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Greetings all,
We had 9 members signed up for the trip, but due to some unfortunate last-minute circumstances, 3 weren’t able to make it. In the end, I think Eric Visnowski summed it up best: “I had very high expectations… and they were exceeded.â€
We knew going in that the logistics of the trip were going to be a project in itself; we had 4 guys flying in from three different airports connecting with 2 two guys who were linking up with the rest at a pre-designated location. Thanks to a flight delay we made it to the museum literally without a minute to spare; pulling into the parking lot at exactly 1:00 PM for the 1:00 PM tour.
And I will say unequivocally that the experience was worth every bit of the expense, planning and last-minute stress we incurred. We were able to view about half of the 300 piece collection, of which about 2/3 was W.W.II-era. Every piece has been fully restored to operational condition, with no expense or detail spared. Even little things like original leather equipment hangers and optical cases, loaded ammo racks, small arms laying on the seats and locked in equipment racks; no detail was overlooked. The docents were incredibly knowledgeable, eager to answer questions, and very friendly. The buildings housing the collection were immaculate and well lit.
The star of the show is the PzKpfw V ausf D Panther. The recovery and restoration of this piece was featured an episode of the Military Channel series “Tank Overhaulâ€. Even sitting quietly in the museum it looks sinister and deadly. And there are of course dozens of other vehicles, and we all had our favorites. The U.S. M3A1 Scout Car looked like one sweet ride. Others that I enjoyed were the SPW 251-1 halftrack, the U.S. M16 “Meat Chopperâ€, the StuG IIIG, the T-34/85 and the British AVRE.
They have a nice line-up of pre-war vehicles, including the PzKpfw IA (found in the AP6 scenario “Far From Homeâ€) and an FT-17 (which shows up in a surprising number of scenarios.) The Cold War line-up is truly impressive, including all the Soviet heavy metal: ISIII, T54, T55, T64 and T72, plus the NATO big-boys: a Centurion, a Leopard and an M-60. They also have some very attractive displays of various small arms, ATR’s, PF’s, a PSK, Piats, AT Guns and a Spanish version of the German 88L AA Gun. I particularly enjoyed a display of a cut-away Sherman turret (with its smoke mortar, opticals, vision slits, MA and CMG) adjacent to a modern M-1 turret for contrast.
It was a pleasure to be able to share the excitement of the experience with my ASL comrades; Eric Visnowski, Hank W., Mike Soffa, Dave Nicholas and Stance Nixon. I have encouraged them to give their own impressions and offer their own comments about their favorite vehicles and displays. Between us we took in excess of 1,200 photos (probably more). We’re going to organize a photo archive with the best of them for the Club website.
If you ever have the opportunity to get to the museum do not hesitate to do so. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. And don’t drag your feet. Since the death of Jacques Littlefield two years ago the collection has been controlled by a foundation. But we’ve been told there’s quite a bit of pressure on the family members to disassemble the collection for benefit other charities.
Gents,
First off, thanks to Stance Nixon for briefing JIm on the Littlefield
Collection at West Coast Melee earlier this year. I think his detailing of the
collection in a discussion he shared with Jim and me was the final push that got
things into high gear. Secondly, a huge thanks to Jim Aikens for putting everything
together in his usual efficient manner. Jim kept the project moving , made the arrange-
ments , coordinated the flights etc. .Thanks also to MIke S, Hank W. and David N for
making the trip a really memorable experience. Without their company I doubt I would
have ever made the trip.
Well, with the academy awards crap out of the way….heres my impression of the
events…Getting There is Half the Fun!
I arrived at LAX , went through the efficient and fast security to find Jim waiting in
SWA gate 2 passenger lounge. We passed the time talking [maybe 15 minutes]
when boarding was announced.We boarded the half empty plane and prepared
for take off. Thats when the fun started. After the passengers setttled in, a crew person
announced that there was a ” mechanical problem” and we would have a delay.These are of course the words no one wants to hear.Especally when it involves
things that FLY, you know? Things that LEAVE THE GROUND ! About every 10 to 15
minutes the crew would announce that we were fuc^ed and had to wait. To emphasize
the point they turned off the A/C.At this point JIm and I were becoming concerned that we might miss our chance
to make the trip. I was about to inquire if there might be another flight when the
crew announced that the repair roll had succeeded and the stripper pole was now
installed. San Jose, here we come!
The flight went well and for me was a blast, as I hadnt been to N Cal in 20 or so years.
Its beautiful country up there… As we got into view of San Jose I was stunned to see the
growth that had occured since my last visit in the 80s. The city is huge! I was also
impressed by the super clean new airport-its one of the nicest airports I have ever seen.We disembarked the plane to search for Mike and Hank,finally locating them by
baggage pick up. After saying hello we made double time to the rental shuttle where
we obtained an M4 A1 Chevy Malibu for the final drive to our objective.We then contacted Stance and David and made our way to rendezvous with
them at Pony Tracks, as the ranch is called. After a drive along some awesome
windy roads we came to the gate which was opened by kindly ghosts, or some dude
watching us on a closed circuit cam. We had arrived!Malice in Wonderland
As you all know, one 500 acre ranch [ at a million an acre] looks pretty much like another.So the thoughtful folks at Pony Tracks saw fit to add a sign that depicted silhouette of a Panther tank . Things got better from there as we wound up the drive way a
hundreds or so and saw a couple AFVs off to the side. We soon came to a U- shaped
building with a courtyard where various Toyotas, Chevys etc were parked.Oh,. and one
30 passenger or so church bus.This gave Jim pause as he was terrified I might fill a swear jar. Fortunately I was on decent to good behavior as I was too excited to get into a good rant.Oh, and the courtyard also happened to have 20 or so tanks parked in it, ho hum.
We unloaded from the Malibu, [1/4 MP] and joined the queue into the building.
Immediately as one enters you see an Americanized Ft17, a Panzer 1, and a British
Mk VI,beyond them the room stretched 150 feet or so and was about 70 feet deep,
and jammed to the hilt with more armor , including the Panther, a Scorpion, an M 37[ think Priest here] various Sherman models , Matilda, T 34/85 etc.This is just a short list of what is contained in the first building. Its utterly amazing.
I have seen armor before, I have even been inside a Sherman M4 [drunk off my ass
and madly turning a manual crank to traverse the turret, til the police showed up]
But thats another story. walking into this building was almost surreal,it was as if
we were walking in the biggest damned counter tray ever built ! To be able to view these machines in close proximity to each other was a learning experience. You could immediately grasp the size, mass and shape differences just by shifting your gaze a few degrees. It was easy to tell which made for an easy target and ascertain the ” intimidation factor” too.In this vein, Jim mentioned the star of the show, the Panther D. I have to tell you
this machine has an aura of menace to it. I mean that literally. The size and shape
seem to have a quality that none of the others shared.There were bigger tanks, more modern tanks, and tanks with bigger guns, but the Panther has something the rest didn't.
If you ask the rest of the guys about this I am sure they will agree.Building 2
Building 2 contained some real treats: a Spanish manufacture copy of the 88 Flakvierling AA gun.Sherman M4 training turret, next to one for the current M1,Bazookas,
RPG7 etc , several MGs [ on the floor! with bipods etc you could have picked it up!]
and an ATR! There were also a few german HTs. loaded with rifles etc as if waiting for their
ghostly crews to materialise and head out for combat[ this was one hell of a detail]
a Stug G3 , Hetzer, Kubelwagen, Schwimwagen and even a Scud missile mobile launching vehicle WITH A SCUD! The most interesting vehicke here for me was something I had never heard of-namely a Bren carrier modified to carry a 37mm atg on a rotating mount.If I recall, this was a version made in Australia for home defense esrly on and not
deployed in combat. Anyone have data on this machine ?Building 3
This was the last of the 3 buildings [ all inter connected] that made up the initial
complex. This contained a number of Soviet and US AFVs Among them were the T 54,M36, M 10 SU 100 and on and on. All the while we were scurrying around taking pics the tour guide was giving his intelligent and informative speech and taking Q&A, at this point you are about 2 hours and change into the tour.]Building 4
The last building promises as much as the first 3. This is a place where each set seems to surpass the previous one. This in the face of seeing the Panther, Pz 4 etc.It just keeps
getting better.. Some of the highlights in 4 were the M 16 Meatchopper, thats the HT withthe 4 50.cals in the rear.This was in pristine shape , totally restored to perfection.
This vehicle was easily as nice as many restored cars I have seen at car shows.
As Jim mentioned , the attention to detail is amazing., There was also a M4 -105 on a lo-boy trailer.This was one of the most interesting of all the Sherman marques to me. One rare machine.They also had a Soviet version of the Schwimm wagen,a few field pieces and a few French A/Cs and a Sov cold war BTR!Thats where the tour ends.We headed back to the parking area and had a brief chat with the tourguides who were nice enough to let us back into the building for a group pic in front of the Panther.They were nice enough to fill us in a bit on how the collection was amassed. Afterwards they managed to sell us Museum T shirts and we had a visit
from the ranch cat, Hitler. Yes, that is the cats name…and when we post the pics, you'll see why.Mission Accomplished
Afterwards we all went to Chilis, lol, not bad, and enjoyed a meal and the inevitable post mortem.I think all of us would make the trip again.Theres nothing else like this on the planet.Theres just so much to see-even though we saw a portion of the collection.
I under stand there are 5 more buildings , one of which houses the mechanical shop.
I have also read that somewhere on the property is one of the ship propellors off the
Lusitania ! Incredible.As Jim mentioned, the future of the foundation is not clear.
Mrs Littlefield doesn't care for tanks and probably the wierdos that like AFVs
I tried to refrain from calling the collection a museum, mainly because you are
not visiting a public museum in the conventional sense. You are visiting these peoples
home. There is a big difference here. A public museum is generally obligated by its nature to grow and maintain a collection.In this case you are going to their home and being gifted
to see their personal efforts and interests bared for good or bad. It also means that the collection can be sold or donated at their whim with no one to contest it.Lastly, from what I have read online -various sources- that this is the largest and most diverse collection of AFVs on the planet.We are lucky to have it in California for the time being.Don't wait too long! If I had one regret about this trip it was that more of us weren't able to make it.I hope circumstances soon allow you all the time for a visit.Hell, maybe
the six of us will join you!Regards, EV
PS, you can reach the collection at http://www.mvtf.org
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