390th Memorial Bomber Group - Museum of Memories
Entering the hangar of the 390th Bomber Group in Tucson's Pima Air Museum, one kicks the dust off your boots, and your great the shiny superfortress of yesteryear's B-17, the killer bird of the allied forces over Europe that pretty much ended World War II nearly 70 years ago.
The silence is inspiring as the visitors trek inn out of the heat, into the cool. Memorial plaques cover the walls of the giant hangar, the B=17 covers the middle of the floor, 13 machine guns bristle everwhere. Cool air focuses on the mind. Mature, experienced docents float about, picking up the curious, the questions gamut the obvious - how many bombs, missions, how many shot down, did you fight in the war?
Funny, the younger the visitors, the more humorous the questions. One docent is barely into his seventies, and they ask if he flew a 17 in the war 70 years ago. "No, " he says, "I flew in Vietnam, but I'll be glad to help you with the memorial, and the stories about the guys we lost in Europe flying against the Nazis," he retorts.
We did lose a lot, he adds. The 390th Bomber Group maintains a research department that would make the local University jealous. For every four 17s that flew over the German lines, the 8th Air Force lost 2, with ten men aboard each plane. Mission Airfcraft Crash Reports say that a good share of the crew survived except pilots and co-pilots, who were usually KIA, killed in action. The Luftwaffe had a bad habbit of flying into the front window of all the B-17s and shooting and killing the pilots.
That crippled the plane, made it an easier target, it usually made an easier kill. All those exploding B-17s you see in old war movies? Those are usually ones where the enemy fighter pilots had already killed off the two pilots first.
One day, an old man came in on a wheel chair, plagued with Alzheimers, pushed by relatives. "I don't remember, " the 90 year ol crew member said. He was shot down over Germany. His relative gave us his last name and the design on the tail of his B-17. The Docents went into the research department and in 10 minutes came back with, " you are 1st Lieutenant Anthony Biddle of the 319 Bomber Group flying out of Framingham England. You flew in B-17 number XXX, shot down over YYY and interred in Prison Camp number Y 8874 for 14 months."
" You, Lt Biddle, are a navigator."
The old man's eyes lit up like a lantern, he got out of his chair and shoke everyones hands.
The relatives said it was the first time out of his chair in recent memory.
The power of memory, the 390th Bomb Group Memorial Museum and of sacrifice for his country, eh?
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The silence is inspiring as the visitors trek inn out of the heat, into the cool. Memorial plaques cover the walls of the giant hangar, the B=17 covers the middle of the floor, 13 machine guns bristle everwhere. Cool air focuses on the mind. Mature, experienced docents float about, picking up the curious, the questions gamut the obvious - how many bombs, missions, how many shot down, did you fight in the war?
Funny, the younger the visitors, the more humorous the questions. One docent is barely into his seventies, and they ask if he flew a 17 in the war 70 years ago. "No, " he says, "I flew in Vietnam, but I'll be glad to help you with the memorial, and the stories about the guys we lost in Europe flying against the Nazis," he retorts.
We did lose a lot, he adds. The 390th Bomber Group maintains a research department that would make the local University jealous. For every four 17s that flew over the German lines, the 8th Air Force lost 2, with ten men aboard each plane. Mission Airfcraft Crash Reports say that a good share of the crew survived except pilots and co-pilots, who were usually KIA, killed in action. The Luftwaffe had a bad habbit of flying into the front window of all the B-17s and shooting and killing the pilots.
That crippled the plane, made it an easier target, it usually made an easier kill. All those exploding B-17s you see in old war movies? Those are usually ones where the enemy fighter pilots had already killed off the two pilots first.
One day, an old man came in on a wheel chair, plagued with Alzheimers, pushed by relatives. "I don't remember, " the 90 year ol crew member said. He was shot down over Germany. His relative gave us his last name and the design on the tail of his B-17. The Docents went into the research department and in 10 minutes came back with, " you are 1st Lieutenant Anthony Biddle of the 319 Bomber Group flying out of Framingham England. You flew in B-17 number XXX, shot down over YYY and interred in Prison Camp number Y 8874 for 14 months."
" You, Lt Biddle, are a navigator."
The old man's eyes lit up like a lantern, he got out of his chair and shoke everyones hands.
The relatives said it was the first time out of his chair in recent memory.
The power of memory, the 390th Bomb Group Memorial Museum and of sacrifice for his country, eh?
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