Good Museums.

Discussion in 'WW2 Museums. Events, & places to see.' started by von Poop, Jun 4, 2006.

Tags:
  1. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi kopite,

    I agree, indeed the whole of the Pier Head development is excellent and a pleasure to visit. I was able to walk almost the entire distance that incorporated the docks, including where the Liverpool Regiment battalions embarked for India.
     
    kopite likes this.
  2. Aaron Simmons

    Aaron Simmons Member

    Wings museum in Sussex, www.wingsmuseum.co.uk

    Fantastic museum, have a lot of exhibits that you will not find anywhere else in the U.K., they also have a workshop that you can have a tour of to see what they are currently restoring.

    They do have a few ongoing projects, A26 invader cockpit, P63 king cobra full restoration, Jumo 211 restoration, merlin XX from Halifax JD150 (this will run), A15 turret and a few more.

    Open weekends 10-5 march to October
     
  3. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Regarding the Canadian War Museum, I noticed that the comments about it are from ~10 years ago. Since then the museum has moved to a new building with an attached research centre. I would say it's pretty good... however, if you intend to look at the tanks, they are mostly parked close together against a wall, and it's not possible to walk all around them.
     
  4. Marco

    Marco Senior Member

    Visited Madjanek concentration camp last year, the most complete wooden baracks KZL in exsistance. Well worth a visit when you find yourself in East Poland.

    MIL0943-23.jpg
     
    Sapper D. likes this.
  5. vac

    vac Active Member

    La Coupole in northern France about a 30-45 minute drive from Calais depending on whether you take the toll road. This was to be a permanent V2 launch site but never completed. A marvellous museum, covering the invasion, BEF retreat, life under occupation (plus a load of stuff about rockets and space exploration which is a separate part.
     
  6. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    I visited "Cornwall's Regimental Museum" (the DCLI museum, more or less) in Bodmin today. Thought it was VERY good. Admittedly as far as regimental museum goes, I only have a couple in Canada to compare it with, but I guess the museum benefitted from being housed in the old barracks which means it has more room - two floors.

    My favorite item on display is a banjo from the Italian campaign. I'm not sure whether it actually had the D-Day Dodgers lyrics inscribed on the back, but all over the banjo are inscribed the names of locations the owner had been (I presume).

    I put an image of the museum and a couple of bits of tongue-in-cheek war art up in a gallery: DCLI Museum | WW2Talk

    P.S. At this moment they have a sale on the reprint of The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry 1939-1945 by Major Godfrey - just 5 pounds instead of 24!
     
  7. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    I have an inkling that one battalion of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry had a somewhat 'famous' C.O. during the Second World War?

    Was it Taylor or something?

    Memory is not doing the business.

    Edit: 5th Battalion: Lieutenant Colonel G.Taylor (later Brigadier). This has been on my 'to buy' list for a while:

    Screen Shot 2018-06-27 at 01.59.02.png

    During World War II, though belonging to the West Yorkshire Regiment, Taylor was, on landing in Normandy, Second in Command of the 1st Battalion, The Worcestershire Regt. and later took command of the 5th Battalion, (Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry), after they had been decimated on the notorious Hill 112, the "Corner Stone" of the battle. From these shattered remnants the author shaped one of the most efficient fighting forces in the whole campaign and received two DSO’s during the fighting, including one for leading the epic dash through the German lines in an heroic effort to reach the pinned down 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem.
     
    Last edited: Jun 26, 2018
    Chris C likes this.
  8. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Hopefully I'll get to read about it in Godfrey's history!

    Owen amusingly pointed out that I had uploaded the Libya "map" a second time instead of the Hill 112 "sitrep". I've corrected that and you can see the Hill 112 sitrep here:

    Hill 112 sitrep | WW2Talk
     
    17thDYRCH likes this.
  9. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    The Keep Military Museum (Dorchester) - Very good. Really liked being able to get a good look at a 25-pounder with all the equipment to set its angle of fire. They also had an artillery plotting device to go with a map - all in all I really feel like I got a good idea about how artillery was directed with any kind of accuracy.

    The Rifles Museum (Winchester) - I was less keen on this. Partly because so many units have now been folded into the Rifles, partly because there was a lot of focus on the 19th century, and I'm not that keen on the Napoleonic period, or conflicts to extend or defend the empire.

    Hampshire Regimental Museum (Winchester) - I was more partial to this even though it's much smaller. Had a lovely chat with the caretaker, an octogenarian ex-Fusilier who as a child during WW2 was nearly sunk in a ship taking him in Canada. (They got picked up and got taken back to the UK). I was quite intrigued by one of a set of rare badges - apparently only 200 - for the action of 155 Battery RA and the 5th Hampshires against the Germans at Beja.

    The Tank Museum (Bovington) - overwhelming! Best bits: meeting my email contact about archives, and getting to chat with one of the restorers of the Matilda II about their last minute technical problems which prevented it from running that weekend. (A gearbox issue)
     
    Smudger Jnr likes this.
  10. Uncle Target

    Uncle Target Mist over Dartmoor

    Bit of a blinder as I've never been but got a lot of help from Mersea Island Museum see this link to Images War:
    You might want to move this but being a new boy here it is.
    Mersea Island Museum - Images
     
  11. Uncle Target

    Uncle Target Mist over Dartmoor

    Spent many a happy weekend on the ranges and on courses at Whittington Barracks the Staffordshire Regiment Museum is local to me so I guess I am biased.
    The Staffordshire Regiment Museum
     
    Chris C likes this.
  12. bofors

    bofors Senior Member

    HI
    If in Queensland you should visit this museum-
    Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum, Queensland
    It has "the most significant collection of Gallipoli medals in the world. The room holds the medals of 120, mostly Australian, soldiers decorated at Gallipoli and the medals of 66 officers of the 507 Australians and New Zealanders killed there."
    regards

    Robert
     
  13. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Have any forum members visited the WW2 museum in Catania, Sicily?
    I am travelling to Sicily next week and will be staying just north of Catania, so any comments on the museum would be appreciated.
    Regards
    Tom
     
  14. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Dave55 likes this.
  15. Aixman

    Aixman War Establishment addict Patron

  16. slick

    slick Junior Member

    Spent a long weekend in Brittany and popped into the 'Musee Memoires 39-45' in Plougonvelin. Definately worth a visit, the museum is housed in a WW2 bunker over several floors with many displays.... Home - Musée Mémoire 39-45
     
    Dave55 and Chris C like this.
  17. Owen likes this.
  18. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  19. 8RB

    8RB Well-Known Member

    Musee la Percee du Bocage (Musée 44 | La Percée du Bocage) at Saint Martin des Besaces, some 25 miles inland from the Normandy beaches, and focussing on Operation Bluecoat, taking place in the area from 30 July to 7 August 1944. Not just the museum but also the surrounding area from Caumont to Presles (all of which seems to have remained much the same since 1944) is very much worth a visit. Attached photos are of Saint Martin des Besaces and Presles. Both locations look virtually the same today.

    13.01 - Crossroads at Saint Martin des Besaces B8292.jpg

    13.04 - 8RB Presles - IWM B8584.jpg
     
    Bleblond likes this.
  20. Grasmere

    Grasmere Well-Known Member

    Hangar 42 Spitfire Museum, Blackpool (really good exhibits on WW2 sorties, Amy Johnson and aircraft exhibits being restored on site), and Western Approaches, Liverpool, (fascinating look around secret bunker underneath the city centre including operations room that was the nerve centre of the Battle of the Atlantic, left exactly as it was when the building closed in 1945).
     

Share This Page