Over time, progress in technology has increased the way we communicate. We Skype, FaceTime, text, talk on our cell phones, e-mail and interact on social media platforms. During World War II, letter writing was the only form of communication during long periods of separation. Raw emotions filled the pages between soldiers and their mothers, fathers, siblings and friends. Today, those letters articulate for us the fear, joy, tragedy and adrenalin experienced during the war. Letters from family and friends on the home front express the anxiety felt with a soldier overseas. They all tell a story. They all share an emotion. In January 1944, B-17 pilot Ellison Miles wrote:

Dear Folks,                                                                 January 15, 1944

This is the letter that will make you very happy and it is the one I have been waiting to write you for a long time. You can stop sweating me out for I have finished my twenty - fifth raid.  I finished my tour of combat missions yesterday...

You can imagine the shared joy and relief Captain Miles and his parents felt with this letter.  Unfortunately, not all letters provided the same relief.  A few months after Captain Miles returned home, his parents received a telegram informing them that Captain Miles' brother Glen was killed in action. The range of emotions felt by the Miles' family and friends is inconceivable. 

Today, letters from a husband, father, or brother killed during the war might be the only lasting connection between him and his family.  They are also one of the few ways for us to know their stories.  The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force has a collection of over 10,000 letters mailed to and from members of the Eighth Air Force and their families and friends during World War II. Since 1996, the Museum has been the only center dedicated to telling these stories of the Mighty Eighth.  Nineteen years later, we continue to make strides by enhancing and creating new exhibits that showcase the history of the Eighth Air Force and its role during the war. We are planning an exhibit to showcase letters like the one above. 

The Museum is dynamic and change is evident each time one visits.  This past January, the B-17 "City of Savannah" was dedicated after six years of hard work by a faithful group of volunteers. Located inside the Museum's combat gallery, the B-17 honors all the men who served on this aircraft.  This project could not be completed without your financial gifts. 

A Ground Crew exhibit is planned to complement the "City of Savannah." This exhibit will recognize the thousands of U.S. Army Air Force personnel stationed in Britain during World War II who occupied a non-flying role, but a role absolutely critical to the mission. 

At the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, your gifts make it possible for us to preserve the stories of the Mighty Eighth.  Please make your generous gift today.  As a 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization, your gift will help support new exhibits and 2015 projects that honor the Greatest Generation. Thank you for your generous support.

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B-17 43-39049 developed mechanical trouble before the trans-Atlantic leg of their flight to England, and the Kittle crew was forced to leave the aircraft behind and complete their trip to England with a different crew/aircraft.  Upon arrival in England, the Kittle crew was assigned to the 388th Bombardment Group.  43-39049 was later ferried to England and assigned to the 487th Bombardment Group, 839th Bombardment Squadron on 13 April 1945.  This B-17 survived the remainder of the war and returned to the United States on 12 July 1945.

The Kittle crew began flying combat missions with the 388th Bomb Group on 28 January 1945.  They completed their twelfth mission on 3 March 1945, and flew eleven different B-17s for those missions.  The Kittle crew was shot down during their thirteenth mission on the 5 March 1945 raid against Plauen.  They were flying B-17 42-97542; it was the aircraft's 44th mission.  42-97542 had originally been assigned to the 482nd Bomb Group as a radar ship (H2X).  It was then briefly transferred to the 96th Bomb Group, and then from there to the 388th Bomb Group.  42-97542 flew its first 25 missions as a radar-equipped pathfinder aircraft from 1 April 1944 to 5 November 1944.  It appears that following the 5 November mission, the B-17 had its radar modifications removed and later returned to combat duty on 13 January 1945.  After the loss of the Kittle crew, it was reported that they were flying a B-17 nicknamed "City of Savannah" when they were shot down on 5 March 1945.  However, an examination of the documents relating to the aircraft/crew loss and the statement of the last surviving member of the Kittle crew suggest that 42-97542 was nicknamed "City of Savannah" only after the aircraft was shot down.

S/Sgt. Irwin Boxer flew as togglier/nose gunner on all of the Kittle crew's missions.  He provided the following information in a letter to the 388th Bomb Group (H) Association on 23 April 2002 which includes a portion of a newspaper article that mentioned him: 

"S/Sgt. Irwin W. Boxer, of 81 Parker Avenue, was among crew members who safely bailed out of the Flying Fortress, 'City of Savannah II,' when it became unmanageable (an obvious understatement) during a flight over Europe.  Boxer, a togglier, holds the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters for meritorious achievement during bombing attacks on Nazi war industries and military targets.'  That just goes to show that one should not believe everything printed in time of war by military PR men.  First of all, we were on an old (I might add, 'ancient') no-name B-17 F, and not 'The City of Savannah' which was a fairly new B-17 G with a chin turret.  It was an all-out effort and they were putting up everything that (they thought) would fly.  Ultimately, it wouldn't."

The aircraft information given on the Kittle crew's Missing Air Crew Report (MACR 12926) indicates that 42-97542 did not have a registered nickname.  Although the aircraft information on the MACR does not preclude the possibility that the crew may have unofficially named the B-17, it had only been flown once prior by the Kittle crew (the 1 March 1945 mission against Ulm, Germany).  Their MACR does indicate that the B-17 was a G model and production information presented in Roger Freeman's "The B-17 Flying Fortress Story" also identifies 42-97542 as a B-17 G produced by Lockheed Vega.  The last known photograph of the aircraft was taken on the 5 November 1945 mission against Ludwigshafen and shows the aircraft with an olive drab paint scheme and its radar apparatus in place of the ball turret.  The German report dated 6 March 1945 of the wreckage of 42-97542 identifies the aircraft as a B-17 F with the fuselage over 90% destroyed.  It is possible that the olive drab paint scheme led the Germans to believe the B-17 was an F, not a G model.

While the mystery as to why Boxer and the German authorities believed 42-97542 was an F model instead of a G model may never be solved, Boxer's statement about the aircraft being named "City of Savannah" after its loss appears to be corroborated by the absence of the nickname in their MACR.  The conflicting information also highlights the challenges of piecing together historical details seven decades after an event when complete records no longer exist.  What the existing information does tell us is that the "City of Savannah" is truly a tale of two bombers and a flight crew that will always be remembered together.

The last known photograph of B-17 42-97542 taken on the 5 November 1944 raid against Ludwigshafen.  Photo was donated to the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force by John Burridge who was a representative of one of the contractors who manufactured parts for B-17s.  He was presented the photo during one of his many visits to Eighth Air Force Command during the war.