This 12 inch tall stuffed tiger wears a flight jacket, goggles and flying scarf emblazoned with the “390th Bomb Group”. The perfect gift!
Crew Photos
The exhibit of crew photos lining the walls of the museum’s second floor is the result of many individuals’ painstaking research efforts. Sometimes the photos had to be tracked down while others may have been submitted by veterans or members of their families. The images may have come with names written down but often there was little to no information about the men pictured. Different staff and volunteers spent years identifying men in the photos. Even the museum’s Square J magazine would occasionally include crew photos along with requests for information about the identity of the pictured men.
And the work is still not done! To this day, we receive physical and digital crew photos we’ve never seen before. Each crew photo represents another piece of the 390th story and we are honored to accept and display them.
Exhibit Highlights
The 390th Bomb Group crew photos have been carefully organized to allow descendants to locate their veterans. They are first broken into four sections according to the four squadrons of the 390th: 568th, 569th, 570th, and 571st. Each row has a letter – A through D – and each photo a number. Descendants can simply share their veteran’s name and, using the name of the pilot in that crew, locate the spot on the wall where the photo hangs.
PART OF THE PLAN
Including the crew photos as part of the museum’s exhibits was part of the original plans, even before construction began. The collection began with just 100 photos.
310 OF 421
Over the years, the 390th has slowly accumulated more and more crew photos and are proud to say that we now have 310 of the 421 crews represented in our exhibit.
ONE REQUIREMENT
When the original plans for the exhibit were being laid out, there was only one requirement for a crew photo to be placed on the wall: the crew must have completed at least one combat mission.
