Georgia, Pooler - Thursday, August 6, 2014 - National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force

In 1983, Major General Lewis E. Lyle (USAF), a WWII B-17 pilot and veteran of over 70 combat missions, along with other veterans began planning a museum to honor the men and women who helped defeat Nazi aggression by serving in or supporting the greatest air armada the world had ever seen – the Eighth Air Force.  On May 14, 1996 their vision became a reality.

 

 

On January 28, 1942 the Eighth Air Force at the National Guard Armory, Bull Street, Savannah, GA was activated.  That same year they were ordered to England to carry the air war to Germany in preparation for the invasion of the continent.  The success of the Mighty Eighth made the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion possible and assured the victory in Europe.

The ceiling of the lobby of the museum is made of a cargo parachute.

 

The flags of all 50 states are displayed around the lobby rotunda.

 

The museum is full of pictures beginning with Hitler’s coming to power, continuing through the Battle of Britain and the Day of Infamy when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

 

 

 

 

One of the pictures that caught my eye was of a nurse fitting a baby with special equipment to protect against poison gas.  Fortunately, neither side used poison gas in the European Theater during WWII.

 

Greg liked the picture of the boys and bulldogs outside a shelter.

 

In this Nissen hut we were told about the pre-flight briefings the members of the Eighth Air Force would have received in like type huts.

We stopped for lunch at Miss Sophie’s Restaurant.

During WWII 70,000 of these Allison V-1710’s were built at Allison in Indianapolis, IN.  Many of them were used in Eighth Air Force aircraft.

The museum’s B-17 bomber is being restored in honor of the “City of Savannah”, which was the 5000^th airplane processed through Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah during WWII.  Unfortunately, the lighting in the museum isn’t great for picture taking and I haven’t learned enough about photography yet to know how to compensate for it.

 

Do you remember these?  This is a WWII era phone booth.

 

This replica of a “safe house” illustrates the aid provided to downed airmen, helping them escape from Nazi-occupied countries and return to England.

The stories told here made me realize the great sacrifices these people made to provide a safe place for these airmen, knowing if they were caught it would certainly mean death for them and their family.  When they were caught, many of them ended up in concentration camps.

This embroidery display shows pieces made by women imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps.  Most of the women were condemned to death.  As they waited in their cells they did embroidery with materials they could manage to gather.  The Nazis searched cells and confiscated any embroidery they found.  The Russians liberated the women on May 6, 1945 before the Nazis could search their cells again.