Warbird Information Exchange

Hello,

I have posted a photo gallery of my visit to the USS Kidd (DD-661) in Baton Rouge:

https://www.vgbimages.com/NavalMuseums/ ... n-Rouge-LA

Wow great photos. Whenever I see something like this, large aircraft or a ship all I can think about is how much ongoing maintenance is involved and how many people volunteer to accomplish it. Thanks for sharing.

Is that a real P-40 or a mockup?

It's a mock-up I believe. It's been there since March 1993 at least.

Thanks Andy.

Whenever I see something like this, all I can think about is how badly damaged it's going to get in the next hurricane...

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

Just remember, this is in Baton Rouge, not New Orleans. There is usually significant degridation of storms once the move inland. I was born and raised on the the Gulf coast and still live here.

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Cheers!

Lance Jones

Oh, I get that Lance. I was born and raised in Tallahassee, pretty far inland as well, and we got hammered by a hurricane in 1985 there. Hurricanes have ravaged communities hundreds of miles inland in the past.

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

I was actually there yesterday. Agree, the P-40 appears to be a mockup, but I didn't give it that close a look.
The ship itself is hanging in there, but could definitely use some love. Lots of peeling paint and rust. Museum ships are reportedly
always a "sinkhole" for funding, but museum staff is definitely giving it a good effort.
Nice museum overall.

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"Thou shalt maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground reach up and smite thee."

For those of us not fluent in ship or naval history, the Kidd is a very important artifact.

It on one of just four of the 175 Fletcher class destroyers preserved.
The Fletcher class was the primary destroyer used by the U.S. Navy in WWII and continued is service with the USN until 1971 and other countries until 2001.

It is regarded as the most authentic, having been back dated to its WWII configuration.

As noted above, maintaining a ship is a huge undertaking, so we need to cut them some slack with their display P-40 since aviation is not their primary focus.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.
Note political free signature.
I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.