Interesting that it is remembered in New Zealand. It appears almost forgotton in the UK outside the tank regiment. In the UK it seems that the only bit of 20th century history that is regularly taught is the rise of the nazis. As a yellowbelly it amazes me that Lincoln does not make more of its role in the invention of the tank. Flirt II should be in the center of the city and not tucked away in the Museum of Lincolnshire Life.
So sad - yet another mini series about the Bohemian corporal was on BBC2 last night. There seems almost the same number of programmes about that man as Caesar miniatures output of nazi figures (7 new sets proposed)!
Not wrong there - i'm a fairly recent product of British education (left University two years ago) and was taught about liberal reforms and the suffragette movement pre-WW1, then jump to the League of Nations and between the wars Germany. Came a cropper when the GCSE exam was on the one subject out of three that we hadn't been taught out of Liberal Reforms, Suffragettes, and WW1 Home Front - luckily I had enough of a basic knowledge about U boat warfare and Zeppelin raids on the UK to do well on it. I only hope the centenary will raise awareness of Britain's technological achievements in WW1, although from what it seems like so far it will be a circus focussing on war poetry, the Somme and Passchendaele
Couldn't agree with you more. I am a member of the Friends of the Lincoln Tank Group. We have been fighting the apathy of the local council and museums for years. We have tried to become more involved at the Lincs Life museum offering our services to bring Flirt II more to life and give her the TLC she deserves. We have bullied the Council at trying to recognise the significant contribution Lincoln made to WW1 production not only on the tank front but also as regards aircraft production, munition production etc. Were you aware Lincoln produced the 2nd highest number of aircraft during WW1? And what about about the Livens projectors and Livens flamethrower? Sadly to date all has fallen on deaf ears.
Our latest attempt to galvanised these bodies into action is to see if we can host a series of major exhibitions for the 2014 -2018 celebrations. At the moment we are told those that be are "thinking about it". Where do we go and what do we have to do to counter this apathetic bunch? Answers please on a postcard to .........
Tanks3, i've approached the museum before offering the services of my living history group, who do a Tank Corps impression, to do a display or just a photoshoot at the museum to help raise awareness, and despite several back and forth e-mails there was no real enthusiasm for it and lots of excuse making until I gave up. If we could be of any use to the Lincoln Tank Group though, please let me know - while we don't have a Tank we have just about everything else, personally i've got a replica .303 Hotchkiss and several 6 pounder Tank shells, a number of Hotchkiss tank ammunition tins and the group has Lewis guns and most other bits
