Warbird Information Exchange

I visited the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, TX last week. If you are in the area it is definately worth checking out.

That looks like one very cool museum! Now, what are those gentleman hoisting in the 18th pic? I thought it was another dioramma when I first started looking at it!

Thanks for sharing!

That is the nose of an N1K1 "Rex". It has been off of display for several years. Looks like maybe it will be back on display!

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Had God intended for man to fly behind inline engines, Pratt & Whitney would have made them.

CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

So they've rigged up the B-25 with spinning props for the display?? Cool! More museums should look into that, if they don't mind the breeze and can keep the visitors from getting too close...

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

That is really an astounding looking museum. It looks so interactive and well thought out. I'd love to check that place out sometime! The outside displays look awesome and it all seems set up to make you feel like you're more in the battle field than a museum.

Seriously, hats off to the people there! They did a great job.

Cheers,

David

It has been a Looooong time since I've been there, guess I'll have to go back again. A lot of the stuff was just piled out back in the dirt when I visited. They have expanded a lot!

That really is a great approach to displaying items rather than the usual sterile, boring approach taken by most museums, the displays all look alive! Great job by the curator and the staff!

Just how are people kept away from the turning prop on that MITCHELL? a fence?

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

I love the spinning props on the B-25, but I'm surprised..I'd be worried about getting sued by some idiot who stuck their hand in it.

SN

The museum really is awesome. My crappy pictures don't do it justice. They are currently constructing an addition to it which will allow them to display a lot more artifacts. I was told the guys were working on the Rex floatplane to get it ready for the new museum addition. I could be mistaken but I thought the tour guide said there were going to be two airplanes in the new part. The B-25 display was really neat. The prop actually spins slowly and sound is piped in to make it sound like they are trying to start the engine. It turns for about ten second at a time. My camera exposure makes it look like it's running though.

I'm curious about where the Val tail came from.

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"No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!" R.R.

Welcome to the USSA! One Nanny State Under the Messiah, Indivisible with Tyranny, Higher Taxes, Socialism, Radical Environmentalism and a Loss of Income for all. Boy I'm proud to be a part of the USSA, what can I do to raise taxes, oh boy oh boy!

Here is a wider view of what is actually going on. You would have a lot of crap to climb over to get to the prop.

One more thing. They hold reinactments in the "Combat Zone" on the weekends where Marine reinactors storm the beach and fire off a live flamethrower and drive tanks around. I was there on a wednesday so I missed it. DOH!

On the background on the Val, recovered (or stolen if you ask the locals there) From Gasmata Airfield, PNG, or close therein in 1973.

here is a link
http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/d3a2/3105.html

Holedigger:

That's not the same Val. The Val you linked to is in the Admiral Nimitz Museum and has no vertical tail.

The Val at the museum in Hawaii consists of the tail including a vertical tail.

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"No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!" R.R.

Welcome to the USSA! One Nanny State Under the Messiah, Indivisible with Tyranny, Higher Taxes, Socialism, Radical Environmentalism and a Loss of Income for all. Boy I'm proud to be a part of the USSA, what can I do to raise taxes, oh boy oh boy!

Hawaii Museum Val...???Now I'm really lost?! These pics are all Nimitz/Nat Pacific Museum in TX unless I am missing something?! Or I misunderstood the question, wouldn't be the first time..