The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Chatham County, Georgia, will continue its Mighty Talk lecture series on August 26 with a presentation exploring the life, service, and final combat mission of a young B-17 pilot who was shot down over Germany during the closing months of WWII. Titled One Pilot’s Story: From Pittsburgh to the Ardennes, the program will be presented by researcher Bruce Halley at 11 a.m. at the museum. The presentation follows the story of Raymond Ankeny, a young American whose plans for college and civilian life were interrupted by the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. After enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Forces, Ankeny completed pilot training and earned his wings as a multi-engine pilot before being assigned to fly B-17 Flying Fortresses with the Eighth Air Force in England.
Deployed to the European Theater in late 1944, Ankeny and his crew began flying combat missions over occupied Europe in January 1945. Their wartime service came to a tragic end during their 21st mission when their bomber was shot down south of Dresden, Germany. Halley’s presentation will trace Ankeny’s journey from his prewar life and military training through his operational service with the Eighth Air Force. Attendees will also learn about life at an American bomber base in wartime England and the missions flown by Ankeny’s crew during the final months of the air campaign against Nazi Germany.
A significant portion of the program will focus on the crew’s final mission, examining what happened during the loss of the aircraft and the fate of the men aboard. Special attention will be given to the six crew members who did not survive the crash and the decades-long effort to recover, identify, and properly honor their remains. The story ultimately leads to the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium, where Ankeny was laid to rest in 1948 following the recovery and identification process conducted after the war. Halley, who has spent years researching the service records and combat histories of Eighth Air Force personnel, focuses much of his work on the men of the 490th Bomb Group. Through collaboration with veterans’ families and extensive archival research, he has helped preserve the stories of airmen whose wartime experiences might otherwise be forgotten.
The August 26 Mighty Talk will offer visitors a detailed look at one crew’s wartime service while highlighting the human stories behind the Eighth Air Force’s strategic bombing campaign over Europe. The presentation begins at 11 a.m. at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force and is open to the public with advance registration. Click HERE to register. For more information and to support the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, click on this link: www.mightyeighth.org.
