For more information and reservations please contact Jane Harper or Mandy Livingston  

"Pistol Packin' Mama: The Missions of a B-17" describes, using archival film footage, photographs and the personal stories of five crew members, what it was like to fly the B-17 "Betty Boop Pistol Packin' Mama" in the grim early days of daylight bombing.

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Keep the Legacy Alive, Remember us in your will

We are celebrating our 15^th anniversary on May 14^th of this year at a gala highlighting the museum's past, present, and future. I hope that you will be able to attend. It will be a night to remember! In addition to the gala, there are many projects currently underway or under construction. There is no shortage of initiatives that keep all our staff busy. The B-17 Restoration is progressing nicely. We will now begin to acquire the pieces, like gun turrets, that will bring the airplane to its full combat configuration. Our Character Counts education program has been formally adopted into the curriculum of all the elementary and middle schools in the district. Over 400 teachers, principals, school staff, and parents have attended the Character Counts orientation seminars at the museum. This is a powerful program that will have a significant impact on the community. In addition, we are enhancing several existing exhibits to make them more interactive and informative. Two examples are the POW exhibit and the Ploesti exhibit. The 1941 Ford Fire Truck "Rags" has been fully restored by the U.S. Army and is now in the museum. It is proving to be a very popular exhibit. Our visitor's center located in Historic Savannah attracts hundreds of people who learn about the museum and then pay us a visit.

These are just some of the activities here at the Mighty Eighth. I look forward to your visit so you can see first hand the progress being made.  

 Keep the Legacy alive! Please remember us in your will.

Restoration Project Update

Roland Waller

Eddie Deerfield, Lieutenant Colonel, U. S. Army (Retired) and his wife, Mary Lee, recently visited the museum to donate a framed print of the painting by Ev Smith completed in 1991. Below his signature the artist added the notation Frantic V indicating the subject of his composition. Frantic was the code name for the various shuttle missions flown in 1944 to the Soviet Union from both England, by the Eighth Air Force, and Italy, by the Fifteenth Air Force. Frantic V began on 6 August 1944 with seventy-six B-17s from the 95th and 390th Bomb Groups and 64 P-51 Mustangs from the 357th Fighter Group. On their way to Russia, these B-17s bombed a Focke-Wulf manufacturing plant at Rahmel, Poland and then landed at Poltava. The 357th's P-51s landed about 100 miles away in Piryatin. The next day the mission continued by bombing the Cracow and Trzebinia oil refineries. Then on 8 August the B-17s and most of the P-51s flew to Foggia, Italy, bombing the Bizau and Zilistea airfields on the way.  Later all three groups returned to their bases in England. In his composition Ev Smith included three 95th BG B-17s and one 357th FG P-51 that flew this shuttle mission. The B-17s are in combat formation while the P-51 pursues a Fw-190. Central to the composition is a large B-17 named I Dood It. This aircraft was also known as Berlin Bessie.

While at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum Colonel Deerfield spoke with students from a Division of the South Carolina Civil Air Patrol about his World War II service.   He completed 30 combat missions as Radio Operator / Gunner in the 303rd Bomb Group. 

The German Invasion of Denmark and Norway

By Museum Volunteer Gary Silver

With the defeat and occupation of Poland in October 1939, Europe was officially at war again, following twenty-one years of the "peace" shaped by the Treaty of Versailles.  Tragically, the "Great War" - the "war to end all wars" - would have to be replayed. 

France and Great Britain, unprepared for war and powerless to meet their treaty commitments to Poland, now had more immediate concerns about their own defense.  Expecting a German blitzkrieg, they moved fighter planes and several divisions of troops to northern France on the Belgian border where they dug in and waited. The French had constructed the Maginot Line, an immense fortification built along their entire border with Germany, and the Allies were convinced that the Germans would have to bypass it and attack through the low countries.  But as winter approached without incident, the likelihood of an immediate German land offensive became more remote.

In terms of war preparedness, the French had the largest land army in western Europe, but their investment in the Maginot Line committed them to a policy of defense and severely stifled their offensive spirit.  The British continued to increase troop strength and produce weapons of war.  People in London and Paris watched the sky for the Luftwaffe onslaught that had engulfed Warsaw.  In England, children were evacuated from cities to safer locations, and gas masks were distributed to the civilian population.  The buildup for war progressed into the winter months, but all remained ominously quiet on the western front.  British and French journalists poked fun at the Germans, labeling their inaction as "sitzkrieg" and referring to the period as "the phony war."

Only at sea was there significant warfare during this period.  In September, the unarmed passenger ship S.S. Athenia was sunk by a German U-boat, with the loss of 117 civilians (including 26 Americans).  This signaled the beginning of unrestricted submarine warfare, and by the end of 1939 the German fleet of 57 U-boats had sunk over 100 Allied merchant ships.  German U-boats also successfully attacked British warships during this period, notably the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Courageous which was torpedoed and sunk also in September.  One month later, in a daring U-boat raid, the battleship H.M.S. Royal Oak was attacked while at anchor and sent to the bottom of its home base at Scapa Flow, off Scotland.  The British evened the score somewhat in a naval engagement off the coast of Uruguay that damaged the German pocket battleship Graf Spee, which had been terrorizing Allied commerce in the south Atlantic.  Forced into a neutral port for repairs and faced with what he believed to be overwhelming odds, the Graf Spee's captain scuttled the ship outside the harbor of Montivideo.  In addition, the Royal Navy imposed a coastal blockade on Germany to deny Hitler's navy easy access to the Atlantic.

Read Further 

April 1942. Maj. General Spaatz, commander of "Army Air Forces in Great Britain" suggests to Gen. Hap Arnold that the 8^th be the nucleus for the buildup in Britain.

April 1942. Hap Arnold rejects U.S. use of RAF Lancaster, reaffirms commitment to precision daylight bombing. British continue to pressure U.S. to join night bombing.

April 8, 1942. Gen. Marshall tells Eaker he doesn't believe invasion of Europe possible until Luftwaffe is destroyed. Eaker begins planning campaign to destroy targets and get the Luftwaffe to come up and fight.

April 8, 1943. First appearance of P-47. 23 P-47s were sent on Rodeo, a sweep to destroy enemy aircraft

April 17, 1943. Heaviest opposition to date. 107 B-17s drop 265.5 tons of bombs on Breman. 16 B-17s MIA. 63 enemy aircraft destroyed with another 15 probable.

April 12, 1945. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies at Warm Springs, Georgia.

April 16-21, 1945. Attacks continued but with careful regard to target selection. On April 16, the rail bridge across the Danube was obliterated, in spite of the fact that Patton's 3^rd Army needed it more than the retreating Germans. On April 17, the rail yards at Dresen received one last assault.

April 25, 1945. Last 8^th Air Force combat mission. 286 1^st AD B-17s dropped 525 tons of bombs on the Skoda armament works and 189 tons on the Pilsen airfield.

On June 10, 2011 you and your family could learn what it would have been like to be a member of the Eighth Air Force during World War II. A mission briefing and dinner will kick off the night.... Click here for more information Family Night Info

The Veterans Tribute Towers stand as a lasting tribute to honor the past of America's veterans, and a salute to our present veterans.  

Our goal is to pay tribute to all military personnel, from every service branch, and from every time period in American History. These are the brave men and women who have sacrificed to keep this nation free for the last 233 years and they deserve our respect.

 

A plaque on the Veteran Tribute Towers is a unique way for you to pay tribute to our fallen heroes; and to remember the servicemen and women who are no longer with us today.

 

Within these towers you are able to pay homage to Medal of Honor Recipients, Prisoners of War, Generals, Admirals, as well as the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines whose story has not been told. All performed honorable service to this nation and many of them gave their life to keep us free. The Tribute Towers are solid red granite and the plaques are magnificent bronze. They are a fitting memorial to our heroes.

 

For more information please contact Peggy Harden