The Military Vehicle Technology Foundation was a large collection of military vehicles located in Portola Valley, California . It was founded in 1998 by Jacques Littlefield , and closed in 2018, with its collection being distributed to other museums. Many of its vehicles are now part of the American Heritage Museum run by the Collings Foundation in Stow, Massachusetts .
23-523: The first acquisition was an unrestored M3A1 Scout Car. The first two tanks arrived on site in 1983, and by 1988 the collection comprised five armored vehicles. Subsequent military vehicles and associated equipment were acquired from dealers, collectors, or in trade with various museums or government agencies in the United States and abroad. By the middle of the 1990s the collection included examples from almost all historically significant land battles of
46-583: A substitute for Renault FTs, to depict either American tank actions during World War I or Renaults in use by European armies during and after the War. A M1917, stolen from the Army, is used to rob banks in the rural American west, in an episode of the 1971 television series Bearcats! . Background: History of the tank , Tank classification , Tanks in World War I 304th Tank Brigade The Tank Corps of
69-864: The Bonus Army . George S. Patton Jr. states in his diaries that these vehicles were carried in trucks as a deterrent, but contemporary film shows them moving on their tracks along Pennsylvania Avenue. It is not believed that any shots were fired. In 1940 the Canadian Army bought 250 surplus examples at scrap value (about $ 240 each) and the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps gained valuable experience and training on them before embarking to Europe and using more modern equipment. The Canadian Army took delivery of 236 surplus M1917s. Fifteen of them apparently went to Camp Borden for training use, while others went to train individual units such as
92-620: The Fort Garry Horse and possibly another three. M1917 A1 : In 1929 an M1917 was fitted with a Franklin six-cylinder, 67 hp (50 kW), air-cooled engine. This involved lengthening the engine compartment by approx. 1 foot (30 cm). In 1930-31 seven M1917s were fitted with the 100 hp (75 kW) version of the Franklin. This raised the top speed to 9 mph (14 km/h). Approximately 20 M1917s survive. M1917s were used by U.S. film-makers on numerous occasions as
115-722: The Meuse–Argonne offensive as part of the US V Corps on 26 September. Major Brett assumed command of the 304th after Patton was injured on 26 September, the first day of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive near Cheppy, France. During the war, two members of the Tank Corps (both from the 344th Battalion) were awarded the Medal of Honor ; Donald M. Call and Harold W. Roberts . When the fighting ended on November 11, 1918,
138-619: The Tank Corps , to complement about 200 Renault FTs brought back from France. The M1917 can be distinguished from the Renault FT by means of several external features. The M1917 did not take part in any combat, but was used domestically in various riots to quell mobs such as the Washington race riot of 1919 and the 1920 Lexington riot . In June 1920 the Tank Corps was abolished as a separate branch, and control of tanks handed to
161-667: The 1930s. The United States entered World War I on the side of the Entente Powers in April, 1917, without any tanks of its own. The following month, in the light of a report into British and French tank theories and operations, the American Expeditionary Forces ' commander-in-chief, Gen. John Pershing , decided that both light and heavy tanks were essential for the conduct of the war and should be acquired as soon as possible. A joint Anglo-American program
184-574: The 304th Tank Brigade, commanded by Patton), were the first into combat, beginning with the Battle of Saint-Mihiel as part of the US IV Corps on 12 September 1918. The small French Renault FT tanks they were equipped with found the going hard and many were lost or ran out of fuel crossing the battlefield – the Germans, forewarned, had largely retreated from the salient. The tanks then took part in
207-738: The AEF Tank Corps and the units in the United States had about 20,000 men. The AEF Tank Corps was redeployed after the armistice, with the remaining tank corps personnel transferred back to the United States . The Tank Corps, which formed part of the National Army , was formally disbanded in 1920, when the National Army was demobilized and consolidated into the Regular Army . After transfer to Camp Meade , Maryland,
230-772: The American Expeditionary Forces was the mechanized unit that engaged in tank warfare for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on the Western Front during World War I . Brigadier General Samuel D. Rockenbach , as the Chief of Tank Corps for the American Expeditionary Forces under Pershing, organized, trained, equipped and then deployed the first American tank units to the Western Front of 1918 Europe. An initial plan for 2,000 light Renault FT tanks and 200 heavy British Mark VI tanks
253-709: The US. A requirement of 1,200 was decided, later increased to 4,400, and some sample Renault tanks, plans, and various parts were sent to the US for study. The design was to be carried out by the Ordnance Department, under the job title "Six-ton Special Tractor," and orders for the vehicles placed with private manufacturers. However, the project was beset by problems: the French specifications were metric and incompatible with American (imperial) machinery; coordination between military departments, suppliers, and manufacturers
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#1732787855260276-609: The Vista Verde neighborhood. The ranch was once owned by former San Francisco Mayor and California Governor "Sunny Jim" Rolph . The foundation offered tours of its collection with a mandatory donation until the inventory was transported to the new museum in Stow. In 2012 the foundation started a new program in conjunction with the Boy Scouts of America to start the youth Venturing Crew 551. Crew 551's stated goals were to assist in
299-535: The end of World War I . It was a license -built near-copy of the French Renault FT , and was intended to arm the American Expeditionary Forces in France, but American manufacturers failed to produce any in time to take part in the War. Of the 4,440 ordered, about 950 were eventually completed. They remained in service throughout the 1920s but did not take part in any combat, and were phased out during
322-816: The end of hostilities, and a further eight in December. In the summer of 1918, with no sign of the M1917s and US troops desperately needed at the Front, France supplied 144 Renault FTs, which were used to equip the US Light Tank Brigade . After the war, the Van Dorn Iron Works, the Maxwell Motor Co., and the C.L. Best Co. built 950 M1917s. 374 had cannons, 526 had machine guns, and 50 were signal (wireless) tanks. These were delivered to
345-479: The first half of 1918, the 326th and 327th Tank Battalions were organized at Patton's school, while the 301st Heavy Tank Battalion was raised at Camp Meade , Maryland , USA and transported to the British Tank School at Bovington Camp in southern England, for training. The 326th (under the command of Sereno E. Brett ) and 327th Tank Battalions (later renamed the 344th and 345th and organized into
368-687: The foundation's application in August 2015 but a settlement was eventually reached in July 2017 and construction of the museum was completed in 2018. The museum held a "preview" opening in October 2018 and fully opened in May 2019. The MVTF officially closed for tours on March 25, 2018. The last of the vehicles left the premises on July 30, 2018. M1917 light tank The M1917 was the United States' first mass-produced tank , entering production shortly before
391-532: The infantry. The number of tank units was progressively reduced, and the vehicles mothballed or scrapped. Five accompanied the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Force (the China Marines ) to Tianjin in April 1927 under General Smedley Butler , but there is no record of shots being fired. They returned to the US in late 1928. In July 1932 six M1917s were deployed in Washington D.C. during the dispersal of
414-516: The last half-century. The oldest armored military vehicle in the collection is a World War I era M1917 light tank . The Foundation was established in early 1998. Littlefield's major objective for the Foundation was to preserve the collection for the future. Over 200 armored fighting vehicles were present in the collection, displayed in a 48,000 square feet (4,500 m) exhibition space at Littlefield's 470-acre (190 ha) Pony Tracks Ranch in
437-600: The new American Heritage Museum to display the collection at the Collings Foundation headquarters in Stow, Massachusetts . In 2015, the Stow Planning Board questioned the educational merit of the proposed museum. The educational purpose was needed in order to allow the planned 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m) museum to be built on land that was zoned for residential use. The Planning Board rejected
460-498: The restoration of vehicles, and to help educate the public through tours and presentations about the significance of armored vehicles throughout history. Jacques Littlefield died after a decade-long battle with colon cancer on January 7, 2009. The foundation signed over its collection to the Collings Foundation on July 4, 2013. A year later, the Collings Foundation auctioned off 120 of the vehicles to fund creation of
483-476: Was changed to 20 battalions of 77 light tanks each and 10 battalions of 45 heavy tanks each. A total of eight heavy battalions (the 301st to 308th) and 21 light battalions (the 326th to 346th) were raised, but only four (the 301st, 331st, 344th and 345th) saw combat. Captain George S. Patton , the first officer assigned to the unit, set up a light tank school at Bourg , France, starting on 10 November 1917. In
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#1732787855260506-403: Was poor; bureaucratic inertia, lack of cooperation from military departments, and possible vested interests delayed progress. The Army in France was expecting the first 100 M1917s by April 1918, and 600 per month thereafter. In the event, production did not begin until the autumn, and the first completed vehicles emerged only in October. Two tanks arrived in France on November 20, nine days after
529-609: Was set up to develop a new type of heavy tank similar to those then in use by the British. It was, though, expected that sizeable quantities would not be available until April of the following year. Because of the wartime demands on French industry, the Inter-Allied Tank Commission decided that the quickest way to supply the American forces with sufficient armor was to manufacture the Renault FT light tank in
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