Imperial War Museum...

[Big Orange]

Ok, this Tuesday I went to the Imperial War Museum in London and I've took many photos.

On the IWM's grounds there is a memorial to the Great Patriotric War:







The lawn area and IWM itself:



The IWM's facade and big ass ex-Royal Navy cannons:











A Royal Navy shell:



A piece of the Berlin Wall:

[Big Orange]

The main hall:



A Jadgpanther:





It's overengineered, overlapping wheels:



The cut out shows relatively thin side armour and cannon workings:



How it was put out of action:

[Big Orange]

A Mk I British tank, WWI:



Strange eye symbol on the Mk I's lefthand side:



A rugged T-35/85:





Why is it carrying a log on its side?



Its distinctive rear hull and exhaust ports:

[Big Orange]

A Matilda II infantry support tank:





An M3 Lee tank, Fieldmarshal Montgomery's flagship tank:



A M4 Sherman that looks like it has a dummy main gun:



A Churchill heavy support tank:

[The Grim Squeaker]

Such a fucking awesome museum...I still remember my visit (and pics ). It's a good deal better than any similiar exhibits at museums here in the USA by a good deal .
Anything in the special exhibits? There was a Holocaust one when I was there.

[Pelranius]

I don't mean to be a nag, but where's the 800mm shell right next to the T-34 (assuming that the curator didn't have it moved)?

[PeZook]

That log is probably for use when a tank gets bogged down in mud. You put the log under the tracks and chain it to them. It sinks into the mud and acts like an anchor, allowing the tank to pull itself out.

[Big Orange]

A British armoured car, armed with a two pound (40mm) AT cannon:



A Jeep, earmarked for a medical corps:



A strange portable bomb shelter:



Various WWI shells and a big bomb:



A decidedly dog eared V1 cruise missile:

[Big Orange]

Ladies and gentlemen, a A-bomb:



Its stats:



A strange one man U-Boat:



A Royal Navy Polaris ICBM:



The workings of a V2 missile:



Early jet plane that belonged to the Luftwaffe:



Forgive me for not showing its Swastika-tastic tail end, but the ignorant Photobucket censors would probably rub it out.

[Big Orange]

An AA cannon that belonged the Argentina armed forces:



A British Army missile:



A infantry artillery piece:



Flak 88:



A British Army WWI field artillery piece:

[Big Orange]

An US Army Air Corps P-51 Mustang in mint condition:





A (likely) replica of a WWI RAF biplane of some make:



Entrances to the themed warfare gallaries:





A bronze Nazi Party eagle removed from Adolf Hitler's Berlin compound in the aftermath of the Battle of Berlin:



A bad ass looking dummy of a Imperial German Army stormtrooper:



A Royal Navy diving suit, that resembles S&M wear:

[fgalkin]

Did you see the "Monty: Master of the Battlefield" exhibit? That made me laugh.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[CaptHawkeye]

Did it have famous Monty one-liners like "Market Garden was 90% successful"?

As for the One Man U-Boat, Germany did operate midget submarines of a kind during the war. They were mostly coastal boats and only for use against lone merchants or warships that wandered too close to Germany. I don't think any of them were very successful even in this role.

[PeZook]

Did it have famous Monty one-liners like "Market Garden was 90% successful"?

As for the One Man U-Boat, Germany did operate midget submarines of a kind during the war. They were mostly coastal boats and only for use against lone merchants or warships that wandered too close to Germany. I don't think any of them were very successful even in this role.

Germany had some U-Boat designs which were absolutely worthless, but were still deployed operationally for...some reason.

I mean, check this out:

Type XXIII midget boat

They built sixty one of the damn things, wasting steel, rare materials, batteries and manpower...all of that, in exchange for two sinkings

The whole "Flakboot" idea was another example of a horrible, horrible design which, nevertheless, saw service.

[Sea Skimmer]

Germany had some U-Boat designs which were absolutely worthless, but were still deployed operationally for...some reason.

I mean, check this out:

Type XXIII midget boat

They built sixty one of the damn things, wasting steel, rare materials, batteries and manpower...all of that, in exchange for two sinkings

That’s because the vast majority of the things never actually entered service owing to lack of key parts, fuel and any protected sea area in which to train crews. The Type XXIII was actually a pretty good design for what it was meant to do, coast defence and minelaying, and a far better use of resources then continuing to build big Type VII and IX boats which by late 1944 averaged just one sinking per loss. The Type XXVIB Seehund was an order of magnitude smaller in turn, just 14.7 tons submerged and was also somewhat effective.

The real worthless wastes of resources were the Biber and Molch one man midget subs. The former was gasoline powered and notorious for having a leaking exhaust system which killed the crewman on a regular basis. The submarine in the picture is a Biber, captured in 1944 after it was found adrift in the English channel after exactly that happened. The Germans using the Biber and Molch squadrons as punishment units for criminals sure didn’t help combat effectiveness.

The Germans also had some human torpedoes of the Neger and Marder designs. Litterally they took a torpedo body, stretched it to add a cockpit, and then suspended a second torpedo underneath. A bit saner then the Kaiten, but not significantly more effective.

Ultimately though the German micro and midget sub swarms did force the allies to deploy relatively massive escort forces to suppress them, some 500 ships (admittedly most corvettes or smaller) and over 1,000 aircraft are estimated to have been employed specifically in this role. The small subs were very hard to find on sonar in coastal waters, so the main defence had to be to sweep wide areas of sea to take advantage of the very short range on batteries.

The whole "Flakboot" idea was another example of a horrible, horrible design which, nevertheless, saw service.

The Flakboot are not really purpose designed though, they were just modifications to existing Type VII U-boats in France. At the time U-boats already had a significant positive kill ratio against allied aircraft so it was an idea worth exploring in the absence of a working snorkel. Note that the US eventually upgraded to the standard gun armament on its own fleet submarines to be heavier even then the flak boat arm

[Aaron]

That log is probably for use when a tank gets bogged down in mud. You put the log under the tracks and chain it to them. It sinks into the mud and acts like an anchor, allowing the tank to pull itself out.

That is exactly what it is, it's refered to as an "unditching beam".

[TC Pilot]

I went there a couple weeks ago. I personally thought the secret services section was the most interesting, particularly all the exhibits on various equipment and gadgets I didn't think existed outside a Bond film.

Oh, and did you see T.E. Lawrence's motorcycle?

[Frank Hipper]

A (likely) replica of a WWI RAF biplane of some make:

It's original (aside from the fabric), and it's a Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2c, a very significant type that served in various models and offshoots from 1912 onwards.

[Big Orange]

OK, I've completely lost my original photos partially because PhotoBucket were dicks, but these photos of the world famous Imperial War Museum seem interesting enough to post again.

Exterior and entrance:

[Akumz Razor]

Your first thread inspired me to visit the museum during my trip to London in June. Would you mind if I posted some of my photos here? I don't think they warrant a new thread.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Heh, i'll be revisiting it in 2 days . Awesome place.

[Big Orange]

Your first thread inspired me to visit the museum during my trip to London in June. Would you mind if I posted some of my photos here?

Sure, knock yourself out.

[Big Orange]

[Big Orange]

[Big Orange]