A £1 million fundraising appeal has been launched by The Tank Museum at Bovington in Dorset to help the world’s oldest surviving King Tiger tank to roar again.
The largest and most ambitious campaign ever launched by the museum will be entirely funded by the public, and the project could take up to four years to complete.
Bovington’s King Tiger V2 outside the museum as a £1 million appeal was launched
Unique prototype from World War Two
By 2030, The Tank Museum hopes the unique prototype from the end of World War Two – which is thought to have never fired a shot in combat – could be in running condition and prove a huge crowd pleaser at the Purbeck attraction.
The unexpected announcement came as tickets completely sold out for autumn’s Tiger Day at the Tank Museum, on Saturday 20th September 2025, where around 4,500 people will watch the existing King Tiger 131 take to the arena.
The fundraising campaign follows the success of Tankfest 2025, where a visiting King Tiger from the Musée des Blindés in France drew huge crowds over three days, and The Tank Museum hopes that restoring its prototype will attract similar attention in future years.
But the restoration project will be long and difficult, as Dorset’s King Tiger V2 is largely a shell with many missing parts and while there are some components in storage, others will need to be sourced from partners across Europe, or made following 1940s blueprints.
Bovington’s Tiger 131 (right) is pictured alongside a King Tiger from a French museum at TankFest 2025
“Most ambitious project ever”
The Tank Museum’s vehicle collections manager Chris van Schaardenburgh said:
“This is the most ambitious project we have ever attempted. We’re fundraising so that the project will not interfere with the core activities of the museum, but it will give us invaluable opportunities for research, developing new skills, and training the next generation of heritage engineers.
“Our aim is to return King Tiger V2 to as close as possible to the condition it was in when the British Army took control of the vehicle. It’s going to be a fascinating and challenging project, and we’re looking forward to sharing every step online with our supporters.
“Our King Tiger V2 prototype is unique. It was the second of these formidable German Second World War tanks ever built, and today it is the only survivor to have this distinctive turret design.
“This is a project we’ve been considering for some time, something that has been frequently suggested by our visitors, so we hope supporters around the world will get behind us to make it happen.”
Tank historian James Donaldson is pictured with King Tiger V2’s original steering wheel
“A valuable piece of history”
Historian at the Tank Museum, James Donaldson, who lives in Wareham, said:
“King Tiger V2 is the oldest surviving King Tiger in existence, the second of 492 King Tigers to be built which is why it’s known as V2 – the V is short for Versuchs which translates from German as ‘trial’.
“It is the only surviving King Tiger to have been fitted with the pre-production turret, 50 of which had been built for an abandoned Porsche design and which were repurposed for use on the earliest King Tigers.
“The curved front was intended to deflect incoming fire, but it created a dangerous shot trap that could bounce rounds down into the hull, so the design was soon replaced by the flat fronted production turret.
“The Bovington prototype is the only surviving King Tiger fitted with this early turret design, making it a uniquely valuable piece of history.”
However, most of the tank’s interior is missing and the vehicle is largely just a shell
“Today the vehicle is a shell”
James added:
“V2 was built in December 1943 and would spend its entire service life at the Henschel testing facility in Germany. When this was overrun by Allied forces, V2 was found fully stowed and ready to fight – although we don’t believe it ever fired a shot in anger.
“It’s our intention to complete the project as close as possible to V2’s original specification and today, the vehicle is a shell – some parts are in storage, but others are missing.
“Its original engine block survives, though without many components and there is no record of a gearbox at all, although most of the connecting parts appear to be in place.
“The project will be led by our workshop team, supported by a range of carefully selected partners from across Europe. We’ll use it as a springboard for further research, to develop new skills, and train the next generation of heritage engineers.”
King Tiger V2 on display in the 1980s before it was repainted in its more accurate colour
A formidable weapon
The original Tiger tank was a formidable weapon. When it appeared in 1942 it had a gun that could destroy any Allied tank and armour that could keep out anything the Allies could fire at it.
However, by the summer of 1943 it was clear that these advantages wouldn’t last much longer, and that the Tiger I couldn’t really be upgraded, so Germany began work on a new vehicle to do the same job.
Tiger II, better known as the King Tiger, was introduced by Nazi Germany in 1944 with a powerful 88 millimetre gun and heavy armour that made it a formidable opponent on the battlefield.
King Tiger V2 was the second of three prototype vehicles produced in December 1943 by the Henschel company and unlike production tanks, it was kept at a testing facility in Haustenbeck and used exclusively for trials.
The prototype tank, as found by Allied forces when they captured Haustenbeck in 1945
Only the engine block survives
When Allied forces captured Haustenbeck in April 1945, they found King Tiger V2 intact and shipped it to Britain for study, eventually being transferred to The Tank Museum in 1952.
When it arrived, several parts were already missing, including the gearbox, the turret’s rear hatch and even its gun – although that was replaced four years later.
The tank’s original Maybach engine remained installed until the 1980s, when it was removed to help restore Tiger 131, the Museum’s operational Tiger I. Today, only the engine block survives.
Tiger 131 on display at the Bovington Tank Museum
Violent history of tank action
Meanwhile, Tiger 131, which will be the centre of attention at the Tank Museum’s Tiger Day, has given an unexpected insight into the violent history of tank action during World War Two.
While performing a routine inspection to make sure Tiger 131 was in top condition for Tiger Day, museum engineers were surprised to discover a chunk of shrapnel inside one of its wheels.
In April 1943, British forces advanced towards Tunis, facing a strong enemy counter-attack supported by tanks, including Tiger 131. British tanks arrived just in time to prevent the infantry being over-run.
Their fire was enough to disable the Tiger and cause its crew to flee, a fortunate decision for the Allies as Tiger crews were under strict orders to destroy disabled tanks to prevent them falling into enemy hands.
Battlefield shrapnel was found in the wheels of Tiger 131 during routine maintenance
“A heavy lump of metal”
Nick Booth, head of curatorial services at the museum, said:
“Tiger 131 has been extensively restored and overhauled in recent years, so to find a remnant from the battle in which it was captured was both remarkable and sobering.
“It’s a stark reminder of the history of this tank – and of the desperate conditions in which British soldiers fought it to a standstill on a Tunisian hillside in 1943.”
And historian James Donaldson added:
“We’re not certain if this shrapnel was a result of British tank shots or the German artillery fire that British troops were subjected to.
“It’s a heavy lump of metal, typical of the sort that would have been flying around the battlefield. You can only imagine what this would have done had it hit someone.”
Further information
- You can donate to the appeal on The Tank Museum’s website
