Planning a Road Trip Across 1940s America

[Kerensky]

For absolutely no particular reason, we're very interested in planning a road trip across the United States set during the 1940s.

In this theoretical road trip, what are some of the destinations you think you would like to visit?

Off the top of my head, I can think of several great landmarks to potentially come across:

There is a huge boeing factory on the outskirts of Seattle:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Plant_2

Mount Rushmore had just finished construction just a few years ago in the early 1940s
https://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge is another recent construction of the 1930s.

There's the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon in the American Southwest.

For extra fun, we can pretend we are spies. In that case, what are the various American military bases you would like to investigate on this cross country tour?

Camp Pendleton in San Diego perhaps. Or one of the huge naval shipyards on the Eastern Seaboard?

Let us know, we're very interested!

[Retributarr]

5th Column Intelligence gathering:

If a "Foreign-Power... IE: JAPAN" was setting its sights on say... conquering "China"... it would be an idea to first... severely disrupt a potential opponent who would be most-likely to be in opposition to your aspirational plans and agenda... by first sending in specially-trained subterfuge agents into the U.S. ... in order to gather all the information required on critical "Civilian and Military" infrastructure... such as... Power Plants-Hydro Electric Dams-Railroad Yards and Rail systems-Harbors-Naval Yards-Airbases-War Materials Construction/Fabrication Factories-HighWays as well as the locations of Government Buildings. Once this information has been collected... to then plan how to disrupt it all at one and the same time... if at all possible!.

Also to seriously consider how to sabotage and disrupt the "Panama-Canal" so that the U.S. Naval Ships could not use it for fast easy transit from their "Ship-Yards" on the "East-Coast" to the Pacific Region. Then!!!... do the same procedure for the U.S. Naval-Base at the Hawaiian Islands.

[Sequester Grundleplith, MD]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Ridge,_Tennessee

One of America's wartime secret cities

[Sequester Grundleplith, MD]

Also New Orleans, Louisiana has a fantastic National WW2 Museum, and the city itself is great for tourists

[wecker]

Oak Ridge was also my first guess

Further tourist hot spots could be:

- New Yorks Empire State building
- Niagara Falls at the canadian border
- Charleston and Savannah (southern plantations and southern belles )
- Crossing the Mississipi at Vicksburg (remind the Civil War)
- Disneyland and meeting some Alligators (the vehicles I mean)
- Mardi Gras in New Orleans

Maybe we can meet some japanese tourists around Alamagordo and see who is first there?

Finally we can shoot a documentary movie at Hollywood studios

[wecker]

Also to seriously consider how to sabotage and disrupt the "Panama-Canal" so that the U.S. Naval Ships could not use it for fast easy transit from their "Ship-Yards" on the "East-Coast" to the Pacific Region. Then!!!... do the same procedure for the U.S. Naval-Base at the Hawaiian Islands.

Yes - strongly support the idea of Retributar Visiting the Panama canal is a great proposal.

We could also visit Argentina (as a new holiday Hacienda for german leaders in retirement)...

We could also make some secret missions on Greenland or Alaska (remember the shot down chinese weather balloons recently )

Also we could travel with some submarines and establish a secret base - let`s say in Mexico (Acapulco/Vera Cruz?)

For our music and lovers of natural hemp products we could visit the Rastafaris in Jamaica - or save some special personnel from camps in French Guyana from Devils Island (like in Papillon)

[robman]

Arguably the most important historical 1940s site in the US is the Trinity nuclear test site, which you can visit on specific days of the year: https://home.army.mil/wsmr/index.php/co ... open-house

[terminator]

Las Vegas

Las Vegas Army Airfield (1942) :

Las_Vegas_Army_Airfield_-_1942_-_USAAF.jpg (142.68 KiB) Viewed 1378 times

[Kerensky]

Also New Orleans, Louisiana has a fantastic National WW2 Museum, and the city itself is great for tourists

I would highly doubt a WW2 museum would exist during WW2. But I could be wrong, what museum is it?

[Kerensky]

Also to seriously consider how to sabotage and disrupt the "Panama-Canal" so that the U.S. Naval Ships could not use it for fast easy transit from their "Ship-Yards" on the "East-Coast" to the Pacific Region. Then!!!... do the same procedure for the U.S. Naval-Base at the Hawaiian Islands.

Yes - strongly support the idea of Retributar Visiting the Panama canal is a great proposal.

We could also visit Argentina (as a new holiday Hacienda for german leaders in retirement)...

We could also make some secret missions on Greenland or Alaska (remember the shot down chinese weather balloons recently )

Also we could travel with some submarines and establish a secret base - let`s say in Mexico (Acapulco/Vera Cruz?)

For our music and lovers of natural hemp products we could visit the Rastafaris in Jamaica - or save some special personnel from camps in French Guyana from Devils Island (like in Papillon)

Unfortunately none of these are located in the Continental United States where the road trip is planned.

[Sequester Grundleplith, MD]

Also New Orleans, Louisiana has a fantastic National WW2 Museum, and the city itself is great for tourists

I would highly doubt a WW2 museum would exist during WW2. But I could be wrong, what museum is it?

It's literally called "The National WWII Museum"

It started as a museum to D-Day, because the Higgins landing boats were designed and built in New Orleans, and slowly expanded its scope and collections.

[Raganr129]

For extra fun, we can pretend we are spies. In that case, what are the various American military bases you would like to investigate on this cross country tour?

Well, if we're being spies, I might like to see some arms production facilities, such as any tank factories on this list: https://www.theshermantank.com/sherman/ ... ve-anyway/

My choice would be the Chrysler Defense Arsenal (CDA) in Detroit, but all of them would be super interesting to see.

Depending on when we're taking this road trip, Boeing plant 2 in Washington state would be cool to see the neighborhoodish camouflage on the roof: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/b ... r-factory/

Naval station in Norfolk, Virginia. It became one of if not the biggest shipyard in the world during the war.

[adiekmann]

Hmmm...a lot of good suggestions made already. I am actually driven to curiosity by the reason for this request.

Not to be too redundant, but all of the secret locations where research was being conducted certainly would be near the top of the list.

So would engineering sites for weapon systems like Boeing as you already mentioned.

If sabotage was part of the game plan (no pun intended ), then also the major manufacturing sites where war material was being built. There are numerous locations for that including Detroit and Southern California.

Other important resources would also be of interests like oil refineries and steel mills.

Infrastructure that provides energy to those key industrial sites and transportation would likely also be of key interest, like somehow blocking the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana. Anything to disrupt all aspects of American capacity to produce and move resources and war material.

I know of some of these locations, but I'd need to do research to find out the majority. Much has changed since the 1940s. For example, Pennsylvania used to be a major oil producing region, but not today.

It would be a lot for teams of spies and saboteurs to do because of the countless number of strategic locations and the vastness of the United States. All of Germany in 1939 was about the size of the State of Montana.

[Retributarr]

Hmmm...a lot of good suggestions made already. I am actually driven to curiosity by the reason for this request.

Not to be too redundant, but all of the secret locations where research was being conducted certainly would be near the top of the list.

It would be a lot for teams of spies and saboteurs to do because of the countless number of strategic locations and the vastness of the United States. All of Germany in 1939 was about the size of the State of Montana.

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Retrib-response:
OK!... Yes!... to disrupt all of these "Countless Number Of Targets" would obviously be much too-much to attempt!. However?... in a Game where the player can have the choice... or choices of what to target to disable... that could make a big difference in how the Game plays out!. If you make the "Wrong-Choices" at the so called "Opportune Moment"... then you will get your "Butt-Kicked!".

Just one "Off-Hand-Example!": - - - In the "Pacific-Theatre' "... the Americans had just developed the "WildCat Fighter" that could use the 'Air-Craft-Carrier' to operate from. When it went up against the Mitsubishi-Zero it was "Out-Classed"... the Japanese Fighters could easily fly circles around it!... so then this WildCat Fighter was soon to be replaced by the "HellCat"... which then became more than a match for the "Mitsubishi-Zero"... so much so... that at the Philippines Battle... known as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot"... more than 300 experienced Japanese Fighter pilots and their planes were shot out of the sky with minimal losses to the American Fighter Groups.

After that... what-ever "Carrier-Force" that the Japanese had... then ceased to be of any consequence!.

So!... the "Point-Being"... if in that one particular instance... if your "Saboteurs"... failed to initiate enough crippling damage and disruption to this particular production facility... it would have definitely have had adverse affects for the Americans in the Pacific!.

[Moniker]

Here are some more destinations for your 1940s road trip.

U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York - army officer school
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St ... ry_Academy

U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland - marine and navy officer school
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St ... al_Academy

The Pentagon, Washington, District of Columbia - armed forces headquarters
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pentagon

Wright Field now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio - Technical Data Branch/Section/Laboratory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright-Pa ... Force_Base

Fort Knox, Kentucky - armor school
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Knox

Fort Benning, Georgia - parachute school
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Benning

Camp Polk now Fort Polk, Louisiana - large scale maneuvers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Polk

Kelly Field now Lackland Air Force Base, Texas - aviation cadet school
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lackland_Air_Force_Base

Fort Sill, Oklahoma - artillery school
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Sill

Midwest Air Depot now Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma - C-47 Skytrain and A-20 Havoc production
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker_Air_Force_Base

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas - army staff college
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Leavenworth

Camp Hale, Colorado -mountain troop training (closed, now a historical site)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Hale

Camp Young/California-Arizona Maneuver Area/Desert Training Center - large scale desert maneuvers (closed, now historical sites)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Training_Center

[seco1]

Should there be any stops in Canada?
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... B3cPxXERky
This was an interesting idea that was never built. An ice aircraft carrier. Project Habakkuk

[Retributarr]

Should there be any stops in Canada? ????
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... B3cPxXERky
This was an interesting idea that was never built. An ice aircraft carrier. Project Habakkuk

"seco1"... below was a previous "Kerensky's" reply to such a likewise-request
-------------------------------
Kerensky
Posts: 8107
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 2:12 am
Re: Planning a Road Trip Across 1940s America
Post by Kerensky » Tue Feb 28, 2023 10:53 pm
Quote: "Unfortunately none of these are located in the Continental United States where the road trip is planned".

[Sequester Grundleplith, MD]

Should there be any stops in Canada? ????
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... B3cPxXERky
This was an interesting idea that was never built. An ice aircraft carrier. Project Habakkuk

"seco1"... below was a previous "Kerensky's" reply to such a likewise-request
-------------------------------
Kerensky
Posts: 8107
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 2:12 am
Re: Planning a Road Trip Across 1940s America
Post by Kerensky » Tue Feb 28, 2023 10:53 pm
Quote: "Unfortunately none of these are located in the Continental United States where the road trip is planned".

Travel between the continental US and Canada is actually pretty hassle free. If you're already in the area (new York or Michigan), you could jump across the border and check out Camp X, where SOE and OSS agents trained

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_X

[monkspider]

I will rep my own hometown and mention the massive Boeing plant that was in wichita, ks.

[Kerensky]

Oh very interesting locations. How could I forget Fort Knox.

These are great ideas for locations that might come up... I mean... that I would like to visit when I turn on my time machine for my road trip.

Thanks!