National WWII Museum, New Orleans, USA

There are some museums that are simply stunning and you can lose hours wandering around, immersed in the experience. And then there are others that you walk into, take a few photos and leave feeling disappointed. For me, the National WWII Museum in New Orleans falls into the latter category.

The meagre display of vehicles and landing craft.

Wherever we went in New Orleans (in 2016) there were billboard advertisements advertising the museum and its new 4D media presentation, "Beyond All Boundaries", narrated by Tom Hanks. As a consequence, we visited the museum with high expectations. Maybe too high.

Part of the impressive US aircraft collection. A Boeing Flying Fortress and Vought Corsair.

Probably one of the best fighters of WWII, the P38 Mustang.

A Douglas Dauntless dive bomber starts its run, with the Corsair escorting.

A good view of the Dauntless from the underside.

North American B-25 Mitchell was a versatile mid-range bomber, serving on all fronts.

The Avenger diving in

The US entered the war with the obsolete Douglas Devastator. Being slow and underpowered compared to the Mitsubishi Zero, American torpedo bomber squadrons were terribly mauled during the early campaigns of 1942. At the Battle of Midway virtually the entire Devastator squadrons from the three US aircraft carriers were shot down without achieving a single hit. In 1943 however the Devastator was replaced by the TBD Avenger. Manned by a crew of three, the Avenger was much faster, better armed and carried its torpedo in an internal bomb bay.

The Mitchell bomber was also used as a ground attack aircraft. This version has a gunpack in its nose as well as the four pack of machine guns below the cockpit.

So, after reviewing the aircraft and landing craft and walking through the museum display we watched the movie. Certainly there were aspects of the film which were good. The death toll statistics at the beginning were an eye opener. However, the hype about the film may have made the experience a bit of a let down, which ultimately coloured our impression of the whole museum.

At the end of the day the National WWII museum is a fair museum worth a visit if you have the time and inclination, but not something I'd go out of my way to see. There are a lot more things to do in New Orleans. Here is their website: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/

The museum is at 945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130

Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting, Greybull, USA

While driving across the US in 2014, on the road from Cody to Deadwood, we came across the little town of Greybull. On the outskirts of the town I spied the glint of metal away in the distance. As we came closer I recognised a row of aircraft and the distinctive shape of their tails said “World War Two.” As we drove closer I recognized a Boeing Stratocruiser, the post-war civilian version of the Second World War Super Fortress bomber. I pulled over into a rest stop to take a closer look.

Officially this is called the Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting. There was no one around the little office as the rest stop was closed. The Stratocruisers, which I really wanted to see, were parked way across the airfield. A sign said “no trespassing.” I’m sure no one would have stopped us if we decided to drive over to the planes but, this being America, we decided against it. I was forced to admire the aircraft from behind the fence.

The museum has a small collection of aircraft, lined up beside the fence and easily visible. As the museum was closed, we wandered along the fence and took some photos.

The museum has two PB4Y-2 Privateer Tankers. Both had been used as firebombing aircraft.

The PB4Y-2 Privateer was a naval version of the B-24 Liberator bomber developed during the Second World War. The Privateer featured a longer fuselage, a large single 32-foot tail and turbo super-charged engines. With it's 2800-mile range, the Privateer was a useful long range reconnaisance aircraft and bomber and the US Navy took delivery of 739 of them, but very few reached the front line by V-J day.

The Privateer and beyond the C-119 Boxcar

The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar was developed as a heavy transport aircraft. The C-119 went into service in 1947.

This aircraft - one of two in the museum collection - is on load from the Royal Canadian Airforce. It was used during its active career as an aerial tanker.

A little smaller is this Beech 18 Twin. The Beech Twin went into service in 1935 and continued in production until 1969.

This example was used by the US Forest Services

The Beech 18 Twin was a very successful civilian multi-purpose aircraft and many continue to fly today.

Beyond the museum is the Boneyard, a collection of aircraft hulks, including the Boeing Stratocruiser I saw from the highway. The Boneyard is off limits to visitors, but would certainly be interesting to visit. Instead, there are some great photographs of the Boneyard aircraft on the Museum website.
https://www.museumofflight.us/ The museum is worth a distraction from the road and a contribution to the aircraft's upkeep would be welcome.
2534 Hiller Lane
Greybull, WY 82426
(NW of Greybull, just behind the Rest Area on Hwy 14-16-20)

A blog of our American travels in 2014 can be found here: https://paulymx8.travellerspoint.com/toc/

Lion of Belfort, France

The city of Belfort sits at a the southern end of the French province of Alsace, near the common border between France, Germany and Switzerland. Belfort occupies an important strategic position, at a pass through the Jura mountains. Belfort was ceded to France in the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The French fortification architect Vauban designed modern fortifications for the city.

Remnants of Vauban's 17th century fortifications.

Map highlights Vauban's distinctive star shaped fortress designs.

This map of Belfort highlights the city's strategic importance. The city lies in a valley, through which any invading force from Germany must pass. At the end of the valley lies the mountain and fortress of Belfort

At the head of the valley is a high limestone ridge. Vauban added fortifications to protect its base. A barracks was placed at the top of the ridge. In 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War, the Prussian army assaulted the Belfort fortress but were unable to capture it. The garrison held out for 103 days, frustrating Prussian plans. However, following the French defeat in 1871 and the eventual armistice, the garrison was ordered to evacuate the city on 18th February 1871. While the rest of Alsace was ceded to Germany, Belfort remained a French possession.

Belfort town is filled with belle-epoch architecture.

The city was undergoing a substantial restoration when we visited in 2013.

The concert hall

Statues commemorating the defense of Belfort in 1870-71.

The gateway into the Vauban fortress

In honour of the garrison's resistance, a monumental sculpture "The Lion of Belfort" was constructed on the face of the limestone ridge. The sculpture is composed of red limestone blocks.

A model of the Lion of Belfort in Frederick Batholdi's studio. Bartholdi is famous as the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, but he has done many other interesting works.

Within the Belfort fortress is a small museum. It contains a fine display of Napoleonic era armour and uniforms.

Curassior helmets. Unfortunately the museum's displays have nothing in English, which made it a little problematic for us non-French speakers.

French hussar's busby

Prussian picklehelms and other early Great War German hats and helmets.

German trench armour from the Great War.

View away from the town towards the extensive Vauban fortifications.

View towards the town from the fortress.

Although not a part of the true Maginot Line, Belfort can be seen as the southern anchor of the Maginot line.

Ouvrage de la Falouse, Maginot Line, France

Verdun was the site of one of the most horrific battles of the Great War. Over 18 months the German Imperial Army bombarded and besieged the ring of fortresses surrounding the city, while the French poured reinforcements into the salient to prevent its fall. This was German General Erich von Falkenhayn's goal, to attack the French at point they could not afford to lose and bleed them white. The Battle of Verdun certainly had that effect. It has been estimated that every French soldier on the Western Front was cycled through Verdun at least once. https://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/verdun.htm

Even before the Great War, Verdun was an important fortress city near the border with Germany. Verdun was surrounded by a ring of major fortresses. Between the major fortresses the French established smaller fortified gun emplacements, called Ouvrages. The countryside is still littered with their ruins.

The Ourvage de la Falouse is located four kilometres south of Verdun. It was constructed between 1906 and 1908.

The Ourage was constructed at the summit of a low hill. The concrete barracks is excavated from the centre of the hill, protecting it from direct artillery and rifle fire. The window are protected with steel screens with gun ports. Any troops attempting to assault the fort would be caught in a devastating crossfire.

The main entry is protected by armored steel doors, also fitted with gun ports. You will notice in this photo that the size of the ports can be adjusted open or closed.

The Ouvrage museum has an excellent diorama of life during the war.

Life inside the Ouvrage. The barracks.

Should you wear boots in bed?

The kitchen

What's a meal without wine?



Excuse moi!

It's a long climb up to the observation positions

The gun crew

The gun crew

The 75 millimetre gun turret

The left had gun had taken a hit.

Sited above the turret is the armored gun-aimer's cupola.

Machine gun turret positions. The Ouvrage had two defensive machine gun emplacements in retractable turrets.

As you can see from this photo above the gun-aimer's position, the machine guns had excellent coverage over approaches to the Ouvrage.

Looking back down towards the barracks from the turret position. The barracks are completely invisible from here.

The ground around this observation post has subsided around it and the position, which is constructed of reinforced concrete has begun to slip down the hillside.

View out of one of the gun sights at the Ouvrage entrance.

From the outskirts of the site, the Ouvrage is almost completely invisible. During the war the trees would have been cleared to ensure a clear field of fire.

The turret emplacements resemble an ironclad battleship stranded on land. Being sufficiently south of Verdun, the Ouvrage escaped damage during the Great War. It was later incorporated into the Maginot Line, but again, escaped the destruction that occurred further north.

An aerial view of the entire site from the museum's website. The Ouvrage is not as big or impressive as the Hackenberg Fortress, but it is a very good museum and well worth a visit.
 http://www.ouvragedelafalouse.fr/presentation.html

There are many more fortresses and Ouvrages in this area of France and many are well worth a visit.
Check out our visit to the Hackenberg Fortress. https://militarymuseum.blogspot.com/2019/06/hackenberg-ouverage-maginot-line-france.html