• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

So I went to the Canadian War Museum

D

DrawninwarD

Senior member
I went to the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa today. The museum is absolutely terrific and has several exhibitions. I started off with their first exhibition on wars with Aboriginals in North America, and then eventually got to Canada's involvement in Nato and current peacekeeping missions many hours later.

I didn't take any pictures because I'm only here in the Ottawa region for about a month more and don't have a camera with me 🙁. There are some pictures of the Museum here though that you guys can see: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Canadian_War_Museum

By the end, I realized that there's been a battle going on in some part of the world at any given time in recent history. And I saw the rapid progression of weaponry, from muskets that would jam all the time to insane nuclear weapons tested by Russia during the Cold War.

I had a great time, but it really painted a grim picture. World War II casualties were 50+ million, and that's not including war-related famine and disease :|. A WWII veteran was there and he spoke about living conditions in trenches. There was also this area where they have around 100 different tanks, vehicles, and cannons. Some of the tanks were huge!

Oh, the WASP flamethrower tank was crazy. Picture here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi...hrower_CDN_WWII_DB.jpg
On the wall is an actual picture of the tank in WWII. Shoots flames 90 meters. x_X

Anyone in the area should definitely check out the museum.

Cliffs:

- Went to War Museum
- Pretty cool
- Pretty grim
 
Originally posted by: DrawninwarD
By the end, I realized that there's been a battle going on in some part of the world at any given time in recent history. And I saw the rapid progression of weaponry, from muskets that would jam all the time to insane nuclear weapons tested by Russia during the Cold War.
Click to expand...

I read once there are only 300 years of recorded history in total (I guess that's since the Egyptians and Greeks) in which there was not a major war in progress.
 
That's really cool you went to see that museum, I want to visit more war museums, the closest thing I have is a Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum I volunteered at, still do, every now and then, and the USMC Recruiting Depot. Amazing place, Marine Veterans of WW2, Korea, Vietnam, the whole shabang are there, lecturing new marines about what they're getting into. The MCRD Museum has several exhibits, all of em featuring guns. In one room, there is nothing BUT guns, all sorts of guns. MG42s, StEN guns, MP34s, MP44s, LOOOOADS of AK-47s. A gigantic Finnish Anti Tank Rifle on sleds, AK-74Us, you could field a private army of around at least 750 men with the weaponry in that one room alone. Then outside, you had the Marines in various stages of the 20th century, from the period in which Captains had to buy their marines rifles, to the bolt action springfield 1919, lots of Colt .45s 1919.

What struck me was the size of these guns. When you're playing a video game and hustling em along, they look kind of miniature, unless it's being done right, I think BF2 did a good job of conveying weapon size, CoD4 was decent, but the BAR gun was huuuge. Such a badass gun. The Tommy gun was there, amazing piece of machinery, so much class and artistry was put into that thing. Then of course was the M3 Grease Gun.

When asked about the grease gun, one of the old veterans said "same caliber, firing rate, and reliability as the Tommy Gun, but costs 45 bucks, as opposed to 450 for the Tommy. Which one do we want boys?" A roar of approval for the M3 grease gun went up, maybe a little half hearted in some areas, but I thought it interesting these veterans are giving these young marines the full reality of what's going to happen. None of this "the govt's working hard to get you the best shit," instead it's "the stuff you have is cheap, go GET EM!"

I was walking around, some of the young recruits were shooting me looks like "Boot camp's easy!" 😀 That one made me smile.

But yeah, War museums in general are awesome, primarily because they're eye opening. War is grisly business, but it's hard wired into us.



By the way, I really want to go to the Royal Armouries in Leeds, England, they have an amazing setup there as well, in fact, England in general, and the British Isles, are one big museum--the whole place commemorates its past--some areas more so than others.
 
I went to the Air Force museum in Dayton, OH over the summer. It was simply amazing - they had pretty much every American plane from WW1-modern day (including the Bockscar, the Superfortress that bombed Nagasaki).
 
Looking over some of the pictures, I like the Uzi they got there. 😀

Too bad its pretty much a fire cracker. 🙁

Oh yeah, at the MCRD they had FN Fals, Uzis, dozens of MP44s, so many AK-47s it doesn't matter, several bolt action rifles, and a 105mm Artillery piece.
 
Originally posted by: Atheus
Originally posted by: DrawninwarD
By the end, I realized that there's been a battle going on in some part of the world at any given time in recent history. And I saw the rapid progression of weaponry, from muskets that would jam all the time to insane nuclear weapons tested by Russia during the Cold War.
Click to expand...

I read once there are only 300 years of recorded history in total (I guess that's since the Egyptians and Greeks) in which there was not a major war in progress.
Click to expand...

Wow. I think I'll try looking around for the source for that.



I didn't really take note of all the different firearms they had at the museum. I recognized some weapons from the video games I've played lol (I don't know much about firearms and don't own one). Saw the potato-masher German grenades, lots of muskets, Gatling guns with cranks, and eventually high powered sniper rifles and other stuf. They had an AK-47 of course, and you could hold it. A bit heavy.

The LeBreton Gallery is where they had all the tanks:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...useum#LeBreton_Gallery

They also had some really big Howitzers there. And this monstrosity too: Panther Tank
 
Those museums are always fun to spend hours and hour just absorbing history. I have spent many hours in the ones all across Europe when I was a child.

BTW....that WASP is not a tank, it is a modified Bren Gun Carrier that has a flamethrower in place of where the Bren Gun would have been and the open top crew compartment in the back has been converted into a tank to store the fuel for said flamethrower.
 
I pretty much drooled on the MP-5 they had on display. I never knew a gun could be sexy. 😛
 
Originally posted by: Phoenix86
Originally posted by: DrawninwarD
There was also this area where they have around 100 different tanks
Click to expand...
Shens.
Click to expand...

Tanks, light vehicles, and cannons. Way to just take part of my sentence. -__-;

And the tanks weren't just Canadian lol. The German WWII tanks were the most impressive to me. Even still, Canada built a shitload of tanks and other weapons during both wars, such as the Valentine tank, most of which went to Russia I think.

Hey, I still remember stuff. 🙂
 
I've been there twice and it was quite amazing each time. I love the architecture of the building itself more than anything.
 
Originally posted by: finite automaton
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Originally posted by: MichaelD
I just knew they'd have a picture of The Tank! 😉

I enjoy museums too, OP. 🙂
Click to expand...

Interesting, I always thought the star symbol was for USA. Or does it just mean it was made in USA? 😛

Wait. We have a tank? Like, for war?
Click to expand...

Can anyone comment on that? I thought the star was a USA thing as well...
Click to expand...

As Ronstang said earlier, it's a modified Universal Carrier. The Universal Carrier was designed and mostly produced in the UK, but also manufactured in the United States. That particular Wasp flamethrower in the museum may have been manufactured in the States, and hence the star?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top