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The Tank Museum and YouTube creator Joe Hewes recovered a derelict British Conqueror tank from a swampy Ministry of Defence gunnery range. With its tracks missing and its road wheels sunk into the ground, the tank had to be lifted in place, fitted with replacement tracks and winched onto a transporter. The recovery supplied parts for a museum restoration and involved a site where unexploded munitions could be present.
Joe Hewes, host of the Mr Hewes YouTube channel, and staff from The Tank Museum recovered a derelict British Conqueror tank from a swampy Ministry of Defence gunnery range, where it had been used for target practice. Because the roughly 65-ton tank was missing its tracks and its road wheels had sunk into the ground, the team had to raise it in place before fitting replacement tracks and hauling it away.
The Conqueror was missing its turret and main gun, which the museum needed for a restoration project. The source report says those components were available on the derelict vehicle at the range. The tank itself lacked its engine and transmission, but still weighed enough to make a conventional tow risky: without tracks, its road wheels could dig into the soft ground rather than spread its weight across the surface.
The Ministry of Defence required the tracks to be refitted before it would permit the recovery, according to The Drive’s report. That was also a safety concern because the vehicle was in a live-fire area where unexploded mines and artillery shells might remain beneath the surface. The report does not say that any ordnance was found during the operation.
Hewes brought in two former British Army Foden heavy recovery trucks to lift the tank out of the earth so replacement tracks could be installed. A U.S. military Oshkosh M1070 transporter then winched the Conqueror onto its tracks and hauled it from the site on a trailer. The report describes the recovery as a prolonged operation and points to a video documenting the work.
A Missing Piece of Tank History
The recovery provides parts for The Tank Museum’s Conqueror restoration and preserves a vehicle tied to an important period in British military design. The Conqueror was developed as a heavier companion to the Centurion in response to Soviet heavy tanks, including the IS-3. Although the design was not a lasting success, it helps explain the path from the Centurion to the later Chieftain.
The operation also shows why recovering a historic vehicle is not simply a matter of attaching a winch. The missing tracks, deeply sunk wheels and possible unexploded ordnance shaped what the team could safely do. Those constraints required specialist recovery vehicles and permission from the Ministry of Defence, rather than an ordinary tow.
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Why the Conqueror Was Abandoned
In the early Cold War, NATO countries pursued heavier tanks in response to Soviet designs. The United States produced the M103, while Britain developed the Conqueror as a bigger counterpart to its Centurion. The report characterizes both heavy-tank approaches as limited by their size and slower performance as technology advanced.
The recovered Conqueror had been left at a U.K. Ministry of Defence gunnery range and used as a target. It had sat there for decades; the Mr Hewes video title describes it as abandoned for 58 years. The source report does not provide an exact date for when the tank was left or when the recovery took place.
“The only way the Ministry of Defence would allow the recovery to proceed was by reinstalling the tracks.”
— The Drive report
Details Still Missing From the Record
The report does not give the recovery date, final destination or current restoration schedule. It says the museum was restoring a Conqueror and that the recovered vehicle carried needed parts, but does not specify whether the turret and main gun have since been removed or installed on the museum’s tank.
The source also does not say whether unexploded munitions were found, how the range was checked before work began, or the exact equipment configuration used for each lift. The risk of buried ordnance is described as a site hazard, not as a confirmed discovery during the recovery.
The Museum’s Restoration Work
The immediate next step indicated by the report is the use of the recovered turret and main gun in The Tank Museum’s Conqueror restoration. The museum has not, in the supplied material, announced a completion date or detailed restoration timetable.
Hewes’s video documents the recovery, while further updates from the museum would be needed to confirm how the parts are being used and when the restored tank may be presented. Until then, the confirmed outcome is that the derelict Conqueror was removed from the range and transported away.
Key Questions
Why did the Conqueror need its tracks before it could be moved?
The tracks spread the tank’s weight across a wider surface. Without them, the report says the road wheels could dig into the swampy ground during a tow, potentially making the vehicle harder to recover.
How was the tank lifted?
Two former British Army Foden heavy recovery trucks lifted it out of the ground so a replacement set of tracks could be fitted.
What pulled the Conqueror from the site?
A military Oshkosh M1070 winched the tank onto its tracks and hauled it away on a trailer, according to the report.
Why did The Tank Museum need the derelict tank?
The museum was restoring another Conqueror and needed the abandoned vehicle’s turret and main gun, which the report says were available from the range vehicle.
Were unexploded munitions found during the recovery?
The report says mines and artillery shells might have remained beneath the surface at the former live-fire site, but it does not confirm that any were found during the operation.
Source: thedrive.com
