The Liberty Aviation Museum - Part 2

There's lots to see at the museum:

If you have interest in the naval side of World War 2, they have not one, but two PT boats undergoing restoration.  Once restored, they plan to give tours on Lake Erie in them.

 

To defend the airfield and the PT Boats they have multiple German small arms:

And if that's not enough they have some German Flak guns:

That's a 20mm to the left and a 37mm to the right of it.

 

If you get hungry, they have a German field Kitchen, complete with a mounted machine gun, though the Tin Goose diner next door has far better food.

They also have multiple World War 2 Vehicles on display:

 

 

 

It's a very impressive collection, and that's not all of it.

Well worth a visit to see these amazing historical artifacts in person.

The Liberty Aviation Museum

At Port Clinton airport, while waiting for the eclipse we toured the Liberty Aviation Museum.

The Museum has been growing steadily since it was opened at the airport in 2011. It has a very friendly staff and enthusiastic docents wandering around sharing their love of hisotry and knowledge of the artifacts on display.

It has a rather eclectic range of exhibits and restoration activities, and it is not all aviation related.

This range includes informs and costumes. 

Early airline uniforms:

The original uniforms worn int he series Hogan's Heroes:

The uniform Charlie Sheen worn as the Wild Thing, Ricky Vaughn in Major League:

The bathrobe worn by Alan Alda in MASH:

Pretty cool stuff.

Of course there are airplanes:

Georgie's Gal, a B-25 in flying condition.

A PBY Catalina undergoing restoration:

The PBY is a lot bigger in person than you would think from this picture. It's huge.

There's also a couple Ford Trimotors undergoing restoration to flying status.

A beautiful Stearman was on display:

A beautifully restored TBF Avenger, with its wings folded, was in the hangar:

Lots of things to see, with more pictures to follow.

The Queen's Own Rifles Museum - The Fenian Raids

Sir Henry Pellat in addition to being a financier and builder of Casa Loma was also a member of and later became Colonel of the Queen's Own Rifles in 1910, and ended his sixty years of military service as a Major General.

The Queen's Own Rifles museum is located on the third floor of Casa Loma, and is well worth a visit if you're in Toronto.

The Museum exhibits start with the formation of the regiment and its early history. Formed in 1860, The QOR's riflemen armed with Snider-Enfields and Spencer Rifles, had their first engagement occurred in June 1866 at the Battle of Ridgeway against the Fenian raiders.

The Fenians were Irish Americans, many of them veterans of the Civil War, who came up with a rather cunning plan to obtain independence for Ireland from Great Britain:

Invade Canada, and then trade Canada for a free Ireland.

As you might imagine, the plan wasn't quite fully thought through, and did not achieve its aims, but Fenians began invading Canada, under a name that would be far more famous in the 20th century - The Irish Republican Army.

The first raid led to the Battle of Ridgeway.

Unfortunately The Battle of Ridgeway was not the QOR's finest hour and earned the Queen's Own Rifles a rather derogatory nickname - "Quickest out of Ridgeway" for their rather disorderly retreat from the Fenian assault - a battle that turned out to be the only successful attack perpetrated by the Fenians.

The first Canadian soldier to die in that battle, Ensign Malcolm McEachren of the QOR was shot in the abdomen and died. The uniform jacket he wore that day is on display at the museum.

The exhibit on the Battle of Ridgeway was an interesting look at early Canadian military history.

The Fenian raids and the fear of further invasion was one of the factors that led to the unification and formation of Canada in 1867.

New Orleans Day 4 - The World War Two Museum

In the morning we took a trolley down to the Central Business District.

First we had brunch at Mother's, a New Orleans landmark with fantastic food and lines to match.

Then pleasantly full, we walked from the stop to the World War 2 museum.

As you enter the museum you see an LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) also known as a Higgins boat. It was the LVCPs that brought the first waves ashore at Normandy and other amphibious operations in 36 man loads.

Ascending up the stairs you come nose to nose with C-47 number 096.

Number 096 served in the three largest airborne operations of the war: Normandy, Market-Garden, and Varsity, and dropped supplies to the surrounded 101st Airborne at Bastogne. It later was operated by the Finnish Air force and Starred in the movie A Bridge To Far starring as itself in the airborne operations in Market-Garden. Acquired by the museum in 2006 she has both pride of place and a well deserved spot of honor.

Other aircraft on display in the musuem include

A Spitfire

A TBM Avenger

An SBD Dauntless

The mighty P-51 Mustang

An F4U Corsair

A B17 and B25, a P40 and a BF-109 rounded out the aircraft collection.

We did the Final Mission interactive exhibit - recounting the fatal last voyage of the USS Tang, a submarine sunk by her own torpedo while attacking a Japanese convoy.

On entering the exhibit, you're given a card and assigned a duty station.

The card comes complete with the picture of one of the crew of the Tang that did not survive the final voyage. Rather sobering, that.

On leaving the exhibit, you pass by a list of US World War 2 submarines still on eternal patrol.

Other exhibits included excellent ones on the Guadalcanal campaign and Operation Torch.

After 5 hours we had covered all of the exhibits, but not to worry, they're growing and adding more as we speak.

To say the National World War 2 Museum is a must-see when visiting New Orleans is an understatement.