Somehow ended up on this Wikipedia page, and apparently this super heavy tank was discovered in a field, covered in brush, by Ft Belvoir, VA. It had been there for 27 years.

How does that happen? Like an entire base got essentially got locked down when someone couldn't find their rifle.

Likewise, I think our Spirit of '02 cannon was just found in a ravine during a bonfire cut. Was it just that easy to abandon military hardware back then?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T28_super-heavy_tank

I'd wager it was just abandoned for lack of caring. Designed for the end of WWII and only had 2 prototypes built. By the time it would see action it would be obsolete.

But still, can you imagine a HMMWV going missing? Or a howitzer? I mean, I signed for 4 assault packs for my guys in one of my units. Not even the contents, just 4 empty packs. I'm just curious how someone drives a tank to the field and just leaves it there. Maybe it was intentional and the paperwork just got lost over the course of a few decades, and the memory of what happened also faded.

I'd guess it suffered the same fate of so many farm tractors, implements, and other mobile construction equipment you sometimes see abandoned in the countryside. It broke down and no one took the time to retrieve or fix it. At almost 100 tons, that's no easy tow.

I may be wrong but Lake Tholocco (or however it's spelled) at Ft Rucker drained itself in 1990 due to some malfunction and they found a submerged helicopter. And my unit in Vietnam had an extra off the books helicopter maintenance built from a crashed one that was supposed to be destroyed. It was always kept operational so it could be flown away if any unannounced inspectors showed up, which they did even over there. They drove off with our extra Jeep one day that our CO was using (which he didn't know was an extra Jeep).

Lots of "special units" there. Maybe they got it for something and then abandoned it once they were done. Because special units have money growing out of their ears!

Saw this in person at the Patton Museum many years ago. It is a beast.

Know someone running a museum in pearl.... all the ships and museums are on a first name basis with EOD. There has been some SERIOUS unexplored ordinance found under desks in cardboard boxes!!

Moy said:

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I'd guess it suffered the same fate of so many farm tractors, implements, and other mobile construction equipment you sometimes see abandoned in the countryside. It broke down and no one took the time to retrieve or fix it. At almost 100 tons, that's no easy tow.

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They threaten to keep you at work 24 hrs around the clock when sensitive items are not accounted for.

A tank?

"Lost" can be a relative term.

My dad was visiting me at Knox in 08 while I was attending AOBC. We visited the Armor museum and when we saw this particular tank he laughed. He remembered playing on it with his friends when his father was assigned to Belvoir in the early/mid 50s. This was when the Engineer Branch was still headquartered there and they would often use this tank as gauge the strength of bridges being tested.

Sounds like it was supposed to be destroyed and someone decided they knew a great place to hide it instead of disassembly for weeks.

Probably drove out there and drank beer next to it instead.

Sometimes old armored vehicles are used for target practice.

bigtruckguy3500 said:

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Somehow ended up on this Wikipedia page, and apparently this super heavy tank was discovered in a field, covered in brush, by Ft Belvoir, VA. It had been there for 27 years.

How does that happen? Like an entire base got essentially got locked down when someone couldn't find their rifle.

Likewise, I think our Spirit of '02 cannon was just found in a ravine during a bonfire cut. Was it just that easy to abandon military hardware back then?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T28_super-heavy_tank

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Thank you for posting OP! My Dad went through Engineer Officer Candidate School at Ft. Belvoir in 1944. Based on Dad's oral stories about Engineer OCS and his unpublished memoirs, I would think you could hide a tank at Ft. Belvoir. He often talked about the forests at Ft. Belvoir and working night (and day) problems there.

In the following excerpt he states, "The culmination of the [Engineer] OCS course was what they called The Forty Hour Problem. On Thursday, we attended training and classes as usual. At 4 PM we fell in with full field pack and did not return until 8 AM Saturday morning. During those forty hours we cleared a mine field in a marsh, put troops across a river on small boats, built a pontoon bridge, built a Bailey Bridge, laid out new mine fields, installed simulated explosives on bridges - all under battle conditions with no lights at night. Every once in awhile, we could catch a short nap, but we were in the same clothes all the way........ "