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Fort Knox is perhaps most famous for the Gold Depository (just south of the museum, and visible to visitors - no tours,
though), but just shortly behind that is the fact that it is the home of the United States Army Armor Center, the tank capital
of the United States. Within this base are more tanks and armoured vehicles than most countries have in active service.
Add to that a world-class tank museum, and this is an armour modeler's slice of heaven.
On my latest visit there, in September 2002, I was saddened by the changes the post-September 11th world have brought
to this base. Previously, visitors could simply enter and exit the base as they pleased from either of the two main
entrances from US 31W (Chaffee Avenue and Bullion Boulevard, past the Gold Depository). Now, concrete barriers are everywhere,
and only the Chaffee Avenue entrance is open.
Armed guards meet you at the entrance and send you to an area where your papers are checked and, if necessary, your vehicle
is searched. Be prepared for a search, and make absolutely sure you have nothing resembling a weapon on you or your
vehicle (not even a pocket knife). Foreign visitors MUST have photo ID, preferably a passport. Kim and I were
lucky to be admitted with our driver's licences and birth certificates, but we did see other people turned away. We
were told that procedures had been loosened considerably over the past couple of weeks, but the checking is still much more
rigourous than at the border.
The good news is that, once you are through the checkpoints, you have access to the entire facility (save certain areas,
such as firing ranges), and not just the museum.
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| The largest AFV ever built in the US, the T28 Super Heavy Tank, sits outside the museum. |
The museum itself is close to the Chaffee Street gate of the base. A number of vehicles are on display outside
of the building, including examples of every major American tank, M7, M40, and M52 self-propelled guns, an M10 tank destroyer,
and more. Around the back are several interesting vehicles that are "fixer-uppers:" a T-34/85, Panzer IIIE, and a very
late Panther Ausf G. The German vehicles are missing some major components, including tracks and some roadwheels, but
are nevertheless very useful to modelers. For instance, the Panther has provisions for IR equipment on its cupola.
The museum has three major galleries, focusing on pre-war armour, the Second World War, and post-war conflicts.
An interesting gallery focuses on the career of George Patton himself, and has several remarkable artifacts on display, including
his fabled ivory-handled revolvers, his 2 1/2 ton command truck, and the car in which Patton was fatally injured in December
1945.
The vehicles on display there are well-restored, with accurate markings and, in some cases, dioramas to help put the
vehicle in historical context. Among the treasures on display are the only Tiger Ausf B in North America, the sole surviving
Panther II, an Iraqi T-72 with a bizarre exhaust modification, the HueyCobra prototype, and several First World War AFVs.
An excellent research library is also in the museum building, although I have not yet availed myself of its services.
Check the Patton Museum website for hours, and call in advance to book an appointment.
Surprisingly, we had to show photo ID to a Military Police officer who was seated just inside the building before we
could enter the museum. I was told that one of the museum's priorities (they are beginning an expansion campaign now,
which will dramatically expand their exhibit space) is to have their own entrance off of US 31W, thereby allowing visitors
to skip the security checks required to enter the base.
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| An Aladdin's Cave of American armour: inside the LST Building at Fort Knox. |
Like most museums, the Patton Museum has only a small percentage of its artifacts on display in the main building.
The rest are scattered in storage areas across the base. The full list of vehicles in the collection is quite staggering,
and range from a Mark V* Great War tank through such German rarities as an SdKfz 251/9 Ausf D, Marder II, and a Hummel ammunition
carrier to a British Crocodile, Comet, and Challenger I and unusual American vehicles like the MBT70, T95E8, and M4A3E2 Jumbo,
and even an Israeli M51 Isherman.
For me, the highlight of their storage facilities is the LST Building, so-called because the interior was built to exactly
match the interior configuration of a World War II Landing Ship, Tank in order to test embarkation and debarcation procedures,
as well as the buildup of carbon monoxide on the vehicle deck when vehicle engines were run. The building itself is
an artifact, and it is great to see it filled with historic vehicles.
It is impossible to get casual access to these vehicles, but if you call in advance and ask to see a specific vehicle,
the museum staff are very helpful and will accomodate you if at all possible. Additionally, the storage areas are opened
up for public viewing during the Fourth of July activities.
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| A very large, very active base: this compound contained over 100 M1070/M1000 HET combinations! |
Fort Knox has much more to offer than just the museum. Scattered throughout the base are a bewildering variety
of gate guards, from Stuarts to Pershings to a number of the abortive 1940s heavy tank experiments to an XM803 prototype.
You never know what will lie around the corner! Even better, though, is the fact that this is the US Army's Armor Training
Center, which means that there are tanks and vehicles everywhere.
Here you can encounter Abrams that have just come off of the field, and see first-hand what real operational AFVs look
like. You can hear a battalion of M1A1s warming up their engines. You can see M88A1s going about their business
of changing tank engines or (my favourite) towing a Hetzer that suffered a breakdown in the 4th of July re-enactment! You
can watch as fully loaded M1070/M1000 HETs roll by. Virtually every vehicle in the US inventory can be seen at Fort
Knox, from HMMWVs through to the M1A2 Abrams and everything in between.
As long as you are up front and polite, then the soldiers are very friendly and quite willing to let you photograph whatever
you like. This base is a golden opportunity to get close to modern American AFVs and softskin vehicles, and anybody
who visits the museum should take the chance to see tanks in action.
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| You don't see that every day! An M5A1's crew is ready to roll in 1999's 4th of July re-enactment. |
Finally, no discussion of Fort Knox would be complete without mention of the annual Fourth of July re-enactment.
Every year, re-enactors from around North America gather at Fort Knox to participate in a mock battle between American and
German forces during the latter stages of World War II. In addition to vehicles from the Patton Museum's collection,
many other interesting private pieces show up. In 1999, the participants included an M4A1 Grizzly, several M3A1 and
M5A1 Stuarts, and M24 Chaffee, M20 armoured car, M3 half-track, and numerous softskins on the American side, while the Germans
were represented by an SdKfz 222, SdKfz 10, two Hetzers, an Opel Blitz, several Kettenkraftrads, Kubelwagens, and Schwimmwagens,
and many BMW motorcycles, along with 37 mm PaK 36 and 50 mm PaK 38 antitank guns and an 88mm FlaK 36 antiaircraft gun.
An added bonus was air support in the form of a P-51D Mustang strafing the German troops during the battle!
This event provides a great opportunity to study the vehicles, equipment, and uniforms of the participants, and the chance
to actually see and these vehicles move and fire is an unforgettable experience. The re-enactors are usually camped
out for a couple of days before the actual event on the Fourth, so make sure you get down there early to mingle.
Taking in the Fourth of July re-enactment is yet another reason to go and visit a great museum on an impressive base.
Be warned about one thing, though: when we were down for the re-enactment in 1999, the temperature was over 40 degrees C in
the shade! Be prepared for a trip to Kentucky: bring a hat, sunscreen, water bottle, and lots of film! Seriously,
Fort Knox is a great place for armour lovers to visit, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
Patton Museum and Fort Knox vehicles featured in our Reference Articles:
M1A1 Abrams
M26 Pershing
Iraqi T-72
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