In 1977, the late Tim Howlett and his wife, Anne, purchased land adjacent to the WWII Airfield in Hethel, now the home of Lotus Cars, with the intent of setting up a poultry farm. The land had previously been used as the main living area for the airmen based at Hethel, where 200 brick and prefabricated huts used as airmen's barracks, wash houses, clubs and canteen buildings once stood. Still standing, was a large derelict building which housed a gymnasium and chapel with chaplain's quarters. Inside the building, are two large murals painted on the walls in 1943 by the chaplain's driver, Sgt. Bud Doyle.

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One day, Tim and Anne were paid a visit by a local man, Fred Squires, who as a child, had befriended the crew of a B24 Liberator Bomber that flew from the neighbouring airfield. Keen to keep the building standing and the history intact, he and Johnathan Smith, a Lotus Cars employee, offered to assemble a team of volunteers to take on the painstaking task of restoring the building, and preserving the art inside. Firstly, it was important to secure the building and rendering it water-tight. Initially, the buildings became the farm's offices and stores; until it was learned that Lotus Cars held a collection of 389th Bomb Group uniforms, flying clothing and photographs along with other memorabilia which was agreed to be housed within the chapel. This would allow the general public and veterans to view the collection without more complex prior arrangements with the factory, and has become the very nucleus of what you will see in the museum today.

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Eventually, a 389th Bomb Group Charitable Trust was set up by the volunteers  with help from the 389th Veterans Association. The Memorial Exhibition was opened to the public in 2001, and with an ever-expanding collection, two new Nissen Huts were built by volunteers and opened first in 2014 by General the Lord Richard Dannatt, the retired Cheif of the British Army, and the second hut was opened in 2017 by Mr. Clive Chapman, of Classic Team Lotus and dedicated to the memory of Tec. Sgt. Earl Zimmerman.

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The collection is a living memorial to the airmen and personnel of the 389th Bomb Group assigned to the Second Air Division of the American Eighth Air Force, stationed in East Anglia during the Second World War. To this day, the 389th Memorial Exhibition is still growing. Within the Nissen Huts, is the gift shop and Fu Bar where we have a range of hot and cold drinks, snacks and home baked goods for sale. There is seating available, as well as a collection of books and documents for you to read. The exhibition is wheelchair accessible, with disabled toilet facilities, to make your visit as pleasant as possible.

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