Eric, Bryan, and Jan go on a field trip

[winterbadger]

Photos from our trip to the US Army Ordnance Museum

Just the outside stuff (tanks, SP guns, artillery); inside was too dark for good photos.

Comments

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

So why's that Grant tank painted white?

(Great photos, btw. I'll show them to Kurtzhau.)

[winterbadger]

There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to why some of the outside exhibits are painted as they are. The Churchill (which was donated to APG by the UK in 1944) is specifically painted in Canadian colours as a tribute to the Canadian Armed Forces. There's a Sherman specifically painted in the markings of Lord Strath cona's Horse and a Honey in Desert Rats markings. Many of the German tanks captured in Tunisia seem to have a rough red primer with a white-beige overcoat really spottily applied. The Matilda (turret shot through...) has the same odd white paint as the Grant. Some of the other German vehicles look as if they are in the remains of the paint they went into combat with.

They have already shipped a lot of exhibits down to Ft Lee, it turns out (where the museum itself is going). About half are going to remain, and I suspect those will be the ones in worse wear (most have been outside with little or no protection since the 1960s at least). The good news is that the ones at Ft Lee will be put into a full-cover building, and I wager many of them will be reconditioned.

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

A good thing. Outdoors is cool though.

[winterbadger]

Outdoors is sadly not cool for the condition of these relics. Some of them are quite literally rusting to pieces. :-(