To most who are interested in the air war during WWII, when one mentions the B-25, thoughts immediately head to the southwest Pacific. It is this part of the war where most see the Mitchell either skip bombing ordnance into Japanese ships or gunships blasting away at Japanese ground targets. However, the B-25 was also active in the Mediterranean, and one of the units most heavily involved in the fighting was the 57th Bomb Wing.

B-25s had been fighting in the Med since late 1942 from Egypt and later Morocco and then Tunisia, and Sicily. It was while in Sicily that the greatest single day loss of aircraft occurred when Mt. Vesuvius erupted sending hot ash and cinders raining on the countryside as well as on dozens of B-25s, most of which were write offs due to all the damage.

The unit then moved to Corsica where it would spend its greatest part of the war. From this locale it was involved in doing all it could to keep supplies from flowing from Germany into Northern Italy. This meant a lot of mountain flying as well as concentrating on the best places to disrupt supplies and that was bridges.

By this time of the war, there was almost no air opposition, but the same could not be said about the flak and it was some of the heaviest around. Since B-25s in this area had their oxygen systems removed for fear of a flak burst hitting it and setting the plane on fire, the Mitchells had to fly at fairly low altitudes, making them easier targets for the AAA.

Aircrews in the 57th were required to fly more than double the number of missions of those flying out of England prior to being relieved, a situation that became worse as time went on. Since the Italian theater was almost as low a priority as the CBI, it meant that replacement crews were few and far between. In order to keep its Mitchells manned, the number of missions was raised from 50 until it was eventually capped at 70. Needless to say, the flak-filled missions and the increase in missions had a deleterious effect on aircrews.

Into this mix, enter Joseph Heller. He was a bombardier and flew in some of the most dangerous missions flown by the 57th. He also got involved in a film project for the wing commander which allowed him to rotate home with only 60 missions under his belt. His experiences with the 57th eventually became the book, 'Catch-22'. While some of the situations in the book are exaggerated, they are not by much and are based on what he saw and experienced while with the 57th.

All of this is woven into a history of the unit which is more than just dry words on paper. The experiences of the men in the unit either from personal interviews, official transcriptions, or other means tell a story of a unit whose bravery has often been overlooked. Tom Cleaver is a superb writer and his ability to tell the story of the unit as well as intermixing that of Joseph Heller as well as telling the story of the war in Italy itself is second to none. In addition to the exploits of the wing, we see things from the eyes of the ground crews, who were there for the duration and did not get the opportunity to rotate home. We also hear from Italian civilians who helped to hide downed fliers, despite the very real threat of death to themselves and their families from Italian fascists.

It makes for a riveting story and one that I offer my highest recommendation. This book will be available in early May so look for it.

April 2016

ModelingMadness.com

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