Bomb Group

To continue their successful series of lectures, author, historian, and battlefield guide Mike Peters returns to the Army Flying Museum, Middle Wallop, Hampshire on the evening of 27 March. 

This latest lecture begins in February 1942, when a reconnaissance party of United States Army Air Forces officers arrived in England. Firmly wedded to the doctrine of daylight precision bombing, they believed they could help turn the tide of the war in Europe. In the months that followed, they formed the Eighth Air Force - an organization that grew at an astonishing rate and to accommodate it, almost seventy airfields were hastily built across the eastern counties of England.

At the heart of the Eighth Air Force were its bombardment groups, each equipped with scores of heavily armed, four-engine bombers.  These Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated B-24 Liberators were soon punching through the enemy's defences to bomb targets vital to its war effort. They were crewed by thousands of young American airmen, most of whom were volunteers.

This lecture tells the story of just one "Bomb Group" - the 381st, which crossed the Atlantic in May 1943. Arriving at RAF Ridgewell on the Essex-Suffolk border, its airmen quickly found themselves thrown into the hazardous and attritional air battle raging in the skies over Europe.

Bomb Group follows the 381st's path from its formation in the Texan desert, to its 297th and final bombing mission deep into the heart of Hitler's Third Reich. It is the remarkable story of one group and the part it played in the strategic bombing campaign of "The Mighty Eighth."

This special event will also be live streamed on the Museum’s website, as well as available to a limited audience at the Museum itself.  A live Q&A session will take place following the talk with both live and online audience members able to participate.

Tickets to attend the event in the Museum on 27 March at 7pm are just £12, with online pay per view £8.  For further information or to book, visit www.armyflying.com

The talk will also be recorded for catch up viewing after the event through the museum website.

ENDS

More Info:

Interviews – Mike Peters is available for interview, please contact me at corporate@armyflying.com if you would like to arrange this.

Biog – Mike Peters

Mike Peters left the Army Air Corps in December 2013, since then he has established himself as a Historian, an Author and a Battlefield Guide. Mike has maintained a lifelong interest in World War 2 glider operations and in particular, the exploits of the Glider Pilot Regiment. Over the years he has met and interviewed many GPR veterans, much of this valuable research has been captured in Mike's two books, Glider Pilots at Arnhem, and Glider Pilots in Sicily.