Friday September 22, 2017-Roadrunner RV Park

Today I went with a group of the guys from the rally to the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City. It was an infantry division of the US Army from 1920 until 1968. Headquartered mostly in Oklahoma City, the guardsmen fought both in World War II and the Korean War but traces its lineage from frontier militias of the southwest United States throughout the 1800's.

There is a huge display of weapons from flintlocks to modern that are still used today. The guides and docents are a wealth of information on all displays and the background of them. 

The building that the museum is housed in is very interesting. It was built by the WPA in 1930 as an officers club. When people learned of this, there were so many complaints that the building was converted and used as an armory. It was made into the museum after the division was inactivated in 1968.

There is a large amount of information on the American Civil war as well as many other wars from the past.

This display consists of artifacts from Adolph Hitler's personal use items.

This cape was actually worn by Hitler as seen before in a German photograph.

This white-framed mirror was in Hitler's residence and is probably the last thing that he looked at himself in before committing suicide. Lt. Colonel Horace K. (Tony) Calvert recovered the mirror and had it shipped back to the United States as shown in the photo below.

The airplane on the pedestal is an F-80 "Shooting Star" jet powered aircraft that was used extensively in the Korean war.

There is a huge display of military equipment here. I have shown you a few pictures of some of the interesting items.

The Bell UH-18 (Huey) helicopter used by various branches of the military. It was first flown in 1956 and variations of it are being flown today.

This is a heavy tank that was produced by the Detroit-Chrysler corp. which ceased production of them in about 1973.

This is a "Scorpion" anti tank self propelled gun.

This is a command and recon carrier. It was apparently used as reconnaissance vehicle commonly used by field commanders. It provided heavy armament for secure reconnaissance patrols.

This is the famous "Patton" tank used by the Army from 1952-1977.

If you are in the Oklahoma City area, you may want to visit this interesting little museum. It is worth your time.

So long.