twats pulling bits off SOMEONE ELSES valuable tank.
Matilda 2 actually faired pretty well against early German vehicles, but like in France, the Germans started using the 88mm Flak 36 and the tank was obsolete. It’s also a contributing factor into starting the tiger project.
man this is cool, i too knew Nada of Tanks, till 2 or few years bach started playing tank games, then finally War Thunder, got all into the whole WW2 thang, plus my Uncle Frank in Law served in WW2 in all kinds of places, but I was I kid back then and did not want to remind him of the horrors of war. Anyhow this video is Awesome.
The whole point of recon vehicles is to not get seen and not have to fight, but you have guns just in case, so the guide was slightly wrong on that bit.
Wow! They acted like a bunch of kids! Not listening, picking up stuff to ask "what's this do?", getting on a ladder, etc...Right in the middle of the guide explaining everything.
looking at the Churchill tank. it was used during the second Chinese civil war and Korean war by the Chinese nationalist force and later by Chinese communist force. not only by the british during the second world war.
selling the sherman a little short tbh, it was at least on par with pz4.. and it was easier to repair and its front armor was quite capable.. it was allround pretty decent
yep. The Sherman gets an extremely bad rap. It was the most ergonomical tank of the war and also extremely easy to escape from. I recommend watching the chieftains video on American armour if all you've ever heard is that the Sherman was a 'tommy cooker'.
This is the bulk of the remaining Littlefield Collection I think. Most of the project vehicles and a many restored tanks were sold off a few years back. To think the collection use to be far larger. The MV collecting community lost a major force for preservation when J. Littlefield died. PanzerAce is right about the museum. I remember the day by day discussions on G503.com's armor forum recounting how everything from the museum breaking up the collection to the shady dealings of the auction company. It was a cryin' shame.
Man nice collection. Panzer Mark IV and Mark V Panther tank. Russian T-34 & T-34 85 and a Churchill. M4 Sherman & M26 Pershing. Wow only tank missing is a King Tiger. And the Tiger one but there rarer then hen's teeth😁
Nice to see the Jumbo there after auction. Still there? The team was doing a great job on it. Hope to see it finished. Seems like it is consistently undervalued. There's about 7 Jumbos in the world and this is one of two runners. It's a "war hero" and national treasure. The Pz IV is the most valuable tank in the collection? Seriously?
The panther was the most expensive not the panzer IV. The panzer IV was in pretty bad shape and in need of restoration. The panther on the other hand looks like it's just been delivered to the front lines and I believe it is in running condition, or very close to running condition. It's also got a full interior too. This combined with its rarety (and demand) would make it pretty priceless.
Actually the guy was wrong about that 1st tank. It's a British Maltilda II. Contrary to what he said it WAS also great vs German tanks as the only gun they had that could knock it out was the 88mm. Also it was NOT withdrawn from service, they served throughout the war until 1945.
This panther tank was illegally removed from Poland, the conservator of monuments did not give such consent, so it belongs to Poland and the Polish nation...
8:28 - NO. The M4 arrived in time for the Battle of El Alamein and it was the second-best armoured and best gunned tank the Allies had at the time, with a 75mm gun capable of firing a high explosive shell. Only the Churchills of “Kingforce” had thicker armour. It outclassed Panzer 3s and until long barrelled Panzer 4s and Tigers appeared it was a match for German armour. At the time of its introduction this was a very modern tank. Where it tends to get a bad rep is that it only had limited upgrades to the 76mm gun and new turret, while the Germans and Russians kept building bigger, heavier, larger gunned tanks as the war progressed. Also early use - mostly in British hands - saw a lot of ammo explosions because shells were stuffed into every available space for storage, hence the “brewing up” issue. It should be remembered that this chassis design was also used to make the Firefly Vc with its lethal 17pdr gun, and to be the basis for the M10 tank destroyer as well as the Achilles 17pdr version. All were very capable of scragging German armour, albeit not very good at taking return fire.
The United States new the Sherman was infearer in 1942. Tank crews were sacrificed for no reason. The M26 Pershing should have been the main battle tank for the invasion of France.
Bob Parmelee - this has been extensively covered in a presentation by Nic “The Chieftain” Moran and in print by David Fletcher from Bovington. The simple truth is that, for mass manufacture and universal use in the Allied armies at the time, the M4 was the clear candidate. It could be made in huge numbers and it was reliable. They were built simply with parts that could be swapped out or repaired without too many man-hours. Compare this to any Panzer and you’re seeing that while the Germans had bigger, more advanced vehicles they took far longer to build and repair. In *logistical* terms the Allies only needed a tank that was good *enough*, not more advanced. It also needs to be remembered that the main killers of Allied armour was NOT other tanks. It was anti tank guns. Even if the Allies had been entirely equipped with Pershings and Comets, they would still have been ripped open like tin cans by ‘88s, and there would have been far fewer of them. A point about Russian tanks - the early T-34 wasn’t so great and was under gunned, and only really became an excellent tank later on once upgunned. So many were built that when they broke they simply got replaced without bothering to repair them.
And have you seen the figures of tank destruction by aircraft? Not very good. In fact far, far worse than claimed, I recall it didn’t even rate 10% of tank kills once all the wrecked tanks were inspected after action. Simple fact is that they missed; they weren’t like modern A10s.
@@bobparmelee1071 The M26 was not ready for '44. Heck, it was pulled out of Korea ten years later because it *still* had teething problems (and replaced with...the Sherman). Also, for every Pershing you ship across the Atlantic, you could have shipped four (4) Shermans. Sure, if you were a tanker, you'd rather be in the Pershing (which was a pretty even match against a Panther or Tiger I in gun power and armor), but ask an Infantryman if he'd rather be supported by 0-1 Pershings or 2-4 Shermans, you'll get a different answer. Your comment about air power vs antitank guns is nonsensical as well, as replacing Shermans with Pershings does not magically make allied aircraft better at spotting camouflaged artillery than they were historically.
If you’re a tank fan,come over to France and visit the famous « musée des blindés « in Saumur...the biggest tank museum.. With The only working German Royal Tiger and all ww2 vehicles and tanks
Saumur isn't the biggest, Kubinka Russia is. 3 years ago the collection was divided over 2 locations: Kubinka (the old museum) and the huge Park Patriot. Kubinka has so many unique tanks, its incredible. The (only) Maus, Karl Gerat, Elefant, Obj 279 etc. If you even have the chance, go take a look. Its mind-blowing. I visited Saumur, Munster and Kubinka. This year the Tank-fest in Bovington was planned by due to Covid-19 the visit is postponed until (hopefully) june 2021.
My father worked in a tank batallion for over 20 years...i have a stupid summary and I mean no disrepsect...a tank issimply a bunch of atillery guys on a vehicle
We had the chance to tour the world's largest collection of military vehicles! An amazing tour! Not any Private tank museum in the world? EG Musée des Blindés, German Tank Museum, The Tank Museum ETC
The guide was very interesting and informative. Unfortunately the video is ruined by the maker, who simply mooched about, walking away from the guide, so only part of the presentation is heard, and then the battery issue and then all the wows , while the guide was still talking. I was expecting you to fart or scratch your arse ,as an ending. Lordy Lord you Americans....
Do your homework man. Speak to the tour guide and get his help and advice. Go on the tour 1st time and then film on the 2nd tour. Then you could of even done a 3rd just to film the tour guide. Where’s the points of interest and layout for anyone who might go in future ?. Make some effort if you’re going to put it on RU-vid.
The moment he started bashing on the Sherman by comparing it to tanks designed or upgraded after the Sherman was designed I knew this "collector" knew nothing. Never mind the fact that these fundamentally flawed tanks were killing everything sent against it Panthers included with their 75mm guns and had fantastic crew survivability when compared to the panzer 4 and panther.
tbf they did use the same tactics as the germans used during the start of the war. making sure there is never one sherman and one panther fighting, beacuse we all know which one would win.
@@shadowfire246 Sweet baby Jesus, what next, "where the round hits". He was saying as it is. The Sherman's were flawed. In military terms It's important to know weaknesses in design and there's no place for national pride to cover up these flaws. The best thing about the Sherman's was how quickly they could be manufactured and the number that were made.