Iconic Conqueror tank returns to site of WWII training ground for restoration

A military museum in Nottinghamshire has taken delivery of an FV 214 Conqueror – one of the heaviest tanks produced in this country – for a special restoration project. 

The tank was transported from the Bovington Tank Museum in Dorset to the Royal Lancers & Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum at Thoresby Park.

It then took four hours to manoeuvre the tank into place on a specially created concrete plinth.

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Now volunteers from the museum will spend the next couple of months giving the tank a fresh new look ahead of a special unveiling next spring.

The 64-tonne FV 214 Conqueror, also known as Tank, Heavy No. 1, 120 mm Gun, Conqueror, was in service between 1955 and 1966.

It was built to counter the Soviet IS-3 series heavy tank during the post-Second World War era of the Cold War.

Around 180 of the tanks were built in total and, during their relatively short service, were used in what was then West Germany with the British Army of the Rhine.

The Conqueror's arrival at the museum is also a poignant one as Thoresby was used as a training ground for British Army tanks during the Second World War.

Museum curator Mick Holtby says he and his team are delighted that the iconic tank is now at Thoresby.

He said: "Thoresby was a tank area. Tanks trained here and you can still see the metal roads around 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."