 |
 Sikorsky CH-54 Tarhe outside the museum | |
  Location within Virginia | |
| Established | 1959 |
|---|---|
| Location | Fort Eustis, Virginia |
| Coordinates | 37°09′54″N76°34′32″W / 37.1650°N 76.5756°W |
| Type | Military Museum |
| Visitors | 50,000 |
| Director | Alisha Hamel |
| Website | Official website |
The U.S. Army Transportation Museum is a United States Army museum of vehicles and other transportation-related equipment and memorabilia. It is located on the grounds of Fort Eustis, Virginia, in Newport News, on the Virginia Peninsula.
The museum was established in 1959, in a warehouse using items initially collected for a recruiting exhibit. A main building opened in 1976, and in 1987, an open-air pavilion was opened for aviation exhibits. [1] The buildings, built at a total cost of US$765,000, and other capital improvements are funded by the Army Transportation Museum Foundation (ATMF). [2] Since the foundation is prohibited by law from obtaining state or federal grants, private donations are the only funding source.
A number of the museum's artifacts, including a CH-54 were moved to Fort Lee in 2021. [3]
The museum reflects the history of the Army, especially of the United States Army Transportation Corps, and includes close to 100 military vehicles such as aircraft, wheeled vehicles, watercraft and rolling stock, including stock from the Fort Eustis Military Railroad. It is officially dedicated to General Frank S. Besson, Jr., who was the first four-star general to lead the transportation command, [4] and extends over 6 acres (2.4 ha) of land, air and sea vehicles and indoor exhibits. The exhibits cover transportation and its role in US Army operations, including topic areas from the American Revolutionary War through operations in Afghanistan. [5]
The museum features a 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m2) main building and four outdoor parks. [6] The exhibits inside the museum building include representative transportation-related materials, presented in a series of dioramas in chronological order. Outside (see map, below) there is a vehicle yard to the south, with road vehicles, amphibious craft, and the aircraft pavilion, and a rail exhibit to the north. Although material is presented on 18th- and 19th-century topics, over half the indoor exhibit space and almost all of the outdoor exhibits are 20th-century- related.
Early truck developments are given coverage with the Mexican Punitive Expedition, Liberty truck, and Transcontinental Motor Convoy exhibits. The extensive Liberty Truck exhibit covers the development and production of the Army's first standardized truck design, a 5-ton cargo hauler produced using interchangeable parts. [7] Also included are letters from soldiers about their experiences with the trucks.
World War II receives coverage with several exhibits including Operation Mulberry which was an operation to construct two artificial harbors on the Normandy coast to support the invasion. This operation used 158 tugboats including 74 of the Army's "small tugs" to tow 59 Gooseberry derelict ships to be sunk as breakwalls and the Phoenix caissons and Lobnitz floating piers. [8] Another exhibit focuses on the Red Ball Express, the massive supply operation that supported Patton's advance after D-Day. The exhibit includes photos and paintings of the trucks as well as a diorama of a rest stop/repair depot featuring cargo trucks and a wrecker. Additional materials address the massive fuel and oil consumption needs as well as soldier experiences. [9]
The museum has an extensive Vietnam War exhibit, including a large diorama with the gun truck Eve of Destruction (believed the only surviving Vietnam era gun truck, [10] and named after a protest song [11] ), an exhibit depicting a downed UH-1 Iroquois in a rice paddy, as well as bicycles used by the Viet Cong. [12] The museum has an extensive collection of gun truck images, organised by the truck name, which are also on the museum's web site. [13]
Outdoor exhibits include the vehicle park with a selection of representative vehicles used in the transport command including a DUKW. A marine park has Army water vessels such as a tugboat, J-Boat, and various sized amphibious craft including landing craft and wheeled barges. [14]
The aviation pavilion exhibits aircraft, fixed wing and helicopter, from the Korean War to the present, including a HZ-1 Aerocycle, an OH-23 Raven helicopter and a vertical take-off/landing plane. [14] An unrestored Avrocar is kept in storage.
The rail section has several significant artifacts including the railway cars used in the Berlin duty train [15] as well as standard issue tank switchers, and a collection of typical rolling stock including cranes, freight cars and maintenance of way equipment.
Since the museum is on an active military installation, a check-in at the guard station, a possible vehicle search, and a visitor's pass are required (driver's license, car insurance and car registration, citizens of other nations need their passport). [16] The museum has a gift shop, and a reference library where research may be undertaken with advance request.
The IS tanks were a series of heavy tanks developed as a successor to the KV-series by the Soviet Union during World War II. The IS acronym is the anglicized initialism of Joseph Stalin. The heavy tanks were designed as a response to the capture of a German Tiger I in 1943. They were mainly designed as breakthrough tanks, firing a heavy high-explosive shell that was useful against entrenchments and bunkers. The IS-2 went into service in April 1944 and was used as a spearhead by the Red Army in the final stage of the Battle of Berlin. The IS-3 served on the Chinese-Soviet border, the Hungarian Revolution, the Prague Spring and on both sides of the Six-Day War. The series eventually culminated in the T-10 heavy tank.
The BMP-3 is a Soviet and Russian infantry fighting vehicle, successor to the BMP-1 and BMP-2. The abbreviation BMP stands for Boevaya Mashina Pekhoty.
Mack Trucks, Inc. is an American truck manufacturing company and a former manufacturer of buses and trolley buses. Founded in 1900 as the Mack Brothers Company, it manufactured its first truck in 1905 and adopted its present name in 1922. Since 2000, Mack Trucks has been a subsidiary of Volvo, which purchased Mack and its former parent company Renault Véhicules Industriels.
The DUKW is a six-wheel-drive amphibious modification of the 2+1⁄2-ton CCKW trucks used by the U.S. military during World War II and the Korean War.
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Fort Eustis is a United States Army installation in Newport News, Virginia. In 2010, it was combined with nearby Langley Air Force Base to form Joint Base Langley–Eustis.
A gun truck is an armored vehicle with one or more crew-served weapons, typically based on a military truck. Gun trucks often have improvised vehicle armor, such as scrap metal, concrete, gravel, or sandbags, which is added to a heavy truck.
The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) is a transport and technology museum located in Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand. It is located close to the Western Springs Stadium, Auckland Zoo and the Western Springs Park. The museum has large collections of civilian and military aircraft and other land transport vehicles. An ongoing programme is in place to restore and conserve items in the collections. This work is largely managed by volunteers but, since the passing of the Museum of Transport and Technology Act in 2000, has been supported by full-time professional museum staff. New public programmes and facilities now promote the collections.
Hino Motors, Ltd., commonly known as Hino, is a Japanese manufacturer of commercial vehicles and diesel engines headquartered in Hino, Tokyo. The company was established in 1942 as a corporate spin-off from previous manufacturers.
Fort MacArthur is a former United States Army installation in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California. A small section remains in military use by the United States Air Force as a housing and administrative annex of Los Angeles Air Force Base. The fort is named after Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur. His son, Douglas MacArthur, would later command American forces in the Pacific during World War II.
The U.S. Military M274 Truck, Platform, Utility, 1⁄2 Ton, 4X4 or "Carrier, Light Weapons, Infantry, 1⁄2 ton, 4x4", also known as the "Mule", "Military Mule", or "Mechanical Mule", is a 4-wheel drive, gasoline-powered truck/tractor type vehicle that can carry up to 1⁄2 short ton off-road. It was introduced in 1956 and used until the 1980s.
The Pantsir missile system is a family of self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery systems. Three types of vehicles make up one system: a missile launcher, a radar truck and a command post. Starting with the Pantsir-S1 as the first version, it is produced by KBP Instrument Design Bureau of Tula, Russia, and is the successor to the Tunguska M1.
The Oshawa Military and Industrial Museum, also known as The Ontario Regiment (RCAC) "Ferret Club," is an accredited Canadian Forces Museum located in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1980, it has evolved into the Historic Vehicle Section of the Ontario Regiment Museum.
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The Landsverk L-180, L-181 and L-182 are a family of armored cars developed by the Swedish company AB Landsverk during the interwar years. They had a good international reputation for being fast, robust and reliable and were acquired in small numbers by Denmark, Estonia, Ireland and the Netherlands, among others. Their Swedish military designation was Pbil m/41.
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37°09′54″N76°34′32″W / 37.1650°N 76.5756°W
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| Historic sites and museums | ||
| Military | ||
| Neighborhoods | ||
| Education | ||
| Transportation | ||
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