National World War II Museum, New Orleans (Pic Heavy)

[GoldenRivet]

Evening Gents and Ladies

December 10th through 13th, My wife and i celebrated our 1 year anniversary in New Orleans, Louisiana. While it is true that we did engage in several sultry, and sinful behaviors in more than a few locales of ill repute, we cannot share those images on this forum sadly. But... of perhaps greater interest to this audience is our visit to the National World War Two Museum. I have to say it is one of the very best i have had the pleasure of visiting and i highly recommend it to anyone who gets the chance. Theatrical Production, quality of presentation, quality of the displays, the full bar and cafe are all of the highest quality and exceeded my expectations.

I regret to report that the merchant marine and u-boat history was very poorly represented with only a few displays shown along a small footpath. though they did have a nice U.S.S. Tang interactive experience which simulates tang's final moments during her circle run torpedo encounter, unfortunately, time constraints prevented us from enjoying the Tang attraction as it is only available periodically throughout the day. So... here are the images we captured and wanted to share with you all. I have provided a caption on some of them where additional information is available, of some interest, or perhaps not immediately apparent in the image captioned.

please enjoy

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Clean and clear facade with convenient parking, beautiful yet simple presentation

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Immediately upon entering the Boeing center, one is overwhelmed by the four story presentation of the suspended displays

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numerous tracked and wheeled vehicles are also presented in the Boeing Center, some of which are in running / working order and able to drive under own power

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This Avenger bomber is painted in the markings of Lt. Thomas C. Lupo's aircraft which made numerous attack runs on IJN Yamato. Reportedly, once his ordinance was expended, he made dry runs against the Yamato throwing out loose articles by hand (including an empty coke bottle) at bridge crew

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Jeep with carrier pigeon roost in tow

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Jeep and ambulance as viewed from second floor catwalk

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B-17 "My Gal Sal" as viewed from the second floor catwalk. This particular aircraft is the original "My Gal Sal" which was forced to land on an ice pack due to bad weather where it languished for decades but was recovered, restored to museum display quality and easily dominates the Boeing Center at the Museum. The Corsair in the background is painted in the markings of the "black sheep squadron" VMF-214.

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"My Gal Sal" presented from the fourth floor catwalk

[GoldenRivet]

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B-24 Liberator Cockpit

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U-Boat Bridge Crew leather gear with side cap, commanders hat. also present... a shell casing recovered from U-boat wreck

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list of survivors and the dead, along with items recovered from sunken merchant ship

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various manuals, training publications produced for the merchant marines

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C-47 hangs ready to drop paratroopers

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Letter donated to the museum addressed to a Mr Oglesby of Shreveport, LA. When read of the surroundings of the museum it helps to drive home the feeling of loss and sadness many thousands of fathers, mothers, family and friends experienced during the war years when receiving such letters

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The gracious and lovely spitfire; i was unable to get a better shot due to a section of catwalk being inaccessible during my visit to this area but she is majestic from any angle

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~cheers friends. Hope you enjoyed the images half as much as we enjoyed these Hurricanes from Pat O'Brien's

[Schroeder]

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.:yeah:

[August]

Indeed very nice! :salute:

[Jimbuna]

Great shots John and congratulations to Jame and you on your anniversary :sunny:

[Aktungbby]

http://s9.postimg.org/ek4p5q6vj/DSCN2474.jpgU appear none the worse for wear!:Dhttp://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/903/lczkVn.jpga year later! Well done :salute: :O:

[GoldenRivet]

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed the pictures.

I look none the worse for wear because i was on a work deployment from April to just 12 days ago. I had made visits home of course, but my 12 months of being married translated to about 4 cumulative months in all at home :doh:

[Commander Wallace]

Congratulations on your 1 year anniversary . The pictures are awesome. It's always great to see museum pictures like these . Thanks for taking the time out to take and post them . Is that P-51 D mustang of the Red Tail Squadron in one of the pictures ? If so , That Mustang is a great piece of history .

Happy Holidays and all the best in the New Year to both of you.

[AVGWarhawk]

Looks like a great museum. Thanks for sharing!

Happy anniversary!

[fireftr18]

Congratulations.
Thanks for sharing the pics.

[nikimcbee]

Did you find the PT Boat?

[Aktungbby]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/DDayMuseumHigginsCannons.jpg/800px-DDayMuseumHigginsCannons.jpgI wondered since you didn't mention it, but it's in the C-47 background pic, the local New Orleans boy that made good..the critical weapon of 'Merican-style Amphibious Warfare: the Higgins boat, Some may wonder why The National WWII Museum is located in New Orleans, a city known for other tourism sites but which is not usually associated with 20th-century military history. The Museum opened as the D-Day Museum, focusing on the amphibious invasion of Normandy, then opening a second gallery exploring the amphibious invasions of the Pacific War (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_War). As the Higgins boats (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgins_Boats) vital to amphibious operations were designed, built, and tested in New Orleans by Higgins Industries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgins_Industries), the city was the natural home for such a project. Said Eisenhower(and he outta' know:doh:): "Higgins won the war for us." Arguably the highwater mark of the D-Day iconic photo: A Higgins boat at Omaha beach...:salute: http://i1.wp.com/acontinuouslean.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/10ehixf.jpeg?resize=575%2C435

[GoldenRivet]

Did you find the PT Boat?

It is housed in the restoration pavilion currently, which i didnt even know was a thing until after i had already left :nope:

currently not much more than a hull i think though

[GoldenRivet]

Is that P-51 D mustang of the Red Tail Squadron in one of the pictures ?

it is :salute:

[Schroeder]

BTW is that Me 109 a replica? It doesn't have any wheels in it's wheel wells.:hmm2:

[GoldenRivet]

BTW is that Me 109 a replica? It doesn't have any wheels in it's wheel wells.:hmm2:

bare bones static display, im sure its just a hull

[u crank]

Great pics GR. Thanks for sharing. :salute:

[GT182]

PT-305 is 95% complete in it's restoration. This Higgins boat sank 2 German vessels during WII, and like all Higgins boats was built in New Orleans, Louisiana. I has seen and touched her, I even got to stand on her deck back in 2011. I even have a section of her original decking.

This coming May could be her launch date out on Lake Pontchartrain. And if I can save the money I plan on being there.

Take a look here. There's even a short video to watch from WWL-TV.
http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=415745d1b76fbd303119c3f9a&id=52b528d8a9&e=12831098bb

[Aktungbby]

Perhaps we should move this fine post to GoldenRivet's recent thread on the WWII National Museum?:hmmm: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=223347 (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=223347)

[GT182]

I didn't know there was another tread on it. So if you want to move it Aktungbby it's ok by me. :up:

[GT182]

I was there in 2011. I see things have changed in a big way since then. Great photos GR.

Somewhere at the museum there should be a canvas print of a Ball Turret Gunner with the million dollar stare. I sent it to a friend of mine and he took it down to them. I'll have to find my photo of it and post it here.

[Jimbuna]

Threads merged.