Valentine Tank - The Tank Museum, Bovington

A short walk around of The Tank Museum's - Tank Infantry Mark III - Valentine Mark IX - as well as a look at it being driven around the arena, during Tiger Day 9 at The Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset,UK.

Look at how basic and crude the inside of this Valentine tank is. No wonder the driver has to hold onto the viewing port as the vehicle moves. This weapon would be fine up against light infantry or light armoured vehicles with similar calibre guns, but up against many of the German Panzers of WW2 it would not stand a chance.

The information board shown says:-
'Mark IX Valentines saw service in North Africa during the Second World War and were up-gunned to fit a 57mm (six-pounder) gun into the turret. This did not leave enough room for a co-axial machine gun and in any case, with just a two-man turret crew, the tank was very difficult to fight. By 1943 they had been replaced in front line service by more modern vehicles or were relegated to secondary roles and supplied to other countries such as Portugal.

The precise identity of this tank is not clear as all identification marks were removed many years ago. It stood outside the Army Base at Long Kesh in Northern Ireland for many years, subsequently moving to the Maze Prison and Lisanelly Camp, Omagh.
It was then acquired by Vickers Defence Systems and restored to running order in Newcastle using the engine from the Tank Museum's Valentine Archer. The tank was gifted to the Museum in March 2002.'

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