The Museum of Aviation consists of four big buildings; the main building hosts a history of World War II with bits of information about other wars. The other buildings house airplanes. The museum is dedicated to preserving the heritage of Robins Air Force Base, the land on which it was born and the people who shaped its events.
What is shown in the museum represents the past, present and future of Robins Air Force Base working with the United States Air Force and the people of Georgia to defend the freedom of all Americans.
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| Curtiss P-40N Warhawk |
The 14th Air Force Flying Tigers theater China-Burma-India theater during World War II. Beginning with the American Volunteer Group in 1941, the lineage of the 14th Air Force goes back to the Chinese Air Task Force established in July 1942. Commanded by Brigadier General Claire Chennault, the China Air Task Force began with the 23rd fighter group and the 11th bomb squadron. The 14th Air Force activated at Kunming, China on March 10, 1943, grew to four fighter groups, two bomb groups, a photo reconnaissance and troop carrier squadron. The 14th Air Force mission against the Japanese succeeded in spite of severe supply problems in the China Theater. Every item needed to maintain and operate an Air Force had to be flown into China along the 500-mile air ferry route from India, over the towering Himalayan mountains ~~ the infamous Hump. Bad weather and enemy action were a constant threat to success.
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| Brigadier General Claire Chennault |
Much of the Flying Tiger's success was due to advanced fighter tactics designed by General Chennault. During WWI, Chennault entered the U.S. Army ;where he earned his wings at Kelly Field in Texas in 1919. Before his retirement in 1937, he earned an international reputation as a precision flyer, brilliant tachtician and evangelist for pursuit warfare. He was medically discharged and then the Russian air force asked Chennault for his services in airborne training. The only way he could do this was to renounce his U.S. citizenship, so instead of that, he became Civilian Advisor of Air Training in General Chiang Kai-sheks Nationalist Chinese Government. For the next four years, Chennault tried to beef up the Chinese Air Force, collected a huge amount of intelligence on Japanese air tactics and planned a counteroffensive.
Did you know that during WWI the United States was on the same side as Russia and China in the battle against the Japanese? One of the things the U.S. did was fly supplies and food over the "Hump" to China. By early 1942, China, completely dominated by the invading Japanese Army, was isolated from the rest of the world. The Chinese Army had no supply route to support its fighting forces. In support of this effort, the U.S. began operating cargo flights from eastern India over the Himalayan Mountains into western China.
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| View of the Hump |
The Hump became the largest and most complex airlift operation undertaken. For three years, every gallon of gas, every round of ammunition, every file cabinet, and ream of paper used by the Allied forces in China were flown in over the Hump. By the end of the war, over 650,000 tons of fuel, ammunition, supplies, and personnel had been delivered by air.
The success of the Hump operations had a significance that went beyond the end of the war. In supplying the Chinese, the Air Transport Command proved that a vast quantity of supplies could be delivered by air even under the most difficult conditions. This experience proved invaluable, again and again, during the Berlin airlift, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, and the Gulf War in the Middle East.
Friendliness varied from tribe to tribe. "Blackie's Gang" and later the 1352nd AAFBU, developed strong ties with as many villages as possible and indirectly saved the lives of numerous airmen.
A Bit on Bombs: Bomb loads, except for very long missions, were 6,000 pounds. Most frequently used was the 500 pound RDX, used for industrial targets. One thousand pound bombs were carried when attacking bridges. For troop concentrations, the plane was loaded with 300 pound anti-personnel bombs. If fire was considered as the best way to eliminate military targets, incendiary bombs were used.
Frequent problems occurred when moisture developed in the bombs shackles. At high altitudes, they would freeze and heroic action by gunners and bombardiers was needed to release the bombs that had been activated when the bomb pins were removed. If bombs were still "hung up" when approaching for a landing, it was important to release delayed action "booby trap" bombs before landing. This procedure usually took place over water.
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| Blood Chit |
Usually worn on flight clothing, the Blood Chit identified the wearer as an American and included a pledge of reward from the U.S. government to anyone helping a downed airman back to Allied lines.
Fifty years ago this country was embroiled in the most violent and destructive confrontation the world has ever seen. An estimated 15 million combatants and 25 million civilians died worldwide. The direct economic cost is estimated to have been $1.6 trillion dollars with the cost to the United States alone set at $288 billion. The war left much of Europe devastated and Japan and Germany defeated, both militarily and morally. The outcome of World War II, which led to the cold war, still impacts our nation today.
The raw numbers do not tell the whole story. The war's impact touched the lives of Americans in every walk of life. More than 12 million men and women, serving in all branches of the armed forces, left loved ones to join "the great Crusade for Freedom." Of those, more than 400,000 died. Nearly 672,000 returned wounded.
On the home front, women went to work in the factories and shipyards to replace the men that went to fight. On the heels of the Great Depression, the country was turned from a slumbering giant into the "arsenal of democracy." Not only did America equip itself, but it helped sustain its beleaguered allies with tons of arms and supplies through the Lend-Lease Program.
The nation became as unified as never before. From the battlefront to the home front, Americans gave their all to preserve their freedom and to sow the seeds of democracy sprouting today throughout Russia and eastern Europe. A half century later, nearly 9 million Americans are living testimonies to the sacrifices made for all of us.
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| Stinson L-5 Sentinel |
The L-5 was used for reconnaissance, frontline aeromedical evacuation, delivering supplies, laying communications wire, spotting enemy targets, personnel transport, rescue and even as a light bomber. In Asia and the Pacific, the L-5s remained in service with the U.S. Air Force as late as 1955.
What is nose art? Almost from the beginning of recorded history humans have felt the need to personalize tools and weapons with symbols and artwork. Soon after the airplane entered widespread military use during the early 19th century, pilots and groundcrews began painting names and artwork on their aircraft to set them apart from hundreds of otherwise identical machines. Widely known as "nose art" because it was usually painted near the nose of the aircraft, the practice reached a peak during World War II. The artwork served as a mascot for the airplane and crew, a good luck charm for their safe return from the next mission and reflected what was on the minds of young men far from home and facing death on a regular basis. Nose art ranged in size and quality from simple names below the canopy to extensive murals that ran the entire length of the fuselage.
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| Jim's Dad showing his "nose art" |
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| Jim's Dad's 320th Bomber Group, 443rd Marauder Crew |
Jim's Dad few a B-26 Martin Marauder, which is one airplane they did not have on display at the museum. I was able to find a model of the airplane among the models they had.
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| B-26 Martin Marauder |
In the spring of 1944, Nazi Germany controlled much of Europe. The Soviet Union was pushing the Germans back on the Eastern Front but American and British forces in Italy were bogged down. A massive invasion of France was necessary to bring the main Allied armies
into position to fight the Germans in the west and liberate Europe.
After France surrendered in late June 1940, Britain stood alone against the Germans in the west until the United States entered the war in December 1941. During the summer of 1940, the Germans prepared to invade Great Britain. In the "Battle of Britain," the German Air Force tried to gain control of the air but failed to defeat the Royal Air Force. Prime Minister Winston Churchill praised the brave fighter pilots of the Royal Air Force when he said, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so to so few."
Back in 2019 we visited the No. 1 British Flying Training School Museum in Terrell, Texas. During World War II thousands of British pilots learned to fly at six civilian training schools in the United States. The first of these schools was in Terrell, Texas. After the United States entered the war, American Aviation Cadets also trained at the school. Approximately 2,200 Royal Air Force and American Army Air Force cadets trained at Terrell and around 1,470 graduated between 1941 and 1945.
The Blitz: In September 1940, the German Air Force began bombing British cities in what the British called the "Blitz." During an eight-month period, German bombs destroyed wide areas of London and more than a dozen other cities and killed 43,000 people. Hitler had hoped the bombing would break British morale. Instead, the British people showed remarkable courage and endurance in the face of terrible death and destruction. Reports of the Blitz in the United States also encouraged sympathy among Americans.
By mid-May 1940, the Blitz was over. Hitler turned his attention east and prepared for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Britain was preserved. Four years later, the largest amphibious assault in history was ready to launch from Great Britain.
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| D-Day |
The term "D-Day" is a coded designation for the start day of an important military operation. Historians disagree on what the "D" stands for. One explanation is that the "D" simply stands for "Day," meaning the first day of an operation. The first use of D for Day was in World War I. General Eisenhower's executive assistant responded to the question this way in a letter in 1964: "Any amphibious operation has a 'departed date'; therefore, the shortened term 'D-Day' is used."
Planners use plus and minus signs for the days before and after a D-Day. For example, D-2 means two days before a D-Day, while D+5 means five days after. Use of the term D-Day permits discussion of the start day of an operation without giving away the actual date.
In June 1943, Allied leaders ordered their air forces to destroy the German Air Force. If the Allied did not control the air, the Germans might be able to stop the invasion. In the months that followed, the Allied bombers attacked German airplane factories and Allied fighters destroyed many German aircraft and pilots. By April 1944, the German Air Force was beaten and could not interfere with the invasion. The Allies had won not only air superiority, but air supremacy.
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| Martin B-26G Marauder with invasion stripes |
Before the invasion, General Eisenhower said, "If you see airplanes overhead, they will be ours." To make sure Allied aircraft were easy to identify, maintenance people painted black and white stripes on the wings and fuselage of each plane.
"I'm happy I'm not a paratrooper . . . After this war is over, [their] lives will be painted in romantic terms ... But from where I sit, I can tell you there is nothing romantic about the routines they are performing out there in front of me ... it is just damned hard strenuous work ... This invasion is going to be rough." T/Sgt. "Bing" Wood, Crew Chief
This photo of B Company was taken on July 11, 1944, just a few days before the 507th left France. The company jumped into Normandy on D-Day with 136 men.
On D-Day, 2,004 men of the 507th jumped into Normandy. On July 15, 1944, after more than a month of combat, only about 700 men boarded the ship that returned the regiment to England. The rest were dead, wounded or captured by the Germans. In England, the 507th received replacements and was attached to the 17th Airborne Division.
Battle of the Bulge: In December 1944, the Germans staged a surprise attack against the weakly defended American lines in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium. The huge battle that followed became known as the Battle of the Bulge because of the "bulge" the German forces created in the American defensive lines.
The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment was one of the many units called in to counter the Germans. After traveling by airplane and truck from England to Belgium, the 507th entered combat on Christmas Day 1944. During the next 45 days, the regiment suffered over 700 casualties. One morning, after a night inspecting communication lines, Naughton woke up with partially frozen feet and hands. Like so many in the regiment, he made a trip to the aid station, followed by hospital treatment for frostbite.
In this photo taken during the Battle of the Bulge, Capt. Frank Naughton smiles after hearing Lt. Stanley Ardziejewski describe his "million dollar" wound. Ardziejewski's wound was serious enough for him to be evacuated to a warm hospital bed.
Flying at altitudes above 50,000 feet requires the protection of a pressure suit to safeguard the pilot from the high altitude hazards of hypoxia, decompression sickness, Armstrong's line, Boyle's Law, and extreme cold.
There was one section that showed us how to figure out a Chinese picture. See if you can figure out what story the picture is portraying:
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