# Best weekend EVER



## Thorlifter (Mar 12, 2007)

The little wifey and I took a drive into the hill country of Texas. This country is my heaven. We stay in the town of Burnet Friday night and had plans to do some town hopping to see their main street squares and do some shopping. Driving south of Burnet I spot a Corsair II on the side of the road. I sorta pissed her off cause I hit the brakes hard to see it. heh heh

Out in the middle of nothing Texas is a little municiple airport and they have a F-100, a Corsair II, some big tank, a SAM and some AA guns in front of the only hanger. Then the wife asks me, what's that silver plane?

On the back side is a beautiful C-47 and there is a WWII museum. OMG! Could life be any better? So I start talking to the people there. 5 years ago they found this C-47 and it was a mess. They spent the last 3.5 years restoring it and they were going to fly it to Brownsville for an airshow, but down south was socked in with fog. It's the only reason I got to see it. They also had a L-4, and L-5, and a Texan in the hangar. They were telling me next month they are going to have an airshow in Burnet that will feature about 35 planes, including a Corsair, an A-26 and a Spitfire (they hope).

Then it gets even better. I talked my wife into going to Fredrickburg, since it's only about 45 minutes away and I can get some good German food and beer. When I tell her about all the stores, she agrees. About 15 miles outside of town, she asks, "Why do they call this highway 'Pearl Harbor highway?'" I said I didn't know. Then about 5 miles outside of town she says, "Hey, I just saw a sign that said "Pearl Harbor War Museum." With my mind only on bratwurst and beer, I thought to myself, "What kind of Pearl Harbor museum would be in the middle of dried out Texas?"

Well, I spot the museum, then I remember that Nimitz is from Fredricksburg. We go in and, guys, that was the best museum I have EVER been in. I talked to the people that run it and they told me vets have tell them it's the best in the world. The static displays are incredible. They have the actual midget sub that was captured at Pearl Harbor. They have the only PT boat that saw combat duty there.

Anyway, here are some pics. The ugly dude sitting in the AA gun seat is me. (the wife insisted on the pic) The building is the outside of the Nimitz hotel (now the museum). It was just remodeled and reopened two weeks ago (lucky me again). In 6 weeks they are going to demo part of one of the buildings and add an additional 4000 S.F. to include another 3000 artifacts they have there. The B-25 is a static display of the Doolittle raid. The propeller actually turns and it looks like your on the deck of the Hornet. The F4F being worked on is a display of Guadalcanal. The display showing the Nazi uniform is typical of all the displays throughout the museum. The few images, some artifacts, and some text. My wife was crying when she read about what the Japanese did at Pearl Harbor and Nanking!!

Note the barrel of the japanese tank. Someone shot it with an armour piercing round.


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## lesofprimus (Mar 12, 2007)

Nice pics...


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## Thorlifter (Mar 12, 2007)

Oh yeah, I saw a few type-o's. Here is one. It say's the bat was attached beneath the wing of a B-24, but that's not a B-24. That's a Privateer.


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## evangilder (Mar 12, 2007)

Nice!


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## Aggie08 (Mar 12, 2007)

Very nice! I'll have to check those places out!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Mar 12, 2007)

Very cool. Thanks for sharing with us.


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## Gnomey (Mar 12, 2007)

Nice pics!


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## R-2800 (Mar 12, 2007)

cool nice pics, glad you had fun


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## timshatz (Mar 12, 2007)

Very cool. Where in Texas is that place (not that I go to Texas but just in case I do)?


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## Wildcat (Mar 13, 2007)

Now that's one beautiful C-47!


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## Thorlifter (Mar 13, 2007)

timshatz said:


> Very cool. Where in Texas is that place (not that I go to Texas but just in case I do)?



Fredricksburg is about an hour N-NW of San Antonio in the beautiful hill country. It's also where you will find the best white tail hunting in the USA. Kimball county has more white tail per acre than anywhere in the US. There are also ranches there that do exotic hunts so it's not uncommon at all to see antelopes, zebras, etc while driving along the many roads.


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## mkloby (Mar 13, 2007)

Cool pics man.


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## FLYBOYJ (Mar 13, 2007)

Very cool..........


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## lesofprimus (Mar 13, 2007)

Pfft, how much challenge is there in hunting a freakin Zebra.... I mean, come on, ur hunting a horse for christsakes....


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## Thorlifter (Mar 13, 2007)

lesofprimus said:


> Pfft, how much challenge is there in hunting a freakin Zebra.... I mean, come on, ur hunting a horse for christsakes....



ha ha. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. And it's not a brown horse....it's a black and white striped horse. And as we all know, black and white stripes is natures purest form of camoflage.

Here is proof. I'll bet ya $100 it takes you a long time to find the zebra in these pictures. It's damn near impossible


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## Matt308 (Mar 13, 2007)

Evolution, baby. Evolution. Kinda like titt**s.


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## Thorlifter (Mar 15, 2007)

Matt308 said:


> Evolution, baby. Evolution. Kinda like titt**s.



Do you mean tittums? tittles? titters? 

I'm confused!


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## Matt308 (Mar 15, 2007)

And that you shall remain, for I will not violate the forum rules to educate you my friend.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Mar 18, 2007)

well if i were to call Adler and Syscom tits, they together would be a pair of....


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Mar 18, 2007)

You thought of that for a while did you not old goat boy...


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## HealzDevo (Mar 21, 2007)

That looks like a great museum. Interesting a boat was shown. Is that one of the German S-Boats or an Allied Rescue Launch you showed? Although I don't think it is an Allied Rescue Launch as it is equiped with torpedoes....


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## Thorlifter (Mar 22, 2007)

That PT boat is the only one on exhibit that actually saw combat duty during WWII. It served for 18 months in the Med, then was brought back to New York for refitting to be sent to the pacific, but the war ended. All the other PT's were stripped and sold or roped together and burned.

The museum brought in the PT, then built the building around it. They know this PT sunk 1 ship and assisted in another.


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## HealzDevo (Mar 24, 2007)

Okay, I knew it was some sort of boat. Wasn't aware though that it was a PT Boat. Cool. Thanks for these photos.


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## Freebird (Mar 19, 2008)

Thorlifter said:


> Fredricksburg is about an hour N-NW of San Antonio in the beautiful hill country. It's also where you will find the best white tail hunting in the USA. Kimball county has more white tail per acre than anywhere in the US. There are also ranches there that do exotic hunts so it's not uncommon at all to see antelopes, zebras, etc while driving along the many roads.



Did you ever get down to Uvalde?


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## Konigstiger205 (Mar 19, 2008)

Great pictures


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## Njaco (Mar 19, 2008)

Behind the rocks.

Thor either you don't get out much or Texas is really big. Man, that is a great find! Any more little places like that and you'll have a neighbor that talks funny.


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## Thorlifter (Mar 19, 2008)

freebird said:


> Did you ever get down to Uvalde?



Freebird, I grew up hunting all around Uvalde, Hondo, and Yancey. I have some very good friends that have lived in Uvalde all their lives.



Njaco said:


> Behind the rocks.
> 
> Thor either you don't get out much or Texas is really big. Man, that is a great find! Any more little places like that and you'll have a neighbor that talks funny.



We have towns bigger than New Jersey!!!! ha ha ha


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## Njaco (Mar 19, 2008)




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## A4K (Mar 19, 2008)

Great shots Thor! 
That AA gun was a 20-mm Oerlikon I think, and the tank a Japanese type 97 if I remember right.


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## Marshall_Stack (Mar 19, 2008)

The AA gun with the ugly guy at the helm  appears to a dual 40mm Bofors gun.


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## DBII (Mar 19, 2008)

It is as bad as trying to see the waterfalls in the breaking news thread.
I wish you did not tell everyone about the museum. Now there is going to be a crowd. Fredricksburg is a nice place to hang out. If you go, book a room at the Hanger Hotel

Hangar Hotel

DBII


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## Njaco (Mar 19, 2008)

You won't set us up in your place DB? I'm sure the missus wouldn't mind! 

All these things Thor is finding has got me itchin'. Summers coming!!


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## Freebird (Mar 19, 2008)

Thorlifter said:


> Freebird, I grew up hunting all around Uvalde, Hondo, and Yancey. I have some very good friends that have lived in Uvalde all their lives.



I've driven down a few times from Canada on 25 287 to Amarillo, then down on the 84 to Sweetwater and then on the 83 through Junction to Laredo. It's a fantastic drive through the hill country around Uvalde. I'll have to stop in Fredricksburg to see the sights sometime, maybe I'll see you there too?


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