Museum approved for WW2 amphibious landing craft

Plans have been approved for a new museum in Crowland to house the Buffalo LVT

A museum will be built in Lincolnshire to house a World War Two landing craft after an application was granted.

The Buffalo LVT (landing vehicle, tracked) was dug up by volunteers in Crowland in 2021.

The amphibious vehicle was brought to Lincolnshire to act as a temporary dam in 1947- but was swept away and buried in mud.

Volunteers dug it out, restored it and applied for planning permission for a museum.

The Crowland Buffalo LVT Association applied for the planning application in a former farm building on Kennulphs Farm, Wrights Grove, in Crowland, near Spalding.

Daniel Abbott,44, from the association said the approval was “outstanding news”.

“It is vital to bring history to the public.

“If we can educate our younger generation to keep our history going then that will last for generations,” Mr Abbott said.

'Just a myth'

The amphibious vehicle was one of 16 deployed to the town in March 1947 after floods caused the nearby River Welland to burst its banks.

They were used to form a temporary flood defence, but as the flood water was pumped back, five of the 26ft-long (8m) machines floated away.

Daniel Abott recalls stories his grandfather would tell about the lost Buffalo LVT which some in Crowland regarded as nothing more than a myth.

Daniel Abott's grandfather Norman Manser

“My grandfather pestered me for years to find it as people thought it was just a myth.

“People said we were wasting people’s time, the army tried to recover it in 1947 but failed but then we found it.”

Mr Abbott said he would like to see the museum ready in time for the 80th anniversary of VE Day in 2025.

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