THOUSANDS of tanks, jeeps and motorcycles will converge on the Hop Farm Country Park for what is billed as the world’s largest military display.

The annual KM War and Peace Show is being held at the park, in Beltring, near Paddock Wood, until Sunday, July 23.

The event, now in its 24th year, will include some new attractions, including the chance for enthusiasts to pilot two Second World War planes.

A Tiger Moth and a Harvard Texan - both of which were used to train pilots for combat in Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster Bomber planes - will be available for visitors to test out their flying skills.

Visitors will also have the chance to meet three survivors of Easy Company, whose missions in Europe during the Second World War inspired the book and television series Band of Brothers.

Veterans Don Malarkey, Buck Compton and Forrest Guth will attend show on the Saturday and Sunday.

Another first will be a focus on evacuees from Kent, with displays of their suitcases and gas masks and stories of children’s journeys away from the blitzed Home Counties.

More than 100,000 people are expected to visit the Hop Farm for the event, and most of them will be drawn by its ever-popular displays and re-enactments.

More than 3,500 military vehicles take part in the show, many of them used in "living history" exhibitions which re-enact battles from the World Wars and more recent conflicts, including Vietnam.

Arena displays will include thundering tank exhibitions on the Friday, and a mix of armoured vehicles, jeeps and some of the oddball vehicles of the time on the Saturday.

Elsewhere on the 250-acre park – all of which will be used for the show – visitors will find displays of 1940s fashion and beauty, jeep and helicopter rides, book signings and a vast collectors’ fair with more than 1,000 stalls.

Rex Cadman, KM War and Peace Show organiser, said: "This show is absolutely unique. It is an opportunity to get close to parts of history that we wouldn’t often be able to.

"It provides a thoroughly enjoyable day out and is also one of the best ways to preserve our history and heritage."