It's amazing that I live not 60 miles away from the Big Easy and have never been to the museum since it opened years ago. I am going today on a trip with the college. Anyone ever been??? Tell ya bout it when I get back!!!
TA, that's one of the spots that I'll be stopping at on my road trip the summer after this one so was it worth the time or what, honestly.
Saw a TBM Avenger somebody had built (wasn't the real mcCoy) and had to chuckle. It had a torpedo projecting out of the opened bay and two external bombs along with eight rockets mounted on the wings. Correct me if I'm wrong, but did Avengers EVER carry bombs on the wings? if so, along with a torpedo? I thought the max load, of bombs anyway, was four five hundred pounders inside the bay aimed through the window (located inside the bay) by the radio operator... I was somewhat disappointed to not see much SS memorobilia, except for a black wool? jacket worn by a panzer crewman from Das Reich at Kursk. Also, the weapons looked quite 'beat-up' and I wonder did they display them that way intentionally or are they just hard to find in better shape?
That Avenger doesn't sound really good. I don't believe that the Avenger was capable of carrying the four bombs plus the torpedo. And on top of that carring roockets. That just sounds crazy. Correct me if I'm wrong though.
Overall, it isn't a bad museum. The price of admission is low (like $7 as I remember) and if you have military ID, student ID, etc you get a discount. I toured it following a conference I had to attend with ComNavResFor (Commander, Naval Reserve Force) which is in New Orleans. It is walking distance from the French Quarter too. The lobby has a number of vehicles and boats displayed (both US and German), the whole thing takes up like 3 or 4 floors of a large building. It is certainly worth the price.
