Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force receives national designation
The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has officially designated The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, 175 Bourne Ave., Pooler, “as the official National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force of the United States.”
That statement may appear redundant.
The museum had previously announced a name change from The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum to The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force on March 20, 2013. That change was not a result of Congressional action as was the cause for Monday afternoon’s press conference featuring Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA). He was a proponent of the designation becoming official, but far from the only Georgia congressional member to advocate for it.
“This was a bipartisan effort,” Carter said under the wingspan of the City of Savanah, a B-17G known as the Flying Fortress, on Jan. 8, 2024. “Every member of the Georgia House signed on to this.” He also pointed out that all of the members of the Georgia congressional delegation, both House and Senate, supported this effort. “Everyone understands the importance of this, that this is something we should all be proud of.”
The honorific designation does not provide any federal funding or resources to the private museum. It is also not to be included as a unit of the National Park System. What the designation does do, according to museum CEO Scott Loehr is “give us the right to say we are part of the group of national museums, so it does put us in elite company.”
Other museums that have received official national designations include but are not limited to:
The National Museum of the United States Air Force
National Museum of the Marine Corps
The National WWII Museum
National Museum of African American History and Culture
National Museum of the United States Navy
National Museum of the United States Army
Mighty Eighth to get Hollywood treatment
Loehr said that the museum “delivered direct services to over 85,000 people. That includes walk-in visitors, schoolchildren, those who are doing research in the museum's archive.” He stated that the museum’s digital impact through electronic media reached “well over a million people.”
He expressed that the national distinction should increase visitation and awareness of the museum to a broader audience. "The timing is very important in that recently, Savannah and Chatham County was named a Georgia World War II heritage community," he said. He mentioned that the museum was about to undergo $12 million in improvements that included expanding the building and adding new exhibitions and programs.
Loehr went on to mention that Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg's nine-part AppleTV miniseries about the Mighty Eighth called ‘Masters of the Air’ premieres Jan. 26.
"All of those things combined will help the museum," Loehr said.
The limited TV series was produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, who also produced "Band of Brothers" and "The Pacific." The series is based on Donald L. Miller’s book entitled "Masters of the Air: How The Bomber Boys Broke Down the War Machine." Austin Butler ("Elvis", 2023) leads the ensemble cast that includes Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan, Anthony Boyle and Sawyer Spielberg.
The summary on IMD.com states, “Five miles above the ground and behind enemy lines, eleven men inside a bomber known as a ‘Flying Fortress’ battle unrelenting flocks of German fighters.”
The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force “educates visitors about the character, courage, valor, and patriotism of the brave individuals who fought in the Eighth Air Force, the largest air armada in history.” That armada grew from seven men assigned to the Eighth Air Force, established by the U.S. Army Air Corps in Savannah in January 1942. The museum's operating hours are 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. on Sundays.
Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: National Museum of the Might Eighth Air Force receives official designation
