Re: Marine Corps. Museum
Its good to see them getting a new building. <br /><br />I trust it, and the new cemetary didn't cover up, or destroy the Civil War troop camps, gun battery sites that were used to blockcade the Potomac, or the area where all the trenches are that WW I Marines trained in.<br /><br />.......<br /><br />When I was up there at HMX-1, as part of the Marine One crew in the late 70's, I'd go help them put exibits together during a extended Lunch hour, or on my time off. The last one I helped on was Pres. Eisenhower's (V)H-34.... The first Presidential helicoter. <br /><br />Back then, the Museum folks had part of the old 'Larson's Gym'-- which was a pre WW I Seaplane hanger. It also had some secret underground stuff where they tested and researched Jet Engines in the early-1940's. (I've put my hands on jet turbine engines the Marine Corps bought in 1942).<br /><br />The exibit halls they had back then were the old Hangers used prior to WW I, and in even as late as WW II. <br /><br />They became warehouses for awhile when the Officer's Candidate School moved from Parris Island, and took over the rest of their buildings & the old airstrip (where the first planes in Marine Avaition were tested & evaluated). <br /><br />When the new Air Station was built--that sitll does all the helicopter research & testing for the Marine Corps as well as other things---, <br /><br />The old grass runways were made into the Parade Ground for OCS; and near the end of the runway, they stuck the Quantico Brig---- the place where they kept that nutcase Hinkley for a few years after he shot Pres. Reagan. <br /><br />.......<br /><br />Cool place. <br /><br />And there is more of the most interesting historical, and experimental stuff that wasn't bought, but tested or developed from the early 19o0's to the present than ya can imagine in that area, as well as the exibits shown to the public:<br /><br />,,,,Like a 18 cylinder, "T" block aircraft engine. It was designed to 'up' the Supercharged Rolls Royce Merlin (3,754 shaft horsepower) from a V-12, to a 5,000 hp, 18 cylinder piston prop fighter engine. Neat idea,,,,, but jet engines made it obsolete when it was in the proto-type stage.<br /><br />,,,,They have a 'dud' V-1 rocket recovered from London..... intact except for a big dent on the nose.<br /><br />,,,,I've gazed upon a dissasembled, all black, and mostly wooden German 'flying wing' bomber, that had it's exhaust on top of the wing. .... It was the first generation of stealth technology. Many features on it can be seen on the B-1, as well as the Northrup 'Flying Wing' from the the late 40's.<br /><br />,,,, A old C-47 (DC-3) that participated in the Berlin Airlift is on display.<br /><br />,,,,They have a (un-issued), WW II Japanese 'BAKA' bomb. It is a large arial (glider) bomb, made to be dropped from a bomber---- but it also has a pilot. To stand and look at it makes your blood run cold. <br /><br />,,,,They have the only Japanese 'Zero', (of about 4)to survive the war, and it took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor.<br /><br />,,,,They have a (Pappy Boyington) F-4 Corsair with 'O' flight hours on it. We'd crank it up once in awhile,,,,, and the ground would shake for 500 yards away from it. It is left to the imagination what it would be like when the sky was full of them.<br /><br />..........<br /><br />All those things and much, much more are all restored to perfection, and on display....<br /><br />Gosh that was a neat place to hang out in for a couple of years. I still ocassionally look at the inch or so thick stack of pictures I took in there while un-escorted, or before it opened. <br /><br /><br />I could talk for hours about the stuff at the Quantico museum, and Quantico in general. It has been the 'Showplace' of the Marine Corps since about 1900. <br /><br />I remember the cemetary when it was going in there by the Main Gate, and they were bulldozing out acres and acres of old growth forest. Originally, it was slated for the 'overflow' from the Arlington National Cemetary about 35 miles up the road. <br /><br />Of those intered there, that span the generations of US servicemen & women, and are there due to different circumstances:<br /><br />"All gave some, and some gave all", to earn those plots. <br /><br />May they live forever, even if it is only in our hearts. <br /><br /><br />Semper Fi,<br />Ed.
