Buried WW2 tanks

[Bum Luck]

A long time ago, I heard a legend about a line of buried tanks from WW2, including rare Tiger tanks from Germany.

It was supposed to have been in some army base in Arizona, and the last person to know where they were was an Army sergeant who had a stroke and couldn't remember where they were buried.

There were a score or two of them, and they were ordered to 'disappear' so that they didn't cause someone any more work.

Has anyone heard anything about this story?

 

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[Frankn]

Sounds like one of those END OF WAR stories like cases of surgical instruments buried at Ft. Howard, or the equipment buried at that old air strip in Florida, you know one of those grain of salt stories!

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[spartacus53]

When I first saw the tittle I thought they may have been buried in Africa, wrecked ones that were just eaten up by sandstorms.

As far as any on US soil, it would make sense. Like anything captured that would be valuable you wanted to see what made it tick. I think they would have done reverse engineering to see how it was made and if any improvements could be made as well. The Tiger was one hell of a tank, and the sound alone made men tremble.

So buried, I doubt it... I think they were used to gain knowledge and latter melted down. We probably kept one, or two running ones around and still have them somewhere.

 

[Frankn]

Yea, I think there is a tiger at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Md.

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[spartacus53]

Yea, I think there is a tiger at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Md.

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And just what is that "Tiger" going to prove

 

[Cool Hand Fluke]

The Military History Chanel had a program on about two weeks ago showing a German Panther tank from WWII being pulled out of a river in Poland. It seems that this tank tried to cross this river during a battle and got stuck and eventually got buried. It sat in that river for 50 years or so. The tank was shipped to California for complete restoration. I believe it took 5 years to complete the restoration.

 

[Cool Hand Fluke]

Yea, I think there is a tiger at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Md.

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The Aberdeen Tank Museum in Maryland is awesome. I've toured it several times while visiting family in MD. It has Russian T34's, JS III's, T62's, German Mark III's, Panthers. American Shermans, M26, M46, M48's, & M60's. It even has British, French, and Japanese tanks from WWI through the present. Great place to stop if you are ever driving through.

 

[Bum Luck]

I recall an ad in Shotgun News I think in the 80's, for a Tiger tank for a mere $50,000. Now they would likely be a million dollar find.

The military often buries stuff to make it go away. Unofficially, of course. We've all heard those stories. If there's no paper, there's no objects, but objects without paper are a problem. Sometimes the motivation is no more than it's more of a hassle to dispose of it through official channels.

This one passed the probability test:
1: It's probable that Army would ship German tanks back to the US after WW2.
2: It's probable that the interest would wane as tank technology advanced past the WW2 point.
3: It's probable that after a time, they would be a PITA for some CO.
4: It's probable that a trusted NCO would be in charge of making them disappear.
etc.

Bottom line: a whole row of German tanks would be a multi-million dollar find.

 

[daroofa]

Not tanks, but these guys are making a documentary about 12 Spitfires that may be buried in Australia.

http://www.brokenwings.com.au/

Trailer:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI53UksPWj0[/youtube]

 

[Wildcat]

Re: Buried Spitfires

I live around 40 klm from Oakey where the Spitfires are rumoured to be buried. I believe the story is true and the Spits are buried down coal shafts, still wrapped in greasy paper. (Well the Merlin engines are anyway) There are a lot of coal shafts in the vicinity of Oakey and I knew an old gent that knew where they were and refused to disclose it. He spent a lot of time pinching stuff off the old fighters after WW2 and told me how he used to avoid the dogs that were there to protect them. The old fella died a few years back and took his secret with him much to my chagrin.

The Cat

 

[Mark S.]

It's no secret that the Navy dumped a lot of aircraft over the side when the war ended. The various crafts and vehicles were disposed of on land also. So I don't think it is out of the question that there are tanks buried all over the world.

I recall seeing a photo many many years back of an airstrip somewhere. Dozers had dug a huge hole and pushed in dozens of new unused P38's. They then drove over them to crush them down and covered them up.

Seems like such a waste now when you consider the extreme values of the various equipment today. At the time they were part of a massive amount of new and used surplus equipment of which little was needed. Considering the cost of returning it the US or where ever and maintaining it, especially when it might never be used, it was cost effective to just "bury it".

What happened to all those mothballed WWII ships? Some were sold to other countries and a few became floating museums. Most were eventually cut up for scrap or used for target practice.

 

[frankenstein]

i am in my mid 30's and I have heard this story.