President’s Message
by Frank Drain

Winter, 2003-2004

The year 2004 should be a great one for the 390th Foundation. Tucson will be the site of our third annual Foundation gathering as well as the 390th Veterans Association reunion. The Foundation event will be held in mid-April, to take advantage of the great springtime weather in Tucson. Tom Drugan and the Truitt’s (Mary and Jim) are working on plans to make this event even better this year. Please consider attending!

This year will also see Don Brook’s B-17 take to the air sometime in early spring. Don has created a non-profit organization that will operate the aircraft – The Liberty Foundation. Don reports that the aircraft will be named Liberty Belle, the B-17 in which Don’s father Elton Brooks flew many of his missions. The aircraft will be painted in the markings of this 570th aircraft, which flew a total of 64 combat missions. Liberty Belle flew on the two most costly missions (in terms of aircraft lost) flown by the 570th squadron, the September 9, 1944 mission to Dusseldorf, and the January 14, 1945 mission to Derben. A website is being developed for information regarding the aircraft and its appearance schedules. (www.libertyfoundation.org) Make sure you check to see if Liberty Belle will be making an appearance in your area.

Don formed The Liberty Foundation to honor the sacrifices made by Veterans of the 390th. As a reminder to all Americans who will see the aircraft, Freedom Is Not Free was chosen as their motto.

2004 will see continued development of our 390th web site (www.390th.org) featuring more photo albums, the addition of selected articles from 390th Bulletins, and special historical features such as the story of the Chowhound missions.

After focusing the last several years on building the endowment with our fund raising efforts, there will be a need in the very near future to invest in needed improvements to the Museum building and infrastructure. Tom Drugan is preparing a plan of our funding requirements to support this project. These improvements will be vital to continuing to provide the proper environment to preserve and protect our Museum and its contents.

Join us in Tucson in 2004!