Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum (1 results)
Published by The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum
- First Edition
Seller: Ground Zero Books, Ltd., Silver Spring, MD, U.S.A.Ground Zero Books, Ltd.
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Very good
£ 38.45
£ 3.73 shippingShips within U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Coin/Medal. Condition: Very good. Presumed first thus. Diameter is approximately 2 inches. Front side has a narrow outer rind followed by a white inner ring with the words The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum. The center is a field of blue the the 8th Air Force symbol in it. The reverse is plain. The coin is in a small plastic bag…. The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force is a non-profit organization with a museum facility located in Pooler, Georgia, in the western suburbs of Savannah. It educates visitors through the use of exhibits, artifacts, archival materials, and stories, most of which are dedicated to the history of the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Corps that served in the European Theatre during World War II. Among the many World War II exhibits are aircraft including a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber that can be viewed while being restored, a model of a Messerschmitt Bf 109G fighter, and a 3/4-scale model of a P-51 Mustang fighter. Aircraft on display outside include the B-47 Stratojet, MiG-17, and F-4 Phantom II from the post-WWII Cold War era. Planning for a museum dedicated to the Eighth Air Force began in 1983. Thirteen years later, on 14 May 1996, the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum opened to the public. A 2003 statute named the museum as the official State of Georgia center for character education. The museum received a B-17 project from the National Air and Space Museum in January 2009. In February 2011, a fire truck that was used at Hunter Army Airfield during World War II was donated to the museum. Eighth Air Force was established as VIII Bomber Command on 19 January 1942 and activated at Langley Field, Virginia on 1 February. It was reassigned to Savannah Air Base, Georgia on 10 February 1942. An advanced detachment of VIII Bomber Command was established near RAF Bomber Command Headquarters at RAF Daws Hill England on 23 February in preparation for its units to arrive in the United Kingdom from the United States. The first combat group of VIII Bomber Command to arrive in the United Kingdom was the ground echelon of the 97th Bombardment Group, which arrived at RAF Polebrook and RAF Grafton Underwood on 9 June 1942. Regular combat operations by the VIII Bomber Command began on 17 August 1942, when the 97th Bombardment Group flew 12 B-17Es on the first VIII Bomber Command heavy bomber mission of the war from RAF Grafton Underwood, attacking the Rouen-Sotteville marshalling yards in France. During World War II, the offensive air forces of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) came to be classified as strategic or tactical. A strategic air force was that with a mission to attack an enemy's war effort beyond his front-line forces, predominantly production and supply facilities, whereas a tactical air force supported ground campaigns, usually with objectives selected through co-operation with the armies. In Europe, Eighth Air Force was the first USAAF strategic air force, with a mission to support an invasion of continental Europe from the British Isles. Eighth Air Force carried out strategic daytime strategic bombing operations in Western Europe from airfields in eastern England. On 4 January 1944, the B-24s and B-17s based in England flew their last mission as a subordinate part of VIII Bomber Command. On 22 February 1944, a massive reorganization of American airpower took place in Europe. The original Eighth Air Force was redesignated as the United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF). VIII Bomber Command, redesignated as Eighth Air Force, and Ninth Air Force were assigned to (USSTAF). General Carl Spaatz returned to England to command the USSTAF. Major General Jimmy Doolittle relinquished command of the Fifteenth Air Force to Major General Nathan F. Twining and took over command of the Eighth Air Force from Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker at RAF Daws Hill. Doolittle was well known to American airmen as the famous "Tokyo Raider" and former air racer. His directive was simple: 'Win the air war and isolate the battlefield'. Spaatz and Doolittl.