My wife and I visited the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, AZ last week. We made the road trip just for that, all 1,503 miles of it! Stayed at the Hacienda del Sol. Both the resort and Tuscon were very nice; strikingly beautiful mountains to the east. We had two wicked thunderstorms, which was fun given we live in drought parched California.
Inside Pima is a memorial for the 8th Air Force, the 390th Bomb Group. My Dad served in the 8th AF 96th Bomb Group based out of Snetterton Heath. He was an aircraft mechanic. I am still staggered when I look at his old black and white photos and see massive gaping holes blasted into these airframes. He has a photo of one with its tail blasted off to a two foot tall stub sticking up off the top of fuselage. Seems impossible they made the flight back.
It's astonishing to think that 4,754 of these B-17s were shot out of the sky. 26,000 of these guys were killed and 28,000 taken POW. Absolutely mind numbing. (The list of bomb groups is only a partial one. I couldn't get all of them in the photo.)
Scott
PS On a personal note, my Dad passed away on August 10, 2012. My wife and I had planned this trip for months, without considering the actual dates - nor did we know there was an 8th AF memorial inside the Pima facility. While we were in the memorial, actually inside the memorial, I got a text from my youngest son reminding me that "GP" (as he was called) had passed away on this date nine years earlier. I am ashamed to say that it completely slipped my mind. As I said, our visit was made without any consideration of this date. It what bizarre or what?! Made me think my Dad was there with us...
Inside Pima is a memorial for the 8th Air Force, the 390th Bomb Group. My Dad served in the 8th AF 96th Bomb Group based out of Snetterton Heath. He was an aircraft mechanic. I am still staggered when I look at his old black and white photos and see massive gaping holes blasted into these airframes. He has a photo of one with its tail blasted off to a two foot tall stub sticking up off the top of fuselage. Seems impossible they made the flight back.
It's astonishing to think that 4,754 of these B-17s were shot out of the sky. 26,000 of these guys were killed and 28,000 taken POW. Absolutely mind numbing. (The list of bomb groups is only a partial one. I couldn't get all of them in the photo.)
Scott
PS On a personal note, my Dad passed away on August 10, 2012. My wife and I had planned this trip for months, without considering the actual dates - nor did we know there was an 8th AF memorial inside the Pima facility. While we were in the memorial, actually inside the memorial, I got a text from my youngest son reminding me that "GP" (as he was called) had passed away on this date nine years earlier. I am ashamed to say that it completely slipped my mind. As I said, our visit was made without any consideration of this date. It what bizarre or what?! Made me think my Dad was there with us...
