The Norfolk Tank Museum was founded in 2011 from the private military vehicle collection previously known as Turrets and Tracks by the current chairman, Stephen MacHaye who had been collecting military equipment since childhood. When the museum was founded, many of the vehicles and firearms were from the MacHaye collection that was started in the early 1980s, with the purchase of an Alvis Saladin in 1995 that started the collection of many military vehicles.[citation needed] The Saladin is still on display.[5][non-primary source needed]
In 2017 the Norfolk Tank Museum was approached by Channel 4 with the idea of building a replica Mark IV Female for the TV show Guy Martin's WWI Tank. The hull and many other larger components were manufactured by JCB, with Chasetead manufacturing the track pads, exhaust system, and smaller components. The parts were then sent to the museum for the remaining construction. The museum along with assembling the tank, assembled the engine and transmission. Deborah II was completed to running order in six months and was taken to Cambrai, where the original Deborah had been knocked out by artillery fire 100 years before at the Battle of Cambrai.[6][7]Deborah II is on display at the Norfolk Tank Museum as of 2018,[8][non-primary source needed] whereas Deborah is on display in the town of Flesquières in North East France, it still shows the damage from the battle.[9][10] The museum became a registered charity in November 2018.[11]
The Main Hall contains the bulk of the restored and running vehicles in the Museum as well as small displays about WWI and D-Day. Three of the vehicles (Mark IV, Alvis Saladin and Chieftain) are open for visitors to explore inside.[12]
The Gun Container is a converted shipping container which holds a large display of deactivated firearms dating from the First Boer War to the modern day.[14]
The assault course is a purpose built off-road course behind the museum building that includes various steep hillocks for displaying the off-road capability of the vehicles, some of the static vehicles are also on display in the assault course. The museum has a yearly weekend event called Armourfest where visitors can watch most of the museum's vehicles in motion as well as certain guests military vehicles on the course.[15] Visitors can also ride in the museums Bv 206[16] on most open days across the course for a small extra fee.[17]
The museum also has a purpose built archery range and club which runs on Tuesday evenings. the range can be set up to teach visitors how to fire Air riflesorBows in small groups and is open on the first Sunday of every month.
