Next Extravaganza
April 23 & 24, 2011 10 ~ 5
Admission prices that apply for April 23 & 24, 2011 event: $12 Adults, $10.00 under 12 or over 60 ADVANCE TICKET WILL BE AVAILABLE ONLINE STARTING IN MARCH 2011! Please check back then to purchase your tickets!
To Purchase Online SEE BELOW (additional paypal fee required) or
Adult Extravaganza Ticket - $12.00
Jr./Sr. Extravaganza Ticket - $10.00
In Person Come To The:
Tank Museum 3401 US Highway 29, Danville
Visa ~ Mastercard ~ Checks ~ Cash
(note: returned check charge is $25) Payment of event ticket(s) and check charge will be required in cash at the door
The Tank Museum, it's directors, officers, staff, and/or volunteers are not responsible for lost tickets.
Tickets must be presented to gain admission to the event. No photocopies or reproductions will be allowed! NO FLASH
PHOTOGRAPHY IS ALLOWED INSIDE THE BUILDING!
The 7th Annual
Tank Museum Military Extravaganza was a HUGE success with over 1200 people in two days!
If you missed this one, mark your calendar now for next years Extravaganza.
It will be a real BLAST!
The RC Tank Convention had Radio Control tank battlers from all over the country doing battle on the largest and
only indoor RC battlefield in the world. Thanks go out to The Tank Buffs for organizing this wonderful part of the
event. You Tankers are the best!
The Tank Buffs organized a great event with loads of interaction for the visitors. There were many prizes awarded to
visitors that participated in the RC Tank Battles. Each year these guys are making changes to improve the field and the show.
Every year more people come out to participate in this event. The RC Battlefield is a fascinating and powerful draw for the whole family.
Here is a picture of two of the museum's staff preparing for the flame thrower demonstration.
The highlight and hottest part of the day is always the flame thrower demonstration. This weapon puts out intense heat and it always
amazes us to see the crowd all step back several steps due to the extreme heat.
Thanks again go to Charlie Hobson
for making these flame thrower demonstrations possible.
Any one up for Marshmallows!
During the flame thrower exhibition again this year the museum used a mannequin to show the power and horrific nature of this
weapon. Visitors witnessed firsthand the simulated effects that this weapon had on the enemy.
Again this year the museum had the weapons demonstrations. This is always
a big hit with the visitors. This is when you get your chance to see a M3 Grease Gun or a Thompson Machine Gun
being fired! New this year the museum added the German MG42 Machine Gun!
This year the museum again fired their mortar. Visitors were
surprised at how quiet a mortar is when shot.
The Museum's Military model show brought in some of the countries
best military modelers who competed for trophies. Visitors learned the history behind these small scale monsters,
and visited with the model builders.
This years trophies went to:
Anthony Johnson - Kettenkrad & M3A1 Stuart
Paul Scarce - US Bradley IFV
Robert Mikles - M2 Bradley Diorama
Dillion Beame - M4 Sherman 15th Scale All Wood
Reenactors, Reenactors, Reenactors!
The Museum was home for the weekend to many reenactors. Here is a shot of just a few of them.
Many camped out
over night and were up bright and early the next morning to get ready for their maneuvers of the day.
Everywhere you turned there
were soldiers in uniform from the Civil War, to World War II G.I.'s, and German troops. These guys were a lot of fun
and we look forward to having them back again next year.
We had the Military Best Dress contest again this year. Here is a picture of some of the
participates
Here is a picture of one of the winners of the best Military Dress contest.
List of Winners:
Ethan Penny - Rockingham City Militaria
William Smith - Himself
Jerome Pugh - 1st Air Cavalry
Malon Shelton - USMC
Bryon White - Delta Force
Adam White - WWII Ranger
Colin Garett - 1st Armor Infantry
Militaria dealers were on hand where visitors got the opportunity to search for that medal,
award or piece of military memorabilia to add to their collection or replace one that they had lost.
The wargamers had some 10 tables with many different scales and
different time periods gaming all day long. Many of the museum visitors tried their hand at this fascinating game.
The Museum's raffle table did a bang
up job of selling raffle tickets with over 50 raffle items ranging from museum t-shirts, models, up to a M4 Sherman
Radio Control Tank. Thanks go out to Tamiya USA for sending some wonderful raffle items to help
support the museum. Also thanks go out to Carolyn who sold the raffle tickets.
Talk to the Tanker
was another big hit this year. Here is the set-up for Mr. David Zimmerman that came to the extravaganza to tell visitors
about his experience in the M42 Duster tank. Thanks go out to all the Talk to the Tankers, Artilleryman, Bicyclist, and Ordnance
veterans that were on hand for the event. To these men we salute you for your service
to this country and for also taking the time to be part of the event.
Here one of the museum's volunteers is discussing the tank he is driving
with an interested museum guest.
The largest event of the day, that
everyone loves, is the Tank crushing a car demo.
The museum staff used an M48A5 Patton Tank this year to do our crushing and was able to crush 3 cars. Here is a
picture of the M48A5 from the day of the event.
For the fourth year in a row we welcomed Buster and his handle Mr. Eanes. This
amazing dog was put thru his paces with several demonstrations of how he and his handler work as a team to sniff out
bombs. Buster found the target every time.
The museum would like to say a special thanks to 2 of the community's organizations
for their participation in the event. The Pittsylvania County Sheriff's department's DARE program had literature and
talked to the visitor about smoking, drugs, and drinking.
The VA Defense Force had a table set up and they were a great big help with parking visitors as they came in.
The museum's raffle table was a big draw this year and was in great
part due to the wonderful sponsors we had this year. Below is a list of the companies that helped us out:
CED All Phase
Jones & Sons Welding
State Farm Insurance - Terry Blakely
Climate Control
Harris, Harvey & Neal & Co.
PIP Printing
Thanks to Trinni, Patty and Susan for their bang up job
in sales of mouth watering hot dogs and BBQ from our concession stand. With 400 hot dogs, 35 pounds of
BBQ and over 200 chips, pretzels and danish were sold!
Host Hotel for this
event as usual was great to the museum visitors and we have them on board for next years event
When ever you come to Danville make sure you check out the:
Innkeeper North
1030 Piney Forest Road
Danville - 434-836-1700
Event code: Tank Museum
Free Deluxe Continental Breakfast!
TANKS A LOT !!!!!!! to all those who helped make this event
a major success
Attention modelers, vendors. battlers or reenactors who wish to participate, just click on the application that applies,
filled out the form and send it in to guarantee your spot in this event.