A VETERAN 
COMES ABOARD

I am a recent addition to the Docent crew. I just started in November 2002 and I find that my day at the 390th Memorial Museum is quite a rewarding day.

I live in Green Valley, just 28 miles south of the Museum. I have lived that close to the Museum for 16 years and just recently started working as a docent. I knew about the 390th Museum and had visited there many times in the past 16 years. I have been a member of the 390 Memorial Museum Foundation since my first visit to the Museum in 1987 when I discovered that there was a Memorial to the organization that I had been in while I was in England.

My interests were really rekindled by the research that my son did on the 390th web site. He asked if I could furnish him with the tail numbers of all of the airplanes that I flew while serving with the 390th in England. I had a list that had been provided by the museum. He researched each of them and found when they had been manufactured; when they were sent to England; what they were named and when they were destroyed.

All of his work made me realize how lucky I had been during my time with the 390th and I decided that I had better spend some of my time there at the museum. I feel that it is quite an honor to spend one day a week on the floor telling our visitors some of the stories of the 390th . The numbers of living and able veterans of the 390th are fast dwindling and the number of those who are living in this area is indeed quite small. The museum is a great memorial to the men who served in the 390th during the war in Europe and I feel privileged to have served during that time and to be able to spend some time telling our visitors about it.

Richard B. Bushong

From the editor:
Richard Bushong served with the 569th Squadron. Before flying his first mission, assigned to Gill’s crew, he was hospitalized with hepatitis and on his return to duty his crew had been shot down on their first mission, to Bremen on 16 December 1943. His subsequent active mission duty spanned from 30 December 1943 until 13 April 1944 with 28 combat missions, 24 as copilot and his last four as pilot. (Richard had the majority of his 25 mission requirement completed when the mission requirement was changed from 25 to 30 and therefore had 3 more missions prorated to his 25). Richard later went through Test Pilot School and subsequently flew 45 different types of aircraft from hover to mach 2.1. We are most grateful for his services to both his country and to our Museum.

Richard authored “How Lucky Can a Person Get” Published in the Square J Bulletin Vol. V, No. 4