Indiana Military Museum

The Indiana Military Museum is a military museum located in Vincennes, Indiana.

Indiana Military Museum

Location within Indiana
Established	1982 (1982)
Location	Vincennes, Indiana
Coordinates	38.673°N 87.538°W / 38.673; -87.538
Type	Military museum
Founder	Jim R. Osborne
Website	www.indianamilitarymuseum.com

History

Background

Jim R. Osborne began collecting surplus military equipment as a child after his neighbor gave him a collection of German equipment he had taken as war trophies.^[1] In the late 1960s, he started acquiring land vehicles as well.^[2]

Establishment

At the urging of friends, the Indiana Military Museum was founded by Osborne in 1982 and opened to the public in 1984 on Bruceville Road east of Vincennes.^[3][4] A pair of buildings slated for demolition were moved to the property and were the museum's first buildings.^[5] The display space was further expanded in 1988 with the acquisition of a piece of a former Harold's grocery store.^[6] The museum completed the restoration of an LVT-4 in 1991.^[7] A major change came in the late 1990s, when the museum realized that it needed to focus on finding a new location.^[8] A number of objects were loaned to the Casino Aztar in Evansville, Indiana for a temporary exhibit in 2000.^[9] Shortly thereafter, the museum closed to undergo renovations supported by a grant from the Lilly Endowment.^[5]

Move

The museum purchased a site west of Vincennes close to the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, where it reopened on 31 May 2013.^[10] It acquired A4D, F-16 and Lim-5R airplanes in 2015, a T-34 tank the following year and the sail of the submarine USS Indianapolis the year after that.^{[11][12][13][14]} The museum announced plans to complete a new 24,000 sq ft (2,200 m²) exhibit hall in 2018.^[15] The expansion, reduced to 8,000 sq ft (740 m²), opened the following year.^[16]

Facilities

The museum is located on the 14-acre (0.057 km²) site of the former Blackford Window Glass Company factory.^[8][17] Plans made at the time of the site's purchase call for the construction of a 56,000 sq ft (5,200 m²) building.^[18] The museum also has a library.^[19]

Exhibits

Exhibits include a memorial for the USS Grayback that was moved from the Heslar Naval Armory.^[19] Inside the museum, there are replicas of a 1940s home, the ruins of a French cathedral and a home front factory.^[20]

Collection

Aircraft

Douglas SC-47D Skytrain

• Beech UC-45J Expeditor^[21]
• Bell UH-1 Iroquois^[22]
• Boeing PT-17 Kaydet^[23]
• Douglas A4D-2 Skyhawk^[24][25]
• Douglas SC-47D Skytrain^[26]
• General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon^[24][27]
• Lockheed T-33A^[28]
• Lockheed T-33B^[29]
• McDonnell F-4D Phantom II^[30]
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21^[31]
• On Mark Marketeer^[32]
• PZL TS-11 Iskra^[24][33]
• WSK-Mielec Lim-5R^[24][34]

Ground vehicles

• 2S1 Gvozdika^[35]
• M4 Sherman^[35]
• M47 Patton^[35]
• Sexton^[35]
• Type 95 Ha-Go light tank^[35]

Other

• Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel – post-World War II^[36][37]
• MGM-13B Mace^[38][39]

Events

The museum holds a number of events in the spring and summer, including a reenactments of Civil War, World War I, World War II and Vietnam War battles.^{[40][41][42][43]}

See also

• Motts Military Museum
• Russell Military Museum