Good Museums.

For any of you guys in the Philadelphia region the Willow Grove Naval Air Station has an aviation museum with a beautifully restored Messerschmitt Me 262. Had a chat with one of the volunteers there who was a gunner on B-17's in Europe. Very nice little museum.

 

Bruntingthorpe aerodrome has a cold war museum. I never got to see it when I was there recently visiting the Vulcan. But a quick scan around the outside exibits graveyard revealed some interesting stuff though. I think I saw a Victor, a Sea Vixen, Buccaneer, Hunters a pair of Lightnings set back in a mock dispersal area. There is a huge Super Guppy type transport plane too.
Worth a visit if you might be out Vulcan spotting soon.

 

Has everyone seen this website? Army Museums Ogilby Trust

Duxford is a must! I have been many times over the years and it just gets better and better. I went with the Scouts (many moons ago) and had my first glider lesson there; flying around above the airfield, to a young Scout, was like being Bader in WW2....albeit without an engine!!

I did like the RMP Museum in Chichester, but that has moved since the RMP pulled out of Roussillon Barracks. My first visit there was in 1985 about 2 months before I joined the RMP (very short career for a gobby, know-it-all 18 year old).

The Wardrobe is another favourite, but Hendon is on our black list! Three times Jean (my better half who loves military history....I'm really lucky there!) and I've been and three times the WW1 section has been closed; we won't be going back there!

Eden Camp was one of those spur of the moment visits, and it was enjoyable.

IWM London, well what can I say? Brilliant, with just enough varied items to keep people interested.

 

I'd have to say
Musée Airborne, Sainte-Mere-Eglise Document sans titre
Memorial Pegasus, Ranville Normandy 1944 - Musée du débarquement - Memorial Pegasus - Comité du débarquement
Centre Juno Beach, Courselles-sur-Mer Juno Beach Centre
Utah Beach Museum, Sainte-Marie-du-Mont Utah Beach - D Day, june 6th, 1944 - Museum

 

It used to be possible to go inside a submarine at Laboe , near Kiel . I believe there's also a submarine museum nearby .
I think if you put "U995 at Laboe" into google you will find a connection .
Linden

 

If its Tanks, Bovington is very good but equally is the French Army Tank museum at the French Cavalry Barracks at Saumur. It has been reported that De Gaulle and Patton were on the same tank course here in 1923.

French Resistance.Go to the museum at Malestroit (south west of Rennes,Brittany) for a first class account of the resistance activies in Brittany.

For an SOE background go to the Resistance Museum at Blois beside the Loire which gives a good account of clandestine activities in the Sologne.Then venture just south of here and pay a visit the the SOE Memorial at Valencay to appreciate the tremendous sacrifice of the British and French agents of F Section.

For Bomber Command and Fighter Command of old,visit the BBMF hanger at RAF Coningsby and view the Hurricane and Spitfire collection together with the Lancaster,now depicted as No 550 Squadron's Phantom of the Ruhr. Then go up the road to the former RAF East Kirkby and have a look at "Just Jane" with a good collection of RAF gear in the hanger.

 

Chino California: The Plames of Fame Museum. Best collection of WW2 airworthy aircraft in the world.
Planes of Fame Air Museum ~ Official Site

March AFB, Riverside California: Huge collection of prop and jet aircraft on static display. Next to this museum is a P38 museum.
March Field Air Museum

Corregidore Island: In the Philipines. This whole island is one big museum, left in its state as it existed in the summer of 1945.

Yasakuni Shrine, Tokyo, Japan: This is where the Imperial Japanese war Museum is located. Small, but it has some little seen Japanese weapons.

 

It must be interesting to to go back in time and visit Corregidor which I believe is hard to access and so has not been ravaged by vandalism.Fort Drum,I suppose is the same as Corregidor.

Chino, was that the place in the desert which acted as the ideal storage area?.I think it was a US Navy facility.I think the Duxford B29 was first disposed of here.

 

You're thinking of Davis-Monthan airbase near Tuscon. Thats where most of the 4 engined bombers from WW2 were disposed of (and still is today, the "graveyard" of the armed forces retired aircraft).

Chino is a suburb of Los Angeles, and it actually was an AAF training field in WW2.

I think Fort Drum is a war "grave" and not open for visitors. Corregidore is in fine condition, as long as you accept that a lot of the decay and damage was caused by two major battles and 65 years of jungle growth.

 

Speaking of graveyards!







View attachment 10610

 

No, it was not Davis-Monthan,I think the actual place would better known as Chino Lake which is well into the desert from L.A and as I said was a US Navy facility.In the past I have located it from a AAA map

Regarding Corregidor, there was a film in the past which used Corregidor as the scene throughtout the feature.The leading actor, I think was was Doug McQuire but the backdrops were all quality shots of the fortress.

The location now springs to mind,It would be China Lake.Does that make sense?

 

Actor Doug McClure? Who you might remember from such films as "The land that time forgot", "At the earths core" and "Warlords of Atlantis". Not forgetting of course his role as Trampas in "The Virginian".

 

The Longest 100 Miles 1967 (Escape from Bataan)?

 

Has anyone been to the Royal Armouries in Leeds? Me and my mate's on about going at the end of the month. I've had a quick look on google but haven't seen any decent pictures of any of the exhibitions.

Any first hand reviews would be appreciated.

cheers
marcus

 

Went there a while back with the esteemed Von Poop . Spent a very long day watching some jousting and falconry in the outdoor arena, some very good first person costumed reenactors telling stories of great battles. A bloke called Frank was excellent on medieval combat, and did a fantastic retelling of the battle of Towton. We sat crosslegged on the floor, enthralled before a video of the making of a Japanese sword. Some galleries did look a little under funded, missing lightbulbs, information cards and the like. But well worth a visit. I must go back.

 

Cheers Bod. What's the WW2 section like?