Last night, a British Chieftain tank arrived at the military barracks in Ieper (West Flanders). It will form part of the collection of army vehicles in the military museum planned in the city. The museum is an initiative of the War Heritage Institute that runs all defence museums across Belgium. As the tank is almost 4 metres wide, it had to be transported at night as an ‘exceptional transport’.
‘A large vehicle like this can only be transported between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. if it has to use a with two-lane motorway,’ explains Leon Symoens of the War Heritage Institute. ‘We try to avoid this kind of transport as much as possible. But if we are obliged to, we can't avoid it.’
‘The Chieftain is one of the most important heavy tanks of the Cold War and a contemporary of the Leopard 1 tank,’ says his colleague Franky Bostyn. ‘The tank was developed in the late 1960s and used until the late 1990s. For the British Army, it was the forerunner of the current Challenger tank.’
3.7 metres wide, the Chieftain tank is at present the museum's largest piece in its collection. Although larger vehicles will be added in the future: ‘A 64-tonne British Conqueror tank will also be among the exhibits. But it is not yet certain whether it too will require special transport. It is not exactly the tonnage that makes the difference, but the width and height of the vehicle,’ Symoens says.
The museum in Ieper should open in 2030 and in total display almost 300 military vehicles.