Birthplace of Eighth Air Force

Chatham County · dedicated 1966 · At Old Chatham Armory, on Bull Street in Savannah.

On 28 January 1942, the Eighth Air Force was activated in the adjacent building, a National Guard Armory at the time. Having moved to England, the Eighth was ready on 17 August to test the theory that daylight bombing raids could be made with profitable results. Twelve B-17's participated in this mission, striking the railway marshalling yards at Rouen, France, and returning safely to their home base. This highly successful mission established the pattern for the strategic bombardment of Nazi Germany -- the Eighth Air Force by day and the RAF by night. Under the leaderships of Generals Carl A. Spaatz, Ira C. Eaker and James H. Doolittle, it flew over 600,000 sorties delivering over 700,000 tons of bombs and destroying over 15,000 German aircraft. On one single mission, December 24, 1944, it was able to send 2,000 B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators and nearly 1,000 fighters in the Battle of Germany. The renowned winged-eight, the emblem of the Eighth Air Force, was designed by former Air Force Major Ed Winter, a native of Savannah.

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

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