The Bannister Historic Armour Collection (BHAC)
THE BRITISH STORY
The Bannister Historic Armour Collection aims at telling the British story of armour in WW2. Although not all originally British-made vehicles, they each played a part in WW2 at the hands of the British army and tell the story of those who served. The collection started with the Stuart M3A1 and has expanded to include more armoured vehicles relevant to this important part of history.
All vehicles have been carefully sourced and are part of a long-term restoration and preservation programme by us to restore each vehicle to factory finish.
More detail on these vehicles can be found in the Journal.
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2026 EVENTS CALENDAR
We've had a busy first half of the year attending Spring Tiger Day, Armour & Embarkation and Tankfest.
For the remainder of 2026, you can see the BHAC in attendance at the below events.
OPERATION MARKET HARBOROUGH
Saturday 1st August - Sunday 2nd August
Line up: Stuart M5, Centaur, Pullman Grant
AUTUMN TIGER DAY
Saturday 26th September
Line up: TBC
If you have an event that may be of interest to us to attend in 2027, please let us know!
William Bannister
THE MAN BEHIND THE COLLECTION
William's fascination with armoured vehicles and tanks began during a childhood visit to the Tank Museum at Bovington.
The Tank Museum is the regimental museum of the Royal Armoured Corps and is home of the UK.’s national collection armoured fighting vehicles – arguably the largest collection in the world.
While growing up, his focus shifted towards building successful businesses. However, his passion for military vehicles was reignited through volunteering at the Museum over the past 20 years. Now serving as a Trustee of the Tank Museum, William has strategically acquired vehicles to bridge gaps in the museum's running collection, enhancing the comprehensive British tank narrative. His aim has been to help to ensure the completeness of the tank history at this renowned institution, for future generations to appreciate and enjoy.
FILM & TV
Historically accurate.
With all vehicles restored to be as complete as possible, it leaves us in a unique position to use vehicles from the collection for film and television work.
Most recently, the M24 Chaffee had a cameo in the World of Tanks "Holiday Ops" trailer.
Previously, BHAC vehicles have also played parts in films such as “Band of Brothers” as well as the documentary series “Tankies: Tank Heros of WWII,” written and hosted by the journalist and historian, Mark Urban.
If you are interested in enquiring on use of vehicles from the collection, please drop an email to BHAC@armoured-engineering.co.uk
Crusader II Restoration
"Vera" & "Lynn"
An ultra-rare pair of Crusader II tanks have recently joined the BHAC, having arrived back on British soil from South Africa after more than 80 years. Currently at the research stage of restoration, these have been moved into secure storage pending a slot in our busy restoration programme. These will be restored to be the only running Crusaders in the world.
Their arrival in the UK was documented in the November 2025 edition of the Classic Military Vehicle (CMV) magazine, where Tim Gosling shed light on some of their history.
When we get started, we'll share more detail on their restoration through our Facebook page. If we're lucky, there could also be a TV series surrounding their restoration.
