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Indiana Museums - Aviation, Military, Automotive and Fire

The McClain Military Museum
Anderson, IN
Date Visited:  5-23-2014

This museum is now permanently closed as of July 31, 2018.
I will leave this page open as a historical document showing what was once in the museum.

It was noted in the 9-1-2016 edition of the Anderson Herald Bulletin that the McClain Military Museum owes $112,021 in back property taxes.  If not paid or removed from the delinquent list by court order by October 14, the property will be put up for sale.  For those wishing to visit the museum, and have been procrastinating, now might be a good time to visit it.  DDJ 9-5-2016

A sorry end for the former McClain Military Museum Grumman OV-1 Mohawk!

While in Edinburgh, IN in August 2018 I came across several of the items from the bankrupt McClain Military Museum at Vic's Antiques and Uniques.  While the Howe Defender fire truck and GMC CCKW and M-135 were as they were in the Museum, the Grumman OV-1 had the wings cut off and pieces were laying on the grass and parking lot.  So Sad!

What a mess!!!

Surprisingly no military collector had an interest in these two trucks.  The CCKW has been modified with the addition of the saddle fuel tanks under the doors of the cab. 

The very nice Howe Defender also did not find a collector to purchase it. 

Vic's has all sorts of interesting vehicles outside.

The McClain Military Museum is located in a former factory on the north side of Anderson, IN.  It is open for limited hours in the spring, summer and fall.  Of note, the museum has three different types of M60 main battle tank on display.  Below is a sample of many of the military items on display in the Museum.

The front gate is guarded on either side by M114 155mm howitzers.

On the north side is a captured artillery piece from the first Iraq War and a UH-1 Huey.

The front door and business entrance to the museum.


The inside museum displays are inside the north end of the former factory.  During the winter months the museum obtains income by storing boats and motor homes.

The entrance to the museum is actually through the large door on the right.  There is no charge to visit the museum.


Looking north into the display area.


This Howe Defender fire truck has significance to the Anderson area because Howe built fire apparatus in Anderson between 1917 and 1978.  Its first factory, located four streets to the west of the Military Museum on Silver Street, burned down in 1936 when a pot-bellied stove tipped over and destroyed the offices and two fire trucks under construction.


A unique display at the McClain Museum is this complete US Army Field Kitchen.


Looking deeper into the north end one can see the three M60 tanks.

The first is an M60A1. 


Next is an M60A2 with a dozer blade.

The third one is an M60A3.


The M106A2 has its engine and transmission bay open for inspection.

 


This Willys Jeep engine and chassis sub-assembly was waiting for its body to be installed.  Willys Jeep bodies were made by Auburn Central Manufacturing in Connersville, IN.  Before its bankruptcy, the company was known as Auburn-Cord.


This armored bridge laying tank is on display at the McClain Military Museum.  These are rare and this is the only one I have seen to date in visiting museums of this type.

 
An M551 Sheridan light tank is also on display.


There are several displays outside the museum, including this double set of naval guns.




 This forlorn Grumman OV-1 at the south end of the outside museum.  In 1998 the McClain Museum purchased the Mohawk, intending to fly it to airshows.  In flight to the Anderson Airport, the aircraft lost an engine.  On final approach the pilot did not compensate by keeping enough power on the good engine, causing it to crash short of the runway.  Immediately after the crash, the chase plane landed, the OV-1 pilot jumped in it, and the chase plane departed back to Wisconsin from where the flight originated.  How this was all explained to the FAA remains a mystery to me.

When the OV-1 crashed, it drove the port landing gear up into the wing.  The museum trucked it to this location and it has been located here ever since.

Rumor has it that the pilot, who had flown OV-1s in Vietnam, had crashed four while in the service.  With this one being the fifth, he was then considered to be an "Ace". 

At the far north end are two M706/ V-100 Commandos built by Cadillac Gage.  Both are the open top type that were used by the Air Force for airfield security.  In conversation with the docent at the museum I inquired as to whether anything was being done or going to be done to protect them from the elements.  Unfortunately, the answer was nothing, which means they are just rusting away on the interior where rainwater and snow collects.

A note on the manufacturer:  Cadillac Gage is an entirely different company than the Cadillac Motor Car Company of GM.  Cadillac Gage was located in the Detroit, MI area and originally made gauges for the auto industry.  By 1960 it had expanded into several different area, one of them being military vehicles.  It had its Terra-Space division start work on what became the V-100.  Since that time the business has been sold to Textron and the manufacture of the current version of the V-100 is manufactured in New Orleans as the M1117 Guardian Armored Security Vehicle. 

 The Cadillac Motor Car Company of GM built M5, M5A1 and M26 light tanks during WWII.  During the Korean War Cadillac returned to making tank building and made M41 Walker Bulldog and M42 Duster light tanks for the US Army at the former Fisher Body Plant 2 at the Cleveland, OH airport.

Why the dissertation on the subject?  Because when I visited the AAF tank museum in Danville, Virginia in 2015, the V-100 was marked as being built by Cadillac, not Cadillac Gage.