Must See Museums

If you make your way to Finland, the PAROLA TANK MUSEUM is a "must visit". Its about 2 hours north of Helsinki and has about 60 tanks (mainly WWII-era) and about the same number of artillery pieces. Also has an armored train. Most of the WWII tanks are rare (especially from a North American point of view). The aviation museum near Vantaa airport (forget its name) is also worthwhile. While not nearly the same size as the USAF Museum in Dayton, they do have a few interesting things. The Anti-Aircraft Museum is also close by, and it also has a lot of unique WW2 equipment (mainly machine guns and small AA guns) in addition to a lot of Cold War-era SAMs.

As for North America:

-USS Slater in Albany, NY (last Destroyer Escort of its class afloat)
-USS Intrepid in NYC. This is getting really overcrowded, but it is worthwhile to see if you're in NYC.
-Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts (home to the BB USS Massachusetts, a DD, PT boats, East German frigate and the USS Lion-fish submarine)
-the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio (This is probably the top attraction for me)
-Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, AZ. This is on the same scale as the USAF Museum, but the planes are mainly outside. Bring a water bottle, as there is lots of walking! The aircraft "boneyard" is across the road, and you can buy tickets for a tour if you want to view it
-Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, ON. This is really close to me, and they do have some interesting things (although it is small compared to the previous two)
-HMCS Haida in Hamilton, ON. Again, a small museum consisting of the destroyer HMCS Haida. Worthwhile to visit if you are in the area.

As a side note, if you are in the Tucson area, the Titan Missile Museum about an hour south of the city on the I-10 is worth your time. Not WWII-related, but interesting to see.

 

Thanks for the most excellent walk through. The website didn't mention all of this (it should).

 

Didn't know they had all that in Pima. Good work. Thanks.

 

Gotta add this note on the Pima Air and Space...it is a large outdoors display but they do have on site several indoor displays...one is dedicted to WWII pacific with a Corsair,B29 and many others, there is also the 390th BG memorial museum with the B17 "I'll Be Around". Also a building with an ETO exhibit complete with B24,B25, German V1 and many other cool exhibits.

 

If you are ever in Scandinavia I would recommend:

The Army Museum in stockholm
The Swedish Air Force Museum in Linköping - south of Stockholm and home of SAAB
The Air Force museums in Bodö and Gardermoen, Norway
The Defense Museum in Oslo - at Akershus Fortress
The Resistance Museum in Oslo - also at Akershus Fortress.
And, the Pearl itself - Oscarsborg Fortress - Blücher's destiny - in the Oslo Approaches. Can be reached by a ferry from the village of Dröbak, just across the fjord.
In Copenhagen - The Naval Museum in the old arsenal area. Wonderful collection of sailing ship models.

Otherwise in Europe - the fortress of Eben Emael in Belgium, the first victim of glider-borne troops and hollow-charge munition. And not far away by car, the Bastogne MemoriaL

I would also mention the remains of the Maginot Line, the fortress line (7 forts) surrounding Liege in Belgium and the Verdun Memorial in France.
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Here are a few shots of Pima, if anyone is interested:







And right across the road you the AMARC "boneyard":

 

A few photos of the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio for comparison. Dayton is a lot more "upscale", but both are very good museums.

 

Very very nice list. Wow, we are compiling some good stuff here.

 

Thanks George. I've been looking for closeups on a PBY. If my movie ever gets made (you should see the script), I'll need:

7 Neuport biplanes
7 Fokker triplanes
1-PBY Catalina
9-P-40 Warhawks
Assorted Zeros and Vals