I was in the B-17 Museum in TucsonI when this old guy walked in wearing a crinkled leather jacket. He waddled over to a chair, caught his breathe and said, " C'mere, kid."
At 72, arthritis raising hell, I momentarily appreciated the comment. " you everf fly one of those things, " he asked me with a kind of, I'm gonna dump all over you look on his face.
I backed off, No I told him.
" And you did, Right?" He yes, 15th Air Force in Italy, two years and he quipped, " did you ever see the movie with Allen Arkin, called Catch 22?
We talked for a while, his group flew the famous Ploesti Air Raids over Rumania, the losses were heavy, and I remember other 15th pilots telling me of 20% losses on each mission. The old guy said, yes, it was true, and after 5 missions, you were considered 100% dead.
"Incidentally, " he said on the way out the door, " the movie...Catch 22? Everything you saw in that movie was true. Everything. I went through it all. "
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