Thomas McKelvey Cleaver - The Bridgebusters: The True Story of the Catch-22 Bomb Wing

PRAISE FOR

THE BRIDGEBUSTERS

Want to know the true-life story behind the 57th Bomb Wing where Catch-22 author Joseph Heller spent the war? Read this thrill ride in the cockpit of a B-25... [and learn how] they bombed bridges and destroyed Nazi supply routes to win the war in Italy in World War II.

Lucian K. Truscott IV, author of Dress Gray and Full Dress Gray and grandson of the American commander in Italy

One of Tom Cleavers trademarks is that he somehow manages to weave mechanical facts into the fabric of a thoroughly human tale in such a way that you come away feeling as if youve just watched a wildly detailed movie. In The Bridgebusters, you can almost smell the engine exhaust and hear the empty .50 caliber casings clatter to the fuselage floor under the gunners feet. He makes the truth read like well-done fiction.

Budd Davisson, editor of Flight Journal

In The Bridgebusters, Thomas Cleaver highlights one the ironies of World War II: seventy years later the public is mostly aware of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations via a fanciful 1961 novel and the 1970 movie. But in addressing author Joseph Hellers wartime service as a B-25 bombardier, Cleaver places much more in context. The little-known Twelfth Air Force fought a long, sanguinary campaign from North Africa to Italy, highlighted by the months-long bridge busting effort in the Alps Brenner Pass. Flying against lethally proficient anti-aircraft crews, the 57th Bomb Wing paid a steep price for its success. Yet far more is revealed than the glamorous fliers sweating out open-ended combat tours. Cleaver introduces us to long-suffering ground crews who kept em flying; careerist officers mostly interested in their next promotion; Italian civilians who suffered in the crossfire; and even Wehrmacht leaders and flak gunners. This is rare historytold almost at the last moment as more of those veterans depart the pattern every day.

Barrett Tillman, author of Forgotten Fifteenth

U.S. Navy vet and lifelong aviation enthusiast Tom Cleaver is making a stunning appearance on the nonfiction book scene as a reliable chronicler of combat military aviation. The Bridgebusters goes a long way toward burnishing his sterling reputation for going the extra mile to bring us interesting and unusual detail layered into a heartfelt appreciation of aviators.

Eric Hammel, aviation historian and author of seventy books, including War in the Western Pacific and Big Week: The Bombing Offensive That Broke the Luftwaffe

Cleavers superb The Bridgebusters is the book that finally credits the uniquely brave men of the 57th Bomb Wing with the recognition they so richly deserve. A rigorously researched work, The Bridgebusters is nevertheless fast-paced and personal. Cleavers extraordinary characterization of the men and their actions during one of historys bloodiest air campaigns reads true and compelling, and is enhanced by judicious use of the mens own words, thoughtfully gleaned from contemporaneous letters and diaries. Highly recommended.

Jay A. Stout, author of Hells Angels: The True Story of the 303rd Bomb Group in World War II

Copyright 2016 by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, website, or broadcast.

Regnery History is a trademark of Salem Communications Holding Corporation; Regnery is a registered trademark of Salem Communications Holding Corporation

First e-book edition 2016: ISBN 978-1-62157-543-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cleaver, Thomas McKelvey, author.

Title: The bridgebusters: the true story of the Catch-22 Bomb Wing / Thomas McKelvey Cleaver.

Other titles: True story of the Catch-22 Bomb Wing

Description: Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016013722

Subjects: LCSH: United States. Army Air Forces. Bomb Wing, 57th. | World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, American. | World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Mediterranean Region. | World War, 1939-1945--Regimental histories, American.

Classification: LCC D790.24 57th .C54 2016 | DDC 940.54/4973--dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016013722

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To the men of the 57th Bomb Wing, for their accomplishments

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Meet me over Rovereto

Meet me in the air

There aint no place

The flak is thicker

No place else but there

We will take evasive action

They will miss us by a fraction

So meet me over Rovereto

Meet me in the air.

Anonymous (1944)

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volleyd and thunderd;

Stormd at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of Hell

Rode the six hundred.

Alfred Lord Tennyson,

The Charge of the Light Brigade

YOSSARIAN

Is Orr crazy?

DOC DANEEKA

Of course he is. He has to be crazy to keep flying after all the close calls hes had.

YOSSARIAN

Why cant you ground him?

DOC DANEEKA

I can, but first he has to ask me.

YOSSARIAN

Thats all hes gotta do to be grounded?

DOC DANEEKA

Thats all.

YOSSARIAN

Then you can ground him?

DOC DANEEKA

No. Then I cannot ground him.

YOSSARIAN

Aah!

DOC DANEEKA

Theres a catch.

YOSSARIAN

A catch?

DOC DANEEKA

Sure. Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat isnt really crazy, so I cant ground him.

YOSSARIAN

OK, let me see if Ive got this straight. In order to be grounded, Ive got to be crazy. And I must be crazy to keep flying. But if I ask to be grounded, that means Im not crazy anymore, and I have to keep flying.

DOC DANEEKA

You got it, thats Catch-22.

YOSSARIAN

Whoo... Thats some catch, that Catch-22.

DOC DANEEKA

Its the best there is.

Catch-22 screenplay by Buck Henry adapted from the novel by Joseph Heller