Sixty years ago the R.A.F. and the U.S.A.A.F. were operating round the clock to defeat the axis powers and it is appropriate that today there are many airfield museums commemorating the great contribution to victory made by these air forces. The 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum has built up an enviable reputation in the U.K. and abroad but this has not been earned easily.

One word exemplifies the efforts that have made and perpetuated the story of the 100th Bomb Group at Thorpe Abbotts - loyalty. The pep talk by General Savage in Twelve O’clock High’ echoes down the years: The only thing that isn’t expendable is your obligation to this Group, this Group, this Group. That has to be your loyalty.’ The 100th has seen much loyalty down the years - some seven thousand personnel lived and worked on the base in it’s heyday and 753 aircrew made the supreme sacrifice in action in the air war. Since then hundreds of veterans have returned to the scene of their great endeavours and continue to do so to this day. It is a strange experience to talk to a crewman who took off from the airfield one day in 1943, ‘44 or ‘45, was shot down and made a prisoner, and had not been back to Thorpe Abbotts since then.

These days, though, it is more likely that the visitors from over the ocean are relatives, sons or daughters, and now grandchildren tend to outnumber the veterans.

Since the late 1970s loyalty of a different kind has been a strong feature in the story of the 100th. Then a small band of dedicated volunteers, often with a merry quip, worked wonders by reclaiming the derelict control tower from the trees and undergrowth that had enveloped the site since the war and set out to restore the tower as a museum. It is a great testament to the museum and to those pioneers that, twenty five years later, most of them are still working for the 100th; the camaraderie endures, but these days, in addition to preserving the buildings, grounds and artefacts of the collection, they are likely to be involved in Health and Safety discussions or Charities legislation.

Time has inevitably taken its toll and each year more names feature in TAPS’ to inform their former colleagues of their passing. In England some of the pioneers and later volunteers have sadly also passed on.

The airfield has changed too, of course. The majority of buildings and the two hangars were gone by the late 1960s and a large section of the main runway was also removed. The reclamation work by the museum volunteers from 1977 onwards ensured the preservation of the tower together with the night flying equipment store, now usually called the ‘Engine Shed’. Later on the ‘Sad Sack Shack’ was the first structure to be added to the museum site. The Varian Centre followed and was officially opened at the Veterans’ Reunion in September 1986. Sadly, by the end of April the following year much more demolition had taken place with the destruction of the remainder of the runways, much of the perimeter track and the Group Operations building.

Fortunately, some sections of the perimeter track survive, one length as a public road, and a few buildings remain but these are not accessible. Although most of Base 139 has reverted to agriculture, the spirit of the airfield is still there and with some time to ponder and a little imagination, the visitor can readily relate to this.

As the museum has become well known, this has generated positive effects that, in turn, have increased this recognition. Veterans and others have given or bequeathed more artefacts for the collection, there have been more visitors and more books have been written to add to the pool of information on the 100th Bomb Group. The museum’s own book: ‘Century Bombers’, released in 1989, sold out of the first printing but copies from the second are still available.

The museum has strong links with the U.S. 100th Bomb Group Association and also with the present day U.S.A.F. through the 100th Air Refuelling Wing at R.A.F. Mildenhall. The Wing carries out a vital strategic role with it’s KC-135R Stratotankers, some of which proudly bear the 100th Bomb Group wartime identification letter of a ‘Square D’.

The displays are well worth seeing and many are unique. Look around the tower at the variety of exhibits about equipment, personnel, flying and prisoners of war and absorb some of the exciting, often tragic and exhilarating stories of the 100th Bomb Group. Look out of the windows just to the east beyond the flagpole where the hardstand was situated that was once graced by ‘Piccadilly Lily.’

The ‘Engine Shed’ and the ‘Sad Sack Shack’ display many more items illustrating those far off days when Thorpe Abbotts and hundreds of other airfields in the U.K. were vibrant stations. The Varian Centre gives you the opportunity to relax, take some refreshment, look at a video or buy your souvenir at the shop. Over the years many souvenirs from Thorpe Abbotts, and not only those from the shop, have travelled widely. Sections of one of the huts have been utilised in the Eighth Air Force Museum at Savannah in Georgia while bricks or pieces of concrete are displayed in studies, placed in tool sheds or kept in car boots (trunks to our American friends) as mementoes of a famous place.

The museum is a Registered Charity, a Registered Museum and a member of other museum groups. It is especially important to us that young people enjoy their visit so that the history of those times will stay alive.

When you visit please look around and talk to the volunteers; if you enjoy your visit, tell your friends and do come again one day!