The WWII Museum can be found in the warehouse district - in fact it is in an old 4 story warehouse. It is just a few blocks north of the Convention Center. If you read everything in there - it will take you days - but I suggest you allow 3 hours. It cost $18 a day - but I complained that I did not have enough time - and they let me back in the next day for $5. I am a slow reading.
Gen Patton said that three things won the war - the Jeep - the C-47 Goonie Bird transport airplane - and the Landing Craft.
Eisenhower said Andrew Higgins won the war by inventing and building all of our landing craft right here in New Orleans. 92% of all Navy boats were built here - that is why the museum is here. They are made of mahogany plywood. They could carry 50 men - jeeps and tanks. Without them we could not land on the beaches where there was no harbor. 19,000 were used in the war both in Europe and the Pacific.
According to the sign - this is the first machine gun. It was made in Russia in the 1880s. Unlike the Gattling Gun that require one to crank it - this gun was powered by the recoil of the bullets. It was watercooled. There is a little trapdoor over the barrel where soldiers put snow in to cool it.
The C-47 Transport followed our troops supplying them with everything they needed. These planes were also labeled as the DC-3 to carry passengers. They are still in use today - they were used in the Vietnam War. Ricky Nelson owned one and got killed in it.
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