Just before the Christmas holidays this photograph was brought to our attention via the kind folks at Cinema City . It claims to depict Hollywood icon James Stewart surveying ruins in Norwich during World War II. We are currently looking into its authenticity. If anyone has more information, please let us know!
In the meantime, we wanted to highlight the various resources that we hold regarding Jimmy Stewart’s service at Tibenham and Old Buckenham during World War II. In addition to general biographies on Stewart, we have a copy of Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot by Starr Smith, which contains a photograph of Jimmy Stewart walking down a Norwich street during a Second Air Division reunion in 1983. Footage of Stewart’s 1975 visit to Duxford is available online through the East Anglian Film Archive. We also have quite a few resources about Stewart in our Archive at County Hall, including mission diaries, magazine articles, and photographs (including this previously shared image of Jimmy Stewart pictured leaning against railings at Old Buckenham airbase, home of the 453rd Bomb Group).
(Catalogue Reference: MC 376/108, USF PH 5/1)
We’ll be sharing more information about James Stewart’s connection to Norfolk as part of our 2012 Norfolk American Trail project, which launches in July. Stay tuned!
