Today at the Canadian War Museum

louthepou

louthepou

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HPIM1171b.jpg


Why does the vickers display have a background photo of a Colt machinegun?

This is what seriously irritated me about the Cdn War Museum. I live in Ottawa and have visited it three times. They have wonderful things there, but as much as 30% of it is misidentified and/or mislabelled. Their static displays are filled with errors where they will depict a 1941 era ww2 scene, but equip the manequins with kit not available until 1944.

By the time I leave the place, I always am visibly irritated. Either I'm too much a perfectionist, or they need to get their sh!t together. If it was, for example, an ancient Egypt museum, history buffs would be ALL OVER them for these kind of lapses in professionalism.

Other highlights I remember off-hand include labelling a wall of hungarian Mosins as "ww2 Russian rifles". Labelling a case of Finnish mosins as ww1 Russian vet bringbacks (yeah, right. I don't remember Canada fighting Finland in ww1).

Other pet peeves include the guns the yhave out for "touch" display. They took, for example, a pattern room Long Lee Mk1 and welded it into a solid block, then bolted it to a bench for kids to touch. My first visit was the day it opened. Parts of thered wax seal were still there on the buttstock. By my second visit 6 weeks later, the fingernails and sweaty palms or 8 year olds had turned that nearly mint (yet welded up) specimen into something I would expect to see on a pallet for sale to nomads in one of turkey's many arms bazaars.

So sad. I hate it when civil servants who have lost all passion for their jobs are put in charge of a national treasure like our war materiel museum collection.
 
This is interesting. It's ID's as a No.1MkIII, but I don;t think it is, based on this pic.
HPIM1189b.jpg


At a glance, it's a MkIII missing the rear handguard (WHY!?! The CWM has oodles of parts to replace that one).

However, notice the nosepiece. It's a vertical slab-sided nose piece found only on the SMLE MkI* and some SMLE MkIV COND rifles. Either that rifle is a MkIV, or the nosepiece has been changed.
 
Does the CWM still have the Sea King display where they tell the visitor that the Beartrap and haul down system pull the helicopter on to the deck of the ship? Grumble....as a Sea King pilot, that display really cheesed me off. It's not like we're a dying breed and there's none of us left to make sure they get it right!

The place is full of nice stuff but it just reeks of history 'lite'. Go there to see artifacts but if you want historical accuracy and/or interpretation, you'll have better luck with Wikipedia. Pretty sad.

ps The haul down system puts up to 5000lbs tension on the wire connecting the ship to the Sea King and acts to stabilize the helo long enough for the pilot to land. That tension is controlled by another pilot (the Landing Signals Officer) who, communicating with the flying pilot, determines how much tension to apply and when. It doesn't pull the helo down; the pilot can over ride the tension as long as there's enough power available (which on landing, there almost always is).:wave:
 
The Canadian War Museum is a lot of things to a lot of people. For the rivet counters among us, it is a travesty. To many veterans, it is an insult. For school kids, it is an adventure. For many visitors, it is just a place to tick off the must-visit list.

There are very few military veterans or shooters working there. Those things are not job requirements. If anything having too much knowledge will get you in trouble with the display designers and curators.

However, it is important to politely advise the museum when they have something wrong on the displays as soon as the error is spotted. Facts not opinions will move them. They want to know what is incorrect, just not with an in your face attitude. It took a Senate Committee report to get them to diminish the war-criminal allegations on the Bomber Command panels.

Yeah yeah yeah historians get it wrong, but are indoctrinated to take criticism with a, 'take's nice' mindset. And they still had a very disturbing painting of a trophy photo from Somalia, despite the protests of veterans. Yeah yeah yeah war is hell, 'we war artists had to sleep in tents'.
 
What really hit me were the numerous French mistakes. Geez, I can stand a few soon after opening, but it's been a while...

Lou
 
The OLD Museum was better

I much preferred the OLD War Museum. Was small, and displays were compact. Also, each display board tended to have much more information. (giving more context)

Go to the new museum and find the Panzerfaust. I think they basically just tell you what it is. There is no mention of its significance, or of the "high" (though dillusion) hopes the senior ranks held for it to defend Berlin.

Frankly, artifacts are nice, but I'm more interested in the stories behind them.

Also, the vehicle bay is a joke.

Too bad Vimy House isn't open to the public like it once was. That was a great place

louthepou said:
Hi folks,

Went to the Canadian War Museum with my two boys today. Here are a few artefacts with their text pannels (five pairs).

Enjoy,

Lou

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj180/louthepou/HPIM1156b.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj180/louthepou/HPIM1154b.jpg

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj180/louthepou/HPIM1174b.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj180/louthepou/HPIM1171b.jpg

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj180/louthepou/HPIM1178b.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj180/louthepou/HPIM1176b.jpg

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj180/louthepou/HPIM1185b.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj180/louthepou/HPIM1184b.jpg

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj180/louthepou/HPIM1190b.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj180/louthepou/HPIM1189b.jpg
Click to expand...
 
j-man said:
Does the CWM still have the Sea King display where they tell the visitor that the Beartrap and haul down system pull the helicopter on to the deck of the ship? Grumble....as a Sea King pilot, that display really cheesed me off. It's not like we're a dying breed and there's none of us left to make sure they get it right!

The place is full of nice stuff but it just reeks of history 'lite'. Go there to see artifacts but if you want historical accuracy and/or interpretation, you'll have better luck with Wikipedia. Pretty sad.

ps The haul down system puts up to 5000lbs tension on the wire connecting the ship to the Sea King and acts to stabilize the helo long enough for the pilot to land. That tension is controlled by another pilot (the Landing Signals Officer) who, communicating with the flying pilot, determines how much tension to apply and when. It doesn't pull the helo down; the pilot can over ride the tension as long as there's enough power available (which on landing, there almost always is).:wave:
Click to expand...

History lite is exactly what it is, the vehicle section is nice. Make sure you write polite, pointed letters to the head of the museum and c.c. to enough people to embarass them.
 
Claven2 said:
This is interesting. It's ID's as a No.1MkIII, but I don;t think it is, based on this pic.
HPIM1189b.jpg


At a glance, it's a MkIII missing the rear handguard (WHY!?! The CWM has oodles of parts to replace that one).

However, notice the nosepiece. It's a vertical slab-sided nose piece found only on the SMLE MkI* and some SMLE MkIV COND rifles. Either that rifle is a MkIV, or the nosepiece has been changed.
Click to expand...

Also missing is the magazine and bolt,...a bandolier of .303 mkv11 with the Pattern 1907 bayonet would have added a nice touch.
 
I visited the CWM last Nov., and I really liked it.
The layout is quite a maze,and it is easy to miss an entire section, but overall I thought it was done well and would recommend that anyone interested in Canada's history should go see it.

It is a bit annoying that there are a lot of technical errors in the displays.
 
If anything having too much knowledge will get you in trouble with the display designers and curators.
Click to expand...

I submitted an application to volunteer with restorations with a letter of recommendation from a previous military museum's curator who i helped out ......they kept giving me the paper run around .........I finally said ........I guess you don't really need me and never called back F%ck em

frankly its a B with room to improve
 
I've been there a few years back, as a kid I was amazed and as a young gun nut discussed by the poor dewats...and the guns i wish we could have brought home. some displays were pretty cool, i really like the WW1 scenery, little room that looks as if you are in a trench, you look in a periscope and see the german trench, also an unfinished part where you kinda walk in the no mans land.

over all nice place for a school trip or something like that. One thing i really hated was the souvenir store...they didnt even have any german helmets or stuff like that...ITS A WAR MUSEUM!
 
canadian war museum

I have an original ww1 shoulder stock for a webley .455 pistol that they have in their display with the bayonet attached. I offered to give it to them to make the display correct. But......no answer to...fax....e-mail......
 
can14 said:
I have an original ww1 shoulder stock for a webley .455 pistol that they have in their display with the bayonet attached. I offered to give it to them to make the display correct. But......no answer to...fax....e-mail......
Click to expand...

Why am I not surprised.
 
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