#147: The National Museum of The Mighty Eighth Air Force

"I don't have a lot of patience with this 'What are we fighting for?' stuff. We're in a war, a shooting war. We've got to fight. And some of us have got to die. I'm not trying to tell you not to be afraid. Fear is normal. But stop worrying about it and about yourselves. Stop making plans. Forget about going home. Consider yourselves already dead."

—Gregory Peck (from the film: Twelve O'Clock High)

The National Museum of The Mighty Eighth Air Force

When American naval forces were attacked in Hawaii by the Imperial Japanese Empire on December 7, 1941 — that historic Day that Will Live in Infamy — the Mighty Eighth Airforce did not yet exist.

But immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Americans awakened to the dangers in Asia and Europe, and the mobilization for war quickly gained momentum. In January 1942, Major-General Henry “Hap” Arnold signed the order activating the Eighth Air Force, and the work to build the Mighty Eighth Air force soon began right here in Savannah.

By the summer of 1943, fifty-four bomber bases built from scratch were under construction in Great Britain. Trained members of the Eighth Air Force soon found a new home in the English countryside.

The banter between American flyboys and their RAF counterparts began almost immediately upon American arrival, partially due to the generous Government Issued goods our GIs had at their disposal. In good humor, the Brits complained the Yanks were "oversexed, overpaid, and over here." Our GIs returned the tease by claiming the Brits were all "underpaid, undersexed and under Eisenhower."

The truth, of course, was we were allies in a horrific ‘shooting war’ with one mission: To stop Hitler.

The Mighty Eighth Air Force carried out its first European operation by bombing German Luftwaffe airfields in Holland on Independence Day, July 4, 1942. Both American and British Royal Airforce (RAF) crews got shot down. The training of the men was thought inadequate.

Toward the end of July, Colonel Frank A. Armstrong, well-known in air force circles as a trouble-shooter, took over command of the 97th Bomb Group, the first group of B-17 Flying Fortress bombers sent to England. He put this group through a grueling training regime, and then led it in six of its first ten missions. He also led the first daylight precision bombing raid ever made over occupied Europe.

Later, Armstrong took over another ‘hard luck’ air group and then led the first mission flown by the Mighty Eighth Air Force to drop its bombs directly on Nazi Germany soil. Soon after the war ended, a novel inspired by the heroic exploits of Armstrong’s group, written by Sy Bartlett and Beirni Lay, was adapted to a film starring Gregory Peck in 1949: Twelve O’Clock High.

In my young life, before leaving the U.S.S.R. for America, we were inundated with films of the Great Patriotic War, public memorials, museums, and other war-time memorabilia. The black and white filmed Twelve O’Clock High reminded me of those old Soviet feature films, which often focused more on the human elements of the people involved rather than the military machinery of war.

The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum perfectly features both essentials: the stories of the men who fought the war and the machines they used to defeat Nazi Germany. Be sure to visit this museum.

When I painted this scene en Plein air, I was facing the back of the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum. Behind me is a flag pole flying a massive American flag, waving in the bright sun above Interstate 95. A beautiful statue of a Mighty Eighth hero is looking down a long fountain pool toward the back entrance. As I painted the scene, I felt reverence for the people involved and their unique place in history.

After painting, I stopped by the museum bookstore and purchased Donald Nijboer’s beautifully illustrated and comprehensive history — The Mighty Eighth: Masters of the Air Over Europe 1942-1945.