(Cleveland) - The International Exposition Center and the Military Vehicle Preservation Association are currently hosting the 42nd Annual MVPA Convention, in conjunction with the Cleveland Tank Plant Homecoming Military Show and Swap Meet. The event began on Thursday.
“I’m excited our annual MVPA International Convention is being held in Cleveland at the I-X Center,” John Cheney II (below), MVPA Event Director told Newsradio WTAM 1100. “Hosted by the Ohio Motorpool, MVPA Affiliate group, the MVPA Convention will headline the Cleveland Tank Plant Homecoming Military Show and Swap Meet. We are thrilled to be back at the ‘Tank Plant’ allowing us to display examples of the many types of armored vehicles produced in Cleveland, in which our nation’s service men fought through several wars.”
The show features vehicles built at the former tank plant, including the M41 Walker Bulldog Tank, M42 Duster, M56 Scorpion, M108 and M109 self-propelled howitzers, and M114 and M551 Sheridan armored vehicles. Also featured in show are military aircrafts, the Liberty Air Museum’s B-25J Mitchel “Georgie’s Gal,” along with other member-owned aircraft.
Known originally as the Cleveland Bomber Plant, and adjoining Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, the building’s large doors are still in place and operational, allowing the display of flying military vehicles on the floor with the show’s ground-bound vehicles.
Cheney lead discussions, planning and negotiations with the management of the I-X Center for the past three years. He explained that combining an MVPA Convention with a large public military show was not an easy task and could only be done in a few places across the nation.
”The I-X Center is a piece of American and Cleveland’s history. This Cleveland Tank Plant Homecoming Military Show and Swap Meet not only showcases the vehicles that were once built here, but also take show-goers back into the rich history of the I-X,” said Bill Perrien, Senior Vice-President for the I-X Center. “We know this show captures the interest of the community by attracting prior employees and families of the two plants. With feature displays of the vehicles manufactured here,the two-and-a-half day public side of the show is expected to draw thousands back to where it all started.”
Cleveland Tank Plant Homecoming Military Show and Swap Meet Show Hours:
Friday, June 23, 2017: 8:00 am - 10:00 pm Saturday, June 24, 2017: 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
The I-X Center was originally built in 1942 as the Cleveland Bomber Plant, but known through most of its history as the Cleveland Tank Plant.
Owned by the War Department during World War II, the facility was operated by General Motors as the Fisher Body Aircraft Plant No.2 and made B-29 bomber components.
In its heyday, the plant employed 15,000 workers, many of whom lived in housing projects built on Triskett and Berea roads and rode to work in a Cleveland Transit System bus dubbed the “Bomber Bus.”
(Photos by Ken Robinson/WTAM
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