Off the wall things you've heard at Museums

[GaryChildress]

There are people in this forum who can identify a Japanese Type 99 machine gun from a bren just by looking at the recoil mechanism. I know a lot of you have probably been to WW2 museums. In my experience, most of the time the docents are pretty good with their facts and can give a good explanation of things but sometimes....

What is the most off the wall thing a museaum decent has ever told you?

I confess I haven't had too many things said to me which I could correct in my meager knowledge but I remember visiting the Pensacola Naval Air Museum where the docent told a group of us that the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands as part of a plan to work their way down through Alaska into the mainland US.

I didn't say anything. Quite frankly I wasn't sure why the Japanese invaded the Aleutians. But I knew it wasn't to work their way down to the mainland US.

[herwin]

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

There are people in this forum who can identify a Japanese Type 99 machine gun from a bren just by looking at the recoil mechanism. I know a lot of you have probably been to WW2 museums. In my experience, most of the time the docents are pretty good with their facts and can give a good explanation of things but sometimes....

What is the most off the wall thing a museaum decent has ever told you?

I confess I haven't had too many things said to me which I could correct in my meager knowledge but I remember visiting the Pensacola Naval Air Museum where the docent told a group of us that the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands as part of a plan to work their way down through Alaska into the mainland US.

I didn't say anything. Quite frankly I wasn't sure why the Japanese invaded the Aleutians. But I knew it wasn't to work their way down to the mainland US.

It was in reaction to the Shangri La operation, to extend the scouting perimeter.

[GaryChildress]

ORIGINAL: herwin

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

There are people in this forum who can identify a Japanese Type 99 machine gun from a bren just by looking at the recoil mechanism. I know a lot of you have probably been to WW2 museums. In my experience, most of the time the docents are pretty good with their facts and can give a good explanation of things but sometimes....

What is the most off the wall thing a museaum decent has ever told you?

I confess I haven't had too many things said to me which I could correct in my meager knowledge but I remember visiting the Pensacola Naval Air Museum where the docent told a group of us that the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands as part of a plan to work their way down through Alaska into the mainland US.

I didn't say anything. Quite frankly I wasn't sure why the Japanese invaded the Aleutians. But I knew it wasn't to work their way down to the mainland US.

It was in reaction to the Shangri La operation, to extend the scouting perimeter.

Thanks. I knew it certainly wasn't the best place to begin a mainland campaign. [X(]

[jeffk3510]

I don't recall what museum it was at... but... when we were in grade school on all those field trips you take, the guide mentioned that the Japanese had sunk every battleship at Pearl Harbo, and we didn't use any of them ever again.... I was little and didn't want to argue with her, but wondered what the hell she was smoking....

[RUPD3658]

I got into an argument with a tour guide at the Science and Industry Museum at the U-505 exhibit who said that the capture of the Enigma on the U-505 was crutial to the war. I casually mentioned that the Allies already had a few of them and that the Captain who captured the U-505 was under orders not to try to capture a sub since it might let the Germans know we had the machine and the code books and thus change the codes. As a Chicago native he did not want to hear that the captain was an idiot for disobeying orders and only got a medal because it all went well. Had the U-505 got message off that it was being boarded he would have been court martialed.[:-]

I am watching a documentery on the eastern from that was going on and on about the JU-88 was it was showing fottage of a Stika. When it called the JU-88 a Stuka I almost lost it. Don't these showes have fact checkers? Almsot as bad as the ad for the episode of Dogfights that pitted the IJN "Yamamoto" vs Taffy 3. It aired for a week before they fixed it.[:D]

[YankeeAirRat]

When I was at the National Naval Air Muesum and heard that the AVG was fighting the Japanese before the war start. Also heard that the TBM in the muesum was the same one that President Bush flew against the Japanese. Also one of the tour guides stated that the F6F was based on lessons learned from the Zero captured at Dutch Harbor. Finally, had a tour guide stated that the F8F flew against the Japanese in the waining months of the war. After the tour I went to the front desk and corrected the head tour guide.  

[DE679]

Sorry this is not about WW2, but when I first heard it I almost choked! I was talking with a Battlefield guide at Gettysburg. He told me while he was giving a tour about the 2nd days fighting on the Union left flank. The very heavy fire, with bullets flying all around with massive casualties. When a woman raised her hand and asked a question. She asked why with all the bullets being shot at the troops, why did they not just hide behind all the monuments![X(]

[wild_Willie2]

ORIGINAL: RUPD3658

I got into an argument with a tour guide at the Science and Industry Museum at the U-505 exhibit who said that the capture of the Enigma on the U-505 was crutial to the war. I casually mentioned that the Allies already had a few of them and that the Captain who captured the U-505 was under orders not to try to capture a sub since it might let the Germans know we had the machine and the code books and thus change the codes. As a Chicago native he did not want to hear that the captain was an idiot for disobeying orders and only got a medal because it all went well. Had the U-505 got message off that it was being boarded he would have been court martialed.[:-]

I am watching a documentery on the eastern from that was going on and on about the JU-88 was it was showing fottage of a Stika. When it called the JU-88 a Stuka I almost lost it. Don't these showes have fact checkers? Almsot as bad as the ad for the episode of Dogfights that pitted the IJN "Yamamoto" vs Taffy 3. It aired for a week before they fixed it.[:D]

STUKA is short for "Sturzkampfbomber", dive bomber.
As there where JU-88 variants that had dive brakes and where designed to dive bomb, calling it a STUKA would theoretically not be wrong....

[wild_Willie2]

When I was still young.......I once toured the Normandy invasion sites and visited some of the many museums there. In one of them they had a picture of Roosevelt and Churchil on a ship sitting beneath a huge 4 barreled turret quoting this picture to be taken onboard some light cruiser.....  [:D][:D][:D]

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: DE679

Sorry this is not about WW2, but when I first heard it I almost choked! I was talking with a Battlefield guide at Gettysburg. He told me while he was giving a tour about the 2nd days fighting on the Union left flank. The very heavy fire, with bullets flying all around with massive casualties. When a woman raised her hand and asked a question. She asked why with all the bullets being shot at the troops, why did they not just hide behind all the monuments![X(]

This one is also not WWII, not even about museums, and I didn't even witness it (saw it in Reader's Digest many years ago), but it made me laugh out load. One of the questions frequently asked Park Rangers at (IIRC) Carlsbad Caverns:

"Are those baby bats?"

"No, those are flies."

[bradfordkay]

ORIGINAL: DE679

Sorry this is not about WW2, but when I first heard it I almost choked! I was talking with a Battlefield guide at Gettysburg. He told me while he was giving a tour about the 2nd days fighting on the Union left flank. The very heavy fire, with bullets flying all around with massive casualties. When a woman raised her hand and asked a question. She asked why with all the bullets being shot at the troops, why did they not just hide behind all the monuments![X(]

That falls under the category of "stupid tourist questions". I worked for the Park Service as a teenager (Richmond Battlefield, Petersburg Battlefield, and Kennessaw Mountain Battlefield) and we loved to share those stories.

My favorite came from a friend who worked for Colonial Williamsburg. He was leading a group through the gaol when some lady interrupted his spiel, piping up in a strident New England accent: "This place has nails in the wall. They didn't have nails back then, they used pegs!"

His response" "Mam, they nailed Christ to the cross."

Yes, poor communities in the colonial era could not afford nails (iron products were a British monoploy - iron works were actually illegal in the colonies for a long time - and so the poorer colonials had to make do with pegs), but Williamsburg was the capitol of the most prosperous colony of the day, and so they had no shortage of nails for construction...

[wdolson]

I don't normally do the tour at museums, or listen to the docents, but at the Evergreen Museum near Portland (it's the museum with the Spruce Goose) the docents are kind of hard to avoid.

One time I was there, a guy was talking about the P-38 and I made some comment adding to what he said and it was obvious he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.  The friend I was with said he felt sorry for the guy. 

The last time I was there, I was with another friend and he noticed the window at the back of the bombbay and I told him that's where the guy in the back aimed the bombs on missions when they were dropping bombs.  The docent overheard started arguing with me that only the pilot on Avengers dropped bombs.  He didn't really know what the guy in the back compartment did.  I could have asked him why there was a bombsight there on operational Avengers, but I let it go.

Some docents do know what they are talking about.  I ran into one at the Champlain Fighter Museum in Arizona (the collection now belongs to the Museum of Flight in Seattle) who was quite knowledgable and had some pretty interesting stories.

Bill

[rtrapasso]

When I was at the National Naval Air Muesum and heard that the AVG was fighting the Japanese before the war start.

Err... not sure what is wrong with this statement... the AVG WAS fighting the Japanese well before 7 December... after the war, they were eventually absorbed into the USAAF.

[ool]

Well mine isn't about a museum either but it is a head shaker. One morning on Canada AM they were interviewing a tour guide at Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia. Peggy's cove is the one you see on most postcards involving the maritime provinces. The interviewer asked the tour guide what the strangest event or incident that they had experienced while being a tour guide. To which he replied," Well there was this woman from the states who asked me if we deflated the rocks and put them away after the tourist season was over?" I nearly fell off my chair!

I'd rate this right up there with the previous post about a woman who asked why the troops at Gettysburg didn't hide behind the monuments to avoid the rifle fire.

You've got to wonder![X(][X(][8|][8|]

[gladiatt]

Once i get in a museum showing armors and medieval weapons.
Their was a huge plate armor. Obviously from 15th century. The guided told it was believed to be Charlemagne armor....i tried to explain that it would probably had been chainmail or "brigandine"...but much people thought loud and high that in John Boorman "Excalibur", King Arthur wore this sort of armor, and it is known that Arthur was before Charlemagne [8|].

In another room, their was a huge paint of a Napoleonnic battle (Friedland??? can't remenber) showing the sweddish general Bernadotte [8|]

And one that make me laugh: in a Normandy museum (can't remenber if it was Falaise or else), there was a dreaded Tiger ....it was a Hetzer...[:D]

I usually am very cautious with the knowledge displayed in a museum: i go there to see by myself what i already know !

[Iron Duke]

AVG arrived in Burma June/July 1941
AVG fought it's first engagement on 20th Dec 1941
AVG ceased to exist 4 July 1942

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: Iron Duke

AVG arrived in Burma June/July 1941
AVG fought it's first engagement on 20th Dec 1941
AVG ceased to exist 4 July 1942

AVG was fighting in China well before June 1941 as well... it was organized by Claire Chenault in 1937, and he arrived in China in 1938... large scale efforts didn't get going until 1940... in April 1941, Roosevelt signed an executive order "authorizing reserve officer and enlisted men to resign from the Army Air Corps, Naval and Marine air services for the purpose of joining the American Volunteer Group in China."

They were sending back information about how to fight the Japanese aircraft before Pearl Harbor (but the reports were pretty much ignored.)

Apparently, there were individual actions before this (and in fact, some US pilots were flying for the Chinese back in the mid 30's), but the first UNIT action is credited to be 20 December 1941, despite several victories by individual pilots before this who had been flying since at least September 1941... the officers/instructors had apparently flying well before September 1941 as they were instructing the new pilots how to fight the Japanese based on their experiences, which according to one quote by an instructor had been at least 4 years prior to Sep 1941.

EDIT: According to one article, many of the pilots were in China before 15 Sep 1941.

[OldCoot]

During a San Francisco TV newscast a pretty young lady, while describing the opening of the USS Hornet museum, informed me that, during the ship's 30 year career, dozens of sailors had served aboard her.

[bobogoboom]

ORIGINAL: herwin

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

There are people in this forum who can identify a Japanese Type 99 machine gun from a bren just by looking at the recoil mechanism. I know a lot of you have probably been to WW2 museums. In my experience, most of the time the docents are pretty good with their facts and can give a good explanation of things but sometimes....

What is the most off the wall thing a museaum decent has ever told you?

I confess I haven't had too many things said to me which I could correct in my meager knowledge but I remember visiting the Pensacola Naval Air Museum where the docent told a group of us that the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands as part of a plan to work their way down through Alaska into the mainland US.

I didn't say anything. Quite frankly I wasn't sure why the Japanese invaded the Aleutians. But I knew it wasn't to work their way down to the mainland US.

It was in reaction to the Shangri La operation, to extend the scouting perimeter.

i was also under the impression that is was a diversion for the midway op.

[Iron Duke]

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso

ORIGINAL: Iron Duke

AVG arrived in Burma June/July 1941
AVG fought it's first engagement on 20th Dec 1941
AVG ceased to exist 4 July 1942

AVG was fighting in China well before June 1941 as well... it was organized by Claire Chenault in 1937, and he arrived in China in 1938... large scale efforts didn't get going until 1940... in April 1941, Roosevelt signed an executive order "authorizing reserve officer and enlisted men to resign from the Army Air Corps, Naval and Marine air services for the purpose of joining the American Volunteer Group in China."

They were sending back information about how to fight the Japanese aircraft before Pearl Harbor (but the reports were pretty much ignored.)

Apparently, there were individual actions before this (and in fact, some US pilots were flying for the Chinese back in the mid 30's), but the first UNIT action is credited to be 20 December 1941, despite several victories by individual pilots before this who had been flying since at least September 1941... the officers/instructors had apparently flying well before September 1941 as they were instructing the new pilots how to fight the Japanese based on their experiences, which according to one quote by an instructor had been at least 4 years prior to Sep 1941.

EDIT: According to one article, many of the pilots were in China before 15 Sep 1941.

Yes between 1937 and 1941 American pilots flew for the Chinese Airforce including Chenault but not as the AVG ,there were also many American airmen serving as instructors at the Central Aviation School