National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force

National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force
	Location within Georgia National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force (the United States)
Established	14 May 1996
Location	175 Bourne Avenue; Pooler, Georgia
Coordinates	32°06′56″N 81°14′12″W / 32.11556°N 81.23667°W
Type	Aviation museum
Founder	Major General Lewis E. Lyle
President	Scott Loehr
Website	mightyeighth.org

The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force is a non-profit organization with a museum facility located in Pooler, Georgia, in the western suburbs of Savannah. It educates visitors through the use of exhibits, artifacts, archival materials, and stories, most of which are dedicated to the history of the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Corps that served in the European Theatre during World War II.

Among the many World War II exhibits are aircraft including a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber that can be viewed while being restored, a model of a Messerschmitt Bf 109G fighter, and a 3/4-scale model of a P-51 Mustang fighter. Aircraft on display outside include the B-47 Stratojet, MiG-17, and F-4 Phantom II from the post-WWII Cold War era.

History

Planning for a museum dedicated to the Eighth Air Force began in 1983. Thirteen years later, on 14 May 1996, the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum opened to the public.^[1]

A 2003 statute named the museum as the official State of Georgia center for character education.^[2] The museum received a B-17 project from the National Air and Space Museum in January 2009.^[3] In February 2011, a fire truck that was used at Hunter Army Airfield during World War II was donated to the museum.^[4]

The museum changed its name to the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in March 2013.^[5]^[a]