About
The 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum commemorates the American airmen of the United States Army Air Forces who flew from Thorpe Abbotts airfield in Norfolk during the Second World War, and in particular the 100th Bombardment Group — the 'Bloody Hundredth' — whose catastrophic losses in 1943 made it the most famous and most feared posting in the Eighth Air Force.
The 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy) arrived at Station 139, Thorpe Abbotts, in June 1943 and immediately began flying deep penetration missions into Germany with their B-17 Flying Fortresses. From the summer of 1943, the Group suffered appalling losses. The raids on Regensburg and Schweinfurt in August and October 1943 cost the Eighth Air Force terrible casualties, and the 100th was among the hardest hit. On the 8 October 1943 mission to Bremen and Vegesack, the Group lost twelve aircraft; on Black Thursday (14 October 1943), the second Schweinfurt raid, a further twelve aircraft failed to return. By the end of October 1943 the 100th had lost sixty aircraft and six hundred men in a single month — a casualty rate that earned the nickname 'The Bloody Hundredth' and made replacements reluctant to be assigned to it.
The museum is housed in the restored control tower of the former Thorpe Abbotts airfield, a rare surviving structure from a wartime USAAF airfield. The building has been carefully restored and fitted with displays documenting the Group's history — the men who flew, the aircraft they flew in, the missions they undertook, and the losses they suffered. Personal testimonies, photographs, mission records, and artefacts recovered from the airfield and donated by veterans and their families bring this intense human story to life.
The broader context of American airpower in the Second World War is also documented. The Eighth Air Force operated from dozens of Norfolk and Suffolk airfields, and the museum explains how this vast American presence — thousands of young men suddenly transplanted from across the United States into the quiet Norfolk countryside — shaped the communities around the airfields and created friendships and connections that outlasted the war.
Volunteer-run and supported by both British and American contributors, the museum embodies the ongoing bond between the American veterans' community and the Norfolk communities that hosted them.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- A car is essential for visiting — the museum is in a rural location with no practical public transport to the site. Use the postcode IP21 4HQ for satnav.
- The museum is open April to October only — check exact dates on the website before visiting.
- If you have American family members who served with the 100th or the Eighth Air Force, contact the museum in advance — staff are highly knowledgeable and can often help with genealogical research.
- Allow enough time to read the personal testimonies and crew stories carefully — these individual accounts are the heart of the museum and reward close attention.
- The airfield site surrounding the museum is worth exploring on foot; vestiges of the wartime infrastructure remain visible in the farmland.
- Diss town centre, seven miles away, has a good range of cafés and restaurants for a meal before or after your visit.
- Photography is permitted throughout the museum.
- The museum's volunteer guides have deep personal knowledge of the Group's history and missions — their informal accounts greatly enhance the experience.
Highlights
The Restored Control Tower
The museum occupies the original control tower of USAAF Station 139, Thorpe Abbotts — one of the rare surviving control tower structures from the wartime USAAF bases that once dotted the Norfolk and Suffolk countryside.
The building has been carefully restored and adapted to house the museum's displays while retaining the character of its wartime function.
Standing in this building, it is possible to imagine the scenes that played out here during the war: the anxious counting of aircraft returning from missions, and the silence that followed when some did not come back.
Black Thursday and the Schweinfurt Raids
The 100th Bomb Group's terrible losses in the autumn of 1943 are documented in harrowing detail. The raids on the ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt — deep in Germany and beyond the range of fighter escort — cost the Eighth Air Force catastrophic casualties. On 14 October 1943 (Black Thursday), the second Schweinfurt raid, the 100th lost twelve aircraft.
Photographs, mission reports, casualty lists, and personal testimonies bring home the human reality of these losses: young men — most barely twenty years old — who did not return to Thorpe Abbotts.
The B-17 Flying Fortress
The 100th Bomb Group flew the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the most iconic American heavy bomber of the Second World War. Museum displays explain the aircraft's characteristics, its crew positions and duties, and the conditions under which it was flown on deep penetration missions over Germany. At extreme altitude in unheated flying suits, with enemy fighters pressing home attacks and flak filling the sky, the experience of B-17 crews on the 1943 Schweinfurt raids represented some of the most extreme hazards faced by any combatants in the war.
Personal Testimonies and Crew Stories
The most moving material in the museum is the personal testimony of men who flew from Thorpe Abbotts — letters, diaries, photographs, and recorded interviews that capture individual experiences of flying, fear, comradeship, and loss. Veterans and their families have donated material over decades, creating an archive of first-hand accounts that give faces and voices to the statistics of the casualty lists.
The crew stories range from men who survived a full tour of thirty-five missions to those lost on their first sortie.
Collections
The 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum holds a significant archive of material relating to the Group and the wider Eighth Air Force presence in Norfolk. The collection includes photographs, mission records, personal papers, crew letters and diaries, uniform items, aircraft equipment, and artefacts recovered from the airfield site.
The personal memoir collection is particularly substantial, with testimony from American veterans and British residents collected over decades.
Artwork including crew illustrations, nose art photographs, and contemporary paintings documents the visual culture of the wartime airfield. The archive is an important resource for historians of the American air war over Europe and for genealogical researchers tracing relatives who served with the Eighth Air Force.
The Bloody Hundredth: The Story of the 100th Bomb Group
The complete story of the 100th Bombardment Group from its formation in 1942 to the end of the war in Europe.
📍 Main Galleries
Americans in Norfolk: The Eighth Air Force
The story of the American presence in wartime Norfolk and the communities that hosted them.
📍 Community Gallery
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.