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Tom Cleaver
933 articles

Shades of Yossarian.

June 10, 2015 · in Aviation · 1 · 1.3K

There were (until this find last year) virtually no photographs of Joseph Heller, the author of "Catch-22" from World War 2. This 6-minute segment comes from what was a 73-minute documentary made by 340th BombGroup Public Relations Officer Lt. Wilbur Blume, "Training During Combat", about how replacement aircrew were indoctrinated before going on combat.

"Pete", the replacement bombardier, is actually Joe Heller - he's the skinny guy with dark hair and his hat pushed back on his head, with his sleeves rolled all the way up. The photo above of him in his "office" definitely recalls Yossarian

The "squirt gun" turret trainers are a hoot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rFxAYqurWoM#t=13

As you can see, I am having fun researching "The Bridgebusters: The True Story of the Catch-22 Bomb Wing."

Reader reactions:
3  Awesome

1 response

  1. Too bad there was no sound with the clips……glad you're having fun.

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