Aberdeen Proving Grounds
Ordnance Museum
When
I first suggested that Linda
accompany me to Philly for Rob's wedding,
it occurred to me that we would be relatively close to the U.S. Army Ordnance
Museum at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds north of Baltimore. Expecting a grimace, I sheepishly asked, "So, would you like to go to a tank museum?" She replied, "Sure!"
it occurred to me that we would be relatively close to the U.S. Army Ordnance
Museum at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds north of Baltimore. Expecting a grimace, I sheepishly asked, "So, would you like to go to a tank museum?" She replied, "Sure!"
We were married a year later...I ain't stupid.
The entrance to the indoor part of the Aberdeen Ordnance Museum.
Most of the fun stuff, like this bunker buster, had to be left outside.
Crockett nuclear warhead that's fired from a jeep-mounted 105mm recoilless rifle.
Davy Crockett
A selection of showcases from inside the museum. At left, a display of Thompson .45cal submachine
guns; center, various anti-tank missile launchers (aka "bazookas"); at right, a 105mm armor piercing
discarding sabot fin stabilized (APDSFS) tank round. The little finned needle flies through the air at a
mile a second and simply blows through armor by sheer physics alone (remember, kiddies, F=ma.)
Two views of the 280mm Atomic Cannon.
Linda gets up close and personal with a German Jagdtiger ("Hunting Tiger") 128mm tank destroyer.
Other than the behemoth "Maus", this was the biggest German armored vehicle of World War II.
The gouges in the glacis plate and gun mantlet are from US 75mm shells that simply bounced off.
A line of German armor in the field next to the Ordnance Museum.
A smaller Jagdpanther tank destroyer is parked next to the Jagdtiger.
At left, a Russian T-72 tank, used by Iraq during the first gulf war; at right, the prototype XM-1 Abrams.
"Thunderbolt" was the name used by Col. Creighton W. Abrams on his Sherman tank during World War II.
At left, Linda examines a US M-48 Patton medium tank; at right, I lounge against a Russian T-34 tank from WWII.
At left, Linda examines the secret Stealth Tank; at right, she takes a look at a rack of tank cannon.
The museum has Leopold, a captured German rail gun used during the Anzio campaign in Italy.
At left, I photograph a Russian JS-III heavy tank; at right, a row of armor.
Linda photographs a section of German tank
tread that has been absorbed by the earth.
Outside the museum were some heavy rail cars with tanks on them. Above left,
an intact M1A1 Abrams; above right, a less-than-intact example of the same.
Below, an M4A3E8 Sherman that was brought over from France for restoration.
Linda stands beneath a Nike Ajax antiaircraft missile.
Her father was a steely-eyed missile man back in the '60s.
A BIG gun...in this case, a 16" coastal artillery gun.
This is the same caliber gun as used on Iowa-class battleships.
The museum had one of the most amusing bathrooms that I have ever been in.
Next...Fun in the Destruct of Columbia
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