Tucson, AZ — The 390th Memorial Museum, dedicated to the sacrifices of a World War II bomb group, is in the midst of putting finishing touches on a $2.4 million renovation that added 12,000 square feet of exhibit, office and storage space. The museum, on the grounds of the Pima Air and Space Museum at 6000 E. Valencia Road, is set to reopen this weekend.
The expansion modernized the hangar that houses the museum, which now includes an entryway, a mezzanine, a two-story mock control tower, a research library, a theater and offices.
Some of the museum’s exhibits, including an area that focuses on prisoners of war, one that honors each of the bomb group’s four squadrons, and a diorama of the bomb group’s daylight raid on Berlin, were upgraded to include new signage and display cases.
Other exhibits, including one about the group’s “chowhound” missions, which involved dropping 19,000 tons of food from the bomb bays of B-17s to starving people in the Netherlands, have been untouched.
The renovation’s goal was to maintain the integrity of the efforts of the veterans who started the museum and created the exhibits, but also modernize the space, said Leslie Freed, the museum’s development director.
“It’s a blend of the old and new,” she said.
WWII bomb group museum to showcase upgraded exhibits