Cornwall At War Museum

Another of the military vehicles housed in the hangar is the 1944 Scammell Pioneer. Originally a tank transporter artic, it was converted to recovery by the civilian owner. Power Plant: Gardiner 6LW Maximum speed 13 MPH Recovery versions have achieved 24MPH Steve drove this to the museum from his private collection of vehicles up the main coastal road. He pulled over whenever possible to let the stream of traffic behind him do more than 13MPH.

On Tuesday this week Steve and Sheila, the owners of the museum, became stars on the local BBC News, Spotlight, and also on BBC radio stations Devon and Cornwall. After a recorded interview in the morning on both radio stations, radio Devon conducted a live three way call between themselves, Sheila and Steve in the afternoon. Then on the local BBC Spotlight news they had a recorded interview as a part of a special places to go over the school holidays. Last night Steve put out an email saying that yesterday had been the busiest day ever since the museum had opened. Cars were being parked where cars had never even been before! At last the museum is getting the recognition it deserves and hopefully will go on giving people a fantastic experience of a museum that is run on love and passion, and of course Steve's unique character.

This Fordson Standard Industrial tractor was a lucky find for the museum. During WWII the tractor was stationed at RAF St Eval and used for pulling trailers loaded with bombs out to the aircraft. It is still in working order and a much treasured part of the military vehicle collection housed in the hangar. The RAF St Eval Fordson Standard Tractor. Maximum speed without trailer 20 MPH. It even has a crank handle to start it.

Sorry for the lack of posts recently.  Sometimes things get very busy and something has  to give.  Everything is back to normal now.

Ozzy visited the museum today. He's a timid soul but loves his skull and crossbones bandana.

The last post that I did has had amazing viewing figures. You must all be animal lovers, Marley and Buddy did look great with their bandanas. We have a dedicated building to cover the massive input that animals have had in wars. From WWI and WWII up to the present day. Most people know about pigeons, dogs and horses as they are the ones normally associated with wartime. But there are many other animals that have played their part, if only as mascots who gave a little bit of home comfort. We do not glorify war, but wish to make a tribute to the animals that gave, and still give to us, the greatest loyalty, and when needed the ultimate sacrifice.  I think that possibly pigeons have saved the most lives during both world wars. In WWI they really were an essential form of communication with vast fields of pigeon coops on fields in France. In WWII they still had important roles, so much so that a pigeon parachute was designed to enable them to be dropped out of planes at a specifi...

Yesterday was a grey, cold and windy day at the museum. However, we had visits from people brave enough to put up with the cold. Amongst them were two couples with their beautiful rescue dogs, Marley and Buddy. Marley is an 11 year old Dalmatian who really doesn't look his age and was rescued by a lovely couple from St Albans. Marley chose a black and white bandana that represents the Cornish flag. Buddy is a gorgeous 2 year old black Labrador who had been rescued from a home where he hadn't been taken for walks.He now has a loving home where he gets many walks. Buddy settled for a bandana with boats on it as he was at the seaside. They both happily posed for photos. Remember that we are totally dog friendly and always have a doggy biscuit jar in the guard room with a treat for your canine friend. Marley Buddy

Building number 11 is on the site of an original Nissen hut. The first half of this building is given over to a variety of displays and exhibits from jungle warfare to maps of the D-Day landings. As you go through number 11 you'll come to some double doors. Open them and you'll see the Officer's Recreation Room, recreated to how it would have been. At the far end of the room there is a red brick fireplace. This was the only piece of the original building left having been buried by "farmyard" waste for years. All the mannequins have been dressed in uniforms and clothes in the style  of that era. The furniture, crockery, cutlery etc is all genuine military issue and has been collected over the years. Every winter everything is cleaned and the mannequins stored in a heated room to avoid the cold and damp of a winter on the moor. It's one of the most popular rooms at the museum, and it's nice to think that amongst all the horrors of war there were a fe...