Bomb Group: The Eighth Air Force's 381st and the Allied Air Offensive over Europe

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Others are repositories for select military groups, such as Texas Women’s University, which is the keeper of information about Women Airforce Service Pilots. The museum building is a wartime Nissen hut that was once part of Ridgewell’s base hospital, so it is an exhibit in itself. It is Paul’s passion for the American Eighth Air Force that drove him to co-author his most recent book, Bomb Group: The Eighth Air Force’s 381st and the Allied Air Offensive over Europe.

In the months that followed, they formed the Eighth Air Force - an organization that grew at an astonishing rate. Winston Churchill didn’t help by failing to mention them in his victory speech, as he had done with ‘The Few.In June of 1943, the USAAF’s 381st Bombardment Group, which was assigned to the 8th Air Force, arrived from Pueblo, Colorado. There are five volunteers who make up the core group of museum staff, and others are ready to assist as they have time. These Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated B-24 Liberators were soon punching through the enemy's defenses to bomb targets vital to its war effort. Weston had been connected to the 381st Facebook group, and when he was in the United Kingdom for work, he took the opportunity to visit. I’m lucky to have made lifelong friends with several of those whose fathers were once based at Ridgewell.

The airfield and base was opened in 1942 with three intersecting runways of 6,500 feet each, 36 hardstands, hangars, barracks, and outbuildings.

At the time, he was living just a few miles from Ridgewell, “Yet I knew nothing of the base or the 381st. For books covering aviation, I highly recommend Sagittarius Rising by Cecil Lewis, First Lightby Geoffrey Wellum, and Combat Crew by John Comer. It allowed me to build a clear, chronological picture, which then helped guide me through the writing process. All I knew about the 381st is that it had been based at Ridgewell Airfield in England during World War II. These Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated B-24 Liberators were soon punching through the enemy's defences to bomb targets vital to its war effort.