President’s Message
by Frank Drain

Fall, 2003

Next year there will be two special opportunities for those interested in visiting the 390th Memorial Museum. The third annual Foundation event will be held in April, open to all interested Foundation members and their families. The 390th Veterans Association will be holding their annual reunion in the fall (for veterans and their descendants). Planning is currently underway for the Foundation event, and anyone who is interested in helping or has ideas for the event is urged to contact the museum.

At the Veterans reunion in Kentucky I had the chance to receive an update from Don Brooks on the progress of his B-17. The aircraft should be ready for its first flight sometime in February, and plans are being made to attend airshows shortly thereafter. We will try and get a more detailed update with photos of the B-17 for the next issue of the Bulletin. Don is currently planning the color scheme, markings, and nose art to be applied when the aircraft is painted later this year.

While attending an airshow in Michigan this past summer, I had the chance to see four flying B-17’s. At the same show, a display of reproduction 500lb bombs caught my eye. They are cast from molds made from an actual bomb casing, and are complete with fins and replica fuses. Several of these bombs would make a good addition to the bomb bay of I’ll Be Around. We have also been working on obtaining an actual bomb trailer to display near the aircraft, and a few replica bombs could also be displayed with the trailer. We need some additional displays that highlight the work done by the ground crews and support personnel.

While our financial picture is stable for 2003 and our Endowment Fund continues to grow, we still need your support! Continued contributions to support operational expenses will allow us to let the Endowment Fund grow by not requiring us to withdraw from the fund in the short term. A comment was made at the Kentucky reunion that we need to communicate clearly to our membership our funding needs. We have taken this message to heart and will work to prioritize our funding needs and communicate this effectively to our membership.