When I lived in Toronto, I well remember the Lancaster bomber that was on a pedestal in Coronation Park, right next to Lakeshore Boulevard.
Here in Lethbridge, Alberta, we have a couple of WWI German naval guns in Henderson Park.
The bell from HMCS Lethbridge, an RCN Flower-Class Corvette that escorted convoys in WWII, is on display in the lobby of Lethbridge’s City Hall.
They make great bollards!
Perhaps it’s this one?
Mark Felton did a video of WWI memorial guns in Britain
40+ years ago, William Manchester toured the islands he’d fought on in WWII. He noted how Japanese citizens would “adopt” their side’s guns and use vacation time to visit the islands to keep them clean. I don’t know if this is still a thing today. Ian McCollum’s Forgotten Weapons channel has shown some guns on Pacific islands but doesn’t mention who maintains them.
Canon in the park? Check!
Old airplane at the airport? Check!
Is it canon that cannons belong in a park?
My hometown had an old tank as a display. I don’t remember much about it, but did go play on it a couple of times. I think there was also an artillery piece, but my recall is fuzzy.
I haven’t been there in a decade or more. Looking online, it appears the tank and gun are now gone.
There is, however, a new park celebrating a “famous”1 battle of the Civil War, where a Confederate cavalry group including Native American soldiers attacked a small Union cavalry group that was tending horses a few miles from the fort. The park description says it honors the brave men who fought on both sides. I’m not sure how I feel about this.
1 “Famous” in that it is a recorded battle and is listed in Civil War resources, not “famous” as in anybody has actually heard about it. “Battle of Massard Prairie” for any Civil War history buffs. Let’s just say I grew up there and don’t remember hearing about this famous battle, though I do remember the fort and town being a key outpost for the US government overseeing Indian Territory.
I’m remembering the scene/story in The World According to Garp, where the old cannon in the park has become the preferred disposal location for prophylactics used by horny teens in the park. In that town, the parks department probably owns that cannon; emptying it out must be a terrible job.
Given that the battle occurred in a Confederate state, I think I’m not too surprised about that description, especially if it’s an older description.
It’s more common in areas with a strong, nearby military presence of some kind. One of the public parks here in Little Rock had an torpedo but it was turned over to the Inland Maritime Museum when they opened. I worked at a military museum located in a public park and I once asked our director why we didn’t have a tank or a helicopter sitting outside and he asked, “Do you want to be the one to clean the graffiti off it?”
To answer the OP, the military vehicles/equipment you might see at a public park are all disabled. Any important or classified equipment within have certainly been gutted. People can actually buy old military equipment and Arnold Schwarzenegger purchased the M-47 Patton he trained on when he was in the Austrian army. One of the local VFA chapters here in Little Rock has a Bell UH-1 helicopter sitting in front of their building. It’s on a stand so vandals can’t get to it easily.
If it’s sitting in the park it was either donated by someone or the organization that maintains the area raised funds to purchase it.
There’s a memorial park in Arco, Idaho that features the preserved sail of the USS Hawkbill. (aka “The Submarine In the Desert” / “The Devil Boat”)
While driving through northern Missouri on US 36 this past weekend, I saw a retired fighter plane up on a stand, outside of the Chillicothe Municipal Airport. Looking it up, I see that it’s an F-105B Thunderchief, and that there are an awful lot of retired F-105s on display in various places.
Not my image, but this is the plane and airport:
Indeed.
There’s also a Harvard trainer in Smiths Falls.
And in North Bay, Ontario there’s a CF-100.
In Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden there’s a tank park.
And in parks across Canada there’s no shortage of WWs I & II artillery pieces.
One of my favorite of these is “Big Chief”, an art installation consisting of three SU-100 tank destroyers painted primary colors and chained to a pole of melted weapons, located in northern Israel:
In Henderson Park, in Lethbridge, Alberta, there are a couple of WWI German naval artillery pieces. No idea how they ended up there.
On the other hand, the ship’s bell of HMCS Lethbridge is proudly displayed in the lobby of Lethbridge’s City Hall.
If you’re talking about Cabin John, are you sure you’re not thinking about the creepy-as-fuck Porky The Litter Eater?
You can feed him paper and cardboard and soft drink cans, but never. NEVER. feed him bottles or broken glass. Find him some paper NOW. He’s hungry. HUNGRY. HUNGRY.
Very nice. If you’re ever in Halifax you should visit HMCS SACKVILLE (if you haven’t). She’s the same class but it really shows the crappy conditions that sailors had to tolerate during the Battle of the Atlantic. They’re shockingly small ships yet they did the heavy lifting (besides the merchant ships of course) during the battle.
It’s cheating because it’s a museum, but I like to visit the March AFB Air Museum whenever I go to the neighboring National Cemetery to visit my folks.
There’s also a WWII submarine parked at Muskogee, Oklahoma - the U.S.S. Batfish.
They drove it up the Arkansas River, into an alcove, dammed it off, and drained the alcove. It’s pretty neat due people who live a long way from the coast to get to see a naval vessel like that.