Tanks for the Memories

TANKS A LOT: Memorial Day, we headed north to Everett, to the Flying Heritage Collection's annual Tankfest event. 

There, we got to see an assortment of vintage vehicles in action. There was this old Plymouth found in a barn not too long ago ... 

There were personnel transporters of various vintages.

I liked this non-motorized one!

Here's another two-wheeled model, this one with a motor.

We heard the BOOM! of big artillery ... 

 and enjoyed the beats of Blue Thunder.

Here's CJ's review of our Tankfest experience ...

Tankfest Northwest 2016 was an event at Paul Allen's Flying Heritage Collection displaying, as its name implies, several tanks, primarily used in World War I and World War II. According to the schedule, the "opening ceremony" was supposed to be at 11:00 A.M., but was delayed by an hour, apparently to let people who were in line into the show. Tankfest Northwest's opening involved firing a tank-sized gun known as the Flak 37, which was very loud when fired. Apparently, the machine was used by the German military during World War II, originally using it as an anti-air weapon. Eventually, they discovered that it was effective against really most opposing weapons, so they used the Flak 37 as an "anti-everything" weapon, as the host put it.

Although the premise of an event where you could stay and learn about several different military vehicles sounded neat, there were less-than-impressive parts of the event. As I mentioned earlier, the event was delayed by an hour. Instead of having a large field for the tanks and vehicles to roll around in, there was a very small, fenced area for the tanks to rush through. Because the tanks were going by quickly, and the announcer was talking rather slowly, it could be difficult to actually learn about the tanks, or even keep track of them. Lastly, most of the audience had to stand on hard, hot pavement, packed against one another, which got uncomfortable very quickly. Being in the cluster could also make it difficult to see. 

Overall, although the premise sounded like a nice idea, I was not impressed with Tankfest Northwest 2016.

I'd like to say CJ was wrong, but his review is pretty spot on. The venue arrangement was pretty horrible./inadequate. 

My favorite part of the show was a spry little tank tearing around at up to speeds of 40 MPH.

And then there was the 'sideshow' part of the show, a guy from Tacoma pulling a lot of weight. Specifically, a Russian tank atop a flatbed truck.

The total weight pulled was 57 tons, per event organizers. Mark Kirsch, of Tacoma was the guy doing the pulling. 

 He kind of made it look easy!

All in all, it was an interesting day, and we saw things we'll never see elsewhere. But unless they change the layout of the festivities dramatically, I can't imagine ever going back.