Airborne and Special Operations Museum, Fayetteville, NC--Part II

Continuing our exploration of the Airborne and Special Operations Museum...

The permanent exhibits go through the history of the airborne units from World War II to the present. They show off the gear and even have a mocked up French street for visitors to walk down.

An early display

WWII map of airborne operations (click to enlarge)

War bonds guy

Iron Mike lookalike

L on the French street

J takes cover

Displays show various uniforms, equipment, and weapons they used.

Uniforms

Weapons and gear

A well-armed soldier

The CG-4A Waco Glider saw a lot of action in World War II, delivering soldiers, supplies, and even vehicles!

CG-4A glider with jeep

More of the glider

Not everything came by gliders, of course. This 105 mm howitzer is bundled up for a parachute drop. The platform includes special materials that will crush on landing, softening the impact.

Parachute-able howitzer

The UH-1 or Huey helicopter was developed in the early 1960s and was a standard transport for the airborne troops in Vietnam.

Huey

Another display shows various standard rifles, including an M79 grenade launcher, am M16 rifle, and an M60 machine gun.

Vietnam-era rifles

Black Tiger insignia from Vietnam on a helmet

Tanks and other defenses from the 1990s are also on display.

Tank from early 1990s

Weaponized jeep

Scouting intel

Spider hole

We enjoyed visiting the museum!

Daddy and N the airborne ranger

Airborne and Special Operations Museum, Fayetteville, NC--Part I

The Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville, North Carolina, was a stop on our way home from Florida last Christmas. It's finally getting a blog post!

Airborne and Special Operations Museum

The building has a large statue out front called Iron Mike. Weighing over a ton and a half, he depicts a World War II paratrooper who has just landed. The statue was originally erected at Fort Bragg when the statue was built in the early 1960s. It was replaced with a bronze replica and eventually moved to this museum. Starting last year (2014), a "Mike to Mike" half marathon runs from the museum statue to the Fort's statue.

Iron Mike

The rocks underneath the statue are from the Curahee Mountain, part of the grounds at Camp Toccoa where the first paratroopers were trained. The soldiers ran "three miles up, three miles down" the mountain as part of their training. "Curahee," the Native American word for "stand alone," is now the motto of the 506th Infantry Regiment.

The lobby has two fully-deployed parachutes on display. The round one is a World War II-era T-5 chute; the square one is a modern MC-4 chute. They represent both the history and the continual modernization of the airborne forces.

The lobby

WWII T-5 chute

Modern MC-4 chute

When we visited, the temporary exhibit displayed information and items from the Battle of Mogadishu, a 1993 raid that was supposed to be a "smash and grab" but turned into a fourteen hour firefight. The center of the exhibit is the rotor from the Super 61 helicopter that was shot down during the mission, killing the two pilots and injuring other crew members.

Rotor from Super 61

Arms dealer

Two paratroopers

More of the museum in the next post!