This day will not only tell you the story of Masters of the Air: The Friendly Invasion but you will also get a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made to achieve victory over the Nazis.
Just outside Cambridge is the American War Cemetery at Madingley, 30 acres of land donated by the University of Cambridge as a last remaining place for 3,811 US war victims. Managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission, there are 5,127 names recorded on the Walls of the Missing. A chapel has two huge military maps and a mosaic ceiling memorial honouring the dead of the US air forces. A visitor centre has interpretive exhibits with personal stories, photographs and films.
11 miles outside Cambridge is Imperial War Museum Duxford, a historic airfield and museum that tells the stories of those who lived and fought in war from the first world war to 1969. It is also home to the newly-refurbished American Air Museum, a standalone building that includes a B17 Flying Fortress, B52 Stratofortress and a B24 Liberator.
The American Air Museum interactive display allows you to research the men and women who served in the region during the second world war.
Next stop is the historical ‘wool town’ of Lavenham. Dine at The Swan, home of the Airmen’s Bar, so named a many of the 850 signatures on the walls belong to US airmen stationed nearby during the second world war.
