Letters from the Winter, 2003-2004 Issue

Our Friends from Parham

Dorothy Moller received another letter from Peter and Kathleen Kindred.
Excerpts:

We have had good visitor numbers at the museum this year. One of the highlights was when we had a small bus full of people from a little village in Switzerland where a B17, from Parham, had crash landed and they came to find out where it had flown from all those years ago. Some of them spoke little or no English but they were a lovely group of people.

We have all ready got several groups booked in for next year, including some young History students, doing WWII. I have just written to a lady from Bloomington who is bringing her mother over in March 2004 - she had two uncles who were pilots, one from 390th, and one from nearer Ipswich, I think Debach. I will try to have a word with Mervyn Wilson before then-all being well, he will be at our Annual General Meeting next month, and may be able to do some research before then if I can find out the names of the two pilots.

Once again, many thanks for the donation to the Parham Church Bells Appeal - it was very good of you to respond as you did. I would also like to thank everyone at the reunion for their donations for the museum, and towards the church bells. I think that Mick said that Paul Kovitz made a collection for the Bells Appeal, which was kind of him.

We have had a happy and successful year, and the comments in the visitor’s book are a credit to our present team. Our enthusiastic helpers are now making plans to paint the exterior of the Tower before the worst of the Winter sets in, having already painted the interior earlier in the year.

Did You Encounter Me 262s?

The following, addressed to several WWII bomb groups, was received by the 390th. If interested please contact Mr. Hillier directly by E-Mail. No other contact given.

Dear Sirs,

I am an Australian film maker living in Paris, France and I am contacting you to ask about B-17 pilots who may have flown against the ME 262s in WWII.

I have made a number of documentaries for National Geographic and The Discovery Channel and since moving back to Europe from New York City I have begun shooting interviews with a number of ME 262 pilots that I have located in Germany. I would like to supplement those interviews with some from the American pilots that they flew against.

Do you know of any pilots or crew who would be interested in participating in this project?

I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Scott Hillier
E-Mail Scotthillier@aol.com