A remarkable digital archive of wartime American air force photographs and memories has been expanded at IWM Duxford, with plenty of poignant tales to tell.
They were the 'Friendly Invasion' and, my, how we loved them.
More than 100,000 American airmen were based 'Over Here' in Britain by 1943, and thousands of them were in East Anglia on almost a hundred air bases.
They brought a glimpse of transatlantic glamour to a ration-hit country, and the Second World War 'invasion' was to have an enormous cultural impact. Lasting friendships – and loves – were made, but ten of thousands of the US Army Air Forces airmen never made it home again, paying the ultimate price in the war against Nazi tyranny.
Now the Imperial War Museum Duxford, near Cambridge, has announced it is adding new historic material to the American Air Museum website to help tell their stories.
Unseen personal snapshots and aerial photographs from the Second World War have now extended this digital resource, which was only launched in October and is already proving a major success.
The website – www.americanairmuseum.com – is a record of the memories and stories of the men and women of the USAAF 'over here', and some of the memories of the British people who met and befriended them.
The American Air Museum website has been made possible through the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, which awarded a grant of £980,000 to the museum for future development.
Since the autumn more than 45,000 people have visited the website, with those numbers set to swell as the archive continues to grow. English Heritage has now donated more than 700 aerial photographs of wartime airfields in use, or under construction, across the UK between 1940 and 1947. Many of these images have not been seen by the public before.
Mike Evans, Head of Archive at the English Heritage Archive said: 'The aerial photographs in the care of the English Heritage Archive are a unique picture of the English landscape at a time when the pressures of war changed it out of all recognition.'
The American Air Museum website launched with 5,000 images from the Roger Freeman Collection. Mr Freeman, from Boxford in Suffolk and who died in 2005, was a hugely respected aviation historian. An extra 5,000 images from his collection have now been added.
The photographs show the variety of experiences of serving members of the USAAF in Britain during the Second World War. Images depict the different roles undertaken by service personnel and also the aircraft, combat missions and events, alongside the off-duty leisure time and local communities.
Jenny Cousins, Project Leader, American Air Museum, appealed for those with memories to add to the website. She said: 'We have a last opportunity to capture these stories, to record their testimony and to retain it for future generations. We'd love to see some people who worked in aircraft factories or building the airfields adding themselves to our database. Everyone's experience of war is important to us.'
• The American Air Museum site is at www.americanairmuseum.com. You can browse all of the English Heritage aerial photographs on the American Air Museum website with the following search - http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media?search=EH
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here