King Tiger to go on display at The Swedish Tank Museum

Published: 31/01/2022

The Tank Museum’s King Tiger V2, the only one of its kind in existence, is going on loan to The Swedish Tank Museum, following an enormous fundraising effort.

The King Tiger has been on loan to the Nationaal Militair Museum in the Netherlands, since leaving its home at The Tank Museum, Bovington, following the end of the Tiger Collection exhibition in early 2020.

The Swedish Tank Museum was keen to display the historic vehicle, while it was still in Europe, but transport was set to cost 35,000 Euros. While a sponsor was willing to pay half, the Museum still needed to raise 18,000 Euros.

A colour image of a line of Second World War German vehicles.
The Tiger Collection reunited every member of the Tiger family at The Tank Museum, 2017. King Tiger V2, far left.

Stefan Karlsson, Museum Director of Arsenalen, The Swedish Tank Museum, “We have been amazed and incredibly pleased by the response we received to this fundraising effort. After just two weeks, we had raised the funds needed from nearly 300 donations, most of which came from Sweden.

A colour image of a man, wearing a Christmas hat, with a Swedish King Tiger tank in the background.
Director of Arsenalen, the Swedish Tank Museum, chose to save the scrapped King Tiger as part of his wishlist for TANKMAS 2020. https://youtu.be/U0GxUGkgNa0

“The Swedish Army used to have a King Tiger, or Kungstiger, with the same type of initial turret as the Bovington V2 prototype. Sadly, it was scrapped in around 1951 after being used as a target for different weapons and ammunition tests; the only thing that was kept was the engine and gearbox.

“We’re delighted to have the opportunity to show this tank to a Swedish audience and give them a chance to see a piece of history that has never been on display in our country before.”

Although less than 500 King Tigers, or Tiger IIs, were produced, they were a formidable weapon and are considered the ultimate development of German tanks during the Second World War.

The King Tiger V2 will be on display at Arsenalen, The Swedish Tank Museum, in early April. Follow the Arsenalen Instagram, Facebook and YouTube for updates and check the Arsenalen website at https://arsenalen.se/en/

Discover the history of the King Tiger tank, from Curator David Willey on The Tank Museum’s YouTube channel.

Skip to content