The terrible events of 7th December 1941 at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii brought our American friends into the Second World War. On 8th December President Roosevelt cabled Prime Minister, Winston Churchill: "Today all of us are in the same boat with you and it is a ship which will not and cannot be sunk!" After this, Churchill admitted he "went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful".

Within a few months, USA troop landings in Britain - mainly in East Anglia - were well under way and all summer passenger liners including 'Queen Elizabeth' and 'Queen Mary' zigzagged across the Atlantic, dodging U-boats and carrying thousands of soldiers and airmen on each trip. While many of the military fought in North Africa, around 40,000 American Air Force personnel spent their first winter on British bases - many of them in Essex.

The summer of 1942 brought thousands of young American servicemen to war-torn Essex. Many of the 8th and 9th Army Airforce men made their home here over the following few years, living as they did on newly built airbases. Between bloody air battles these young men drank our warm beer in timbered pubs on village greens and when peace was eventually declared three years later, many Essex girls left our county for America as GI brides.

In 1943, more than 100,000 US servicemen were based in Britain and by D-Day - 6th June 1944 - more than half of the USAAF's combat strength was concentrated in this island, mostly in East Anglia where most of the 8th Air Force and some of the 9th were located on almost 100 air bases.

Dennis Pittson who came to live in Billericay Essex in 1961 has been fascinated with this period. As a teenager, he lived in London's Walthamstow when the war was at its height and he grew up to the sound of aero-engines. "We used to watch the dog fights over London sitting on top of the air-raid shelter," he recalls. Although not realising at the time, Dennis's observations studying planes of all types was the start of a life-long interest and hobby of modelling RAF and USAAF fighter aircraft. When Dennis was called up in 1946, he enlisted in the RAF.

During a six-month recuperation following an accident, Dennis began building model aircraft from kits, the first of which was the famous Spitfire. He created hundreds of model planes set on an airfield made from plastic sheeting. Initially these were displayed at North Weald Aces High, then at Blake Hall Airscene which had the benefit of a war-time memorabilia with a background of 1940s music. Sadly Blake Hall Air Museum has now closed.

Complementing Dennis's encyclopaedic knowledge of aircraft and airfields he's amassed a huge music collection dedicated to American Big Band war-time music, including 700 Glen Miller recordings. Fortunately Dennis found a new home for his latest models, photographs, paintings and portfolio "History of Military Aviation 1914-1975" at Ridgewell Commemorative War Museum, near Wethersfield. Dennis's models are part of the collection of World War II memorabilia displayed in and around the old hospital buildings behind the memorial which commemorates the USAAF 381st Bomb Group (H) and 90 Squadron RAF which served there.

Dennis and his wife Mavis will be welcoming visitors to Ridgewell War Museum throughout this summer. Among visitors will be families of those young Americans who lost their lives in service missions. The Museum is open on the second Sunday of each month from April - September. Free admission.
For further details contact Curator Jim Tennet: +44(0)1787 277310.