2 Nights Only! October 7th & 8th Fallujah Good - Dinner & Theatre Show will be held at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum. 

 Fallujah Good, a play in one act, is an adaptation of a combat journal written during the Battle of Fallujah in 2004. It runs just over an hour and is decidedly
not a protest play. It is an apolitical work that the author says "just tells a story."
Written by Capt. Adam Mathes USMC, Fallujah Good also provides a first hand, primary source account of the Battle of Fallujah. The play is followed with a
discussion session by professional actor Benjamin Mathes on the contents of the play and its origins. Viewers have called it "Beautiful and painful to watch."
Actor Benjamin Mathes has performed in several Off-Broadway classical theatre roles. He has played in Regional Theatre, Soap Operas, Network Television and
Film as well. Benjamin has worked with Andy Garcia, Alan Arkin, John Witherspoon, and Chris Rock among others. His one-man show Fallujah Good has
played in various theatres since the Fall of 2008.

For more information click the link below 

Fallujah Good Play 

 Lovin' Spoons Pooler is located at 479 Pooler Parkway.

The second annual Flying Fortress 5K is to benefit the restoration of the Museum's B-17, the "City of Savannah". The 5K (3.1 mile) course will make its way through the campus of JCB, Inc., starting and finishing at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum.

Register Online Today!

Children's pilot suit with helmet  

Imagine your little one in this jumpsuit soaring the skies...

Sizes start from 2/3 - 12/14.

Olive green poly/cotton fabric, 2-way heavy duty center double zipper, Heavy duty snap utility pocket on upper left leg, 4 zippered thigh and lower leg pockets, 2 bottom leg vertical zippers, 2 zippered chest angled pockets, 2 side waist zippers, Velcro tab waist, Velcro tab sleeves, Zippered utility pocket on left sleeve.

Sizes: xs (2/3) sm (4/6) med (6/8) lg (8/10 xl (12/14  

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Keep the Legacy Alive, Remember us in your will

Restoration Project Update

Dave Pflieger was born in Norwalk, Ohio and attended the University of Detroit in Michigan.  After ROTC in college he was commissioned into the Air Force where he served for twenty years and retired as a major. He attended pilot training and flew while serving and then moved into other areas of service in the Air Force.  When he retired he went into the private club business and worked in private clubs around the South for thirty one years. He retired from the Capital City Club as general manager/CEO after sixteen years. He has been married to his wife Pat for almost fifty years and they have three children. They retired to Savannah four years ago and he began volunteering as a greeter in the museum almost immediately.  

Teri Bell

MISS SOPHIE: White bread -- one of my favorite things 

The other night, I had to roll pizza dough, so I went to my dresser drawer to retrieve my grandmother's glass rolling pin. I have a fancy French-style rolling pin in the kitchen drawer, but I automatically thought of Grandma's instead.

Teri Bell is the co-owner of Miss Sophie's Marketplace at the Mighty Eighth in Pooler. Go to www.sophiesmarketplace.com.

Title page to Reflections by an Old Hanger by Harold Riley

This folio includes the 20 June 1944 mission to the Misburg Oil Refinery near Hanover, Germany.  Colonel John Gerhart, the commanding officer of the 93rd Combat Wing, flew as command pilot on the lead aircraft with John Bishop as navigator.  The 490th followed by the 34th and the 493rd Bomb Groups dropped their bombs over the target.  When Colonel Gerhart's aircraft had returned to the 490th base at Eye, he congratulated the crew and told them it was the best mission he had flown.  Later he awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross to members of this lead crew.   

The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission - August 17, 1943 

By Museum Volunteer Gary Silver        

Eighth Air Force Mission #1

In July, 1942, the first B-17 Flying Fortresses belonging to the 97^th Bomb Group of the six-month old Eighth Army Air Force, arrived in Polebrook, East Anglia.  This brought the Eighth's total complement of heavy (four-engine) bombers in England to almost 100.  A month of intensive training followed, with an emphasis on instrument flying due to the unforgiving English weather.  Gunners honed their skills against British fighters that flew mock attacks against their bombers.  Weather permitting, the Eighth trained hard because they knew what lay ahead.  Meanwhile, impatient leaders in Washington, particularly Lt. Gen. Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces, were applying pressure to get the Americans into the fight.

The Eighth's first combat mission, flown by the 97^th BG on August 17, 1942, was a raid by a dozen B-17's against a marshalling yard at Rouen, France.  The strike was notable for several reasons. It was the first high altitude mission flown by the Mighty Eighth in their own heavy bombers against Nazi-occupied Europe.  In addition, several prominent Eighth Air Force leaders were intimately involved: In the pilot seat of the lead ship was Maj. Paul Tibbets, who was considered the finest flyer in the 97^th.  Three years later Tibbets would become famous as the Enola Gay's pilot, who dropped a single bomb over Hiroshima that helped end the war.  Col. Frank Armstrong, iron-willed commander of the 97^th, was co-pilot.  Armstrong became the model for the lead character, Gen. Frank Savage, in the film Twelve O'Clock High.  Brig. Gen. Ira Eaker, head of Eighth Air Force Bomber Command sat as an observer in the lead plane of the second element.  Eaker's boss (and old friend), Eighth Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Carl "Tooey" Spaatz, had intended to personally lead the mission but was overruled by the Allied high command, who thought it too risky.  Instead, he was on hand to watch the 97^th take off, along with dozens of reporters and skeptical observers from the Royal Air Force. Who (along with the Lufwaffe) became convinced from earlier experience that daylight strategic bombing would result in both poor bombing accuracy and unsustainable losses.

[Miller, p.25-31]  Read Further                                                                        

October 8-14, 1943- The week of October 8, 1943, began with two hundred sixty-one planes from the 1st and 3^rd BD hitting Bremen.  They were escorted by two hundred forty-seven P-47s from six fighter groups. Forty-three unescorted B-24s from the 2^nd BD hit Vegestack. Enemy opposition was intense at Bremen.  Twenty-seven B-17s were lost and one hundred eight enemy aircraft were destroyed.  The 381^st BG lost seven aircraft but shot down nineteen of the enemy and were awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation.  The 100^th BG also lost seven aircraft.  Escort fighters destroyed twelve enemy aircraft but suffered three losses. 

On October 9, groups from the 1^st and 3^rd BD attacked aircraft plants in Anklam and Marienburg.  Bombing from thirteen thousand feet, ninety-six B-17s put 58% of their bombs within one hundred feet of the aiming point.  Twenty-eight aircraft were lost this day and the 351^st BG was awarded the DUC for its action.

Two hundred thirty-six B-17s from the 1^st and 3^rd BD dropped seven hundred tons of bombs on the rail yards and viaducts at Munster on October 10^th.  Roger Freeman describes the action over Munster as "one of the most concentrated air battles to date."  In all, thirty B-17s were lost that day with twelve coming from the 100^th BG.  Only Rosie Rosenthal, piloting the "Royal Flush" and its crew managed to return to Thorpe Abbots.  The 390^th claimed a record sixty kills but lost eight of their own.  Bombers shot down a total of one hundred eighty-three enemy aircraft with nineteen more destroyed by fighters.  The 95^th BG received the DUC for their actions. 

Second Schweinfurt- Three hundred one B-17s from the 1^st and 3^rd BD were dispatched against Schweinfurt on October 14.  Heavy fighter opposition was encountered and only two hundred twenty nine aircraft were "effective" over the target.  The 305^th lost thirteen of sixteen aircraft before the target was reached.  All totaled, sixty B-17s were lost, seven were damaged beyond recovery and one hundred thirty-eight were damaged.  Five hundred ninety-four 8^th AF airmen were missing in action, five were brought home KIA and forty were wounded.  The enemy lost one hundred eighty-six aircraft to bombers and thirteen more to fighters.  The 309^th BG was awarded the DUC.  Aside from the damage to the target, the most significant thing to come out of the mission was that even the most avid proponents of unescorted missions had to accept the reality that fighter cover was necessary for effective strategic bombing of Germany.  To read more about Second Schweinfurt, please read next month's Exhibit of the Month newsletter article.

          2012 B-17 & B-24 Calendars only $12.99! 

Reserve your calendar today!

New Mighty Eighth Tuesday Trivia Giveaways! Every Tuesday we will ask a Mighty 8th trivia question on the Mighty Eighth's Facebook wall. Please submit your answers to [email protected]. A winner will be randomly selected and announced Wednesday morning.