1. IP=Initial Point: The designated spot where the aircraft would turn from its path and veer directly toward the mission's goal.
2. Some of the above Group history came from the personal files of Thomas A. Hetzel, a bombardier/waist gunner/photographer with the 340th who flew 70 missions.
3. Fred Dyer, personal correspondence with author, 1989.
1. Playboy, June 1975, pp. 59-76.
2. Joseph Heller, “Catch-22 Revisited.” Holiday Magazine, April 1967, Vol, 41, No. 4.
3. Playboy, June, 1975.
4. Susan Cheever, Special for USA Today. Interview with Joseph Heller.
1. Personal Stories on 488th Bomb Squadron web page, www.488thbombsquadron.com.
2. “Crippled Pilots Merge Assets To Bring B-25 In,” Stars and Stripes, May/June 1944.
3. From author's taped conversation with her father.
1. Colonel Willis F Chapman, “How To Break In A New Group Commander,” 340th Men of 57th, Vol. XXVl No. 2, Summer 1993.
2. Regarding chaff, submitted to the same newsletter, Men of the 57th, by an unidentified member, was this article about the effectiveness and great hazard to the crews of dropping phosphorous bombs.
3. Gill Robb Wilson, New York Herald Tribune, November 13, 1944.
1. 57th Bomb Wing Newsletter, March 1980, p. 4.
2. Philip Lipshin, 445th.
3. Men of the 57th, March 1984.
4. Men of the 57th, March 1984.
5. Men of the 57th, Vol. XX. No. 4. June 1987, p. 1.
1. George Wells, quoted on website of the 488th.
2. Bill Bancroft, “And Now — Reunion Talk ‘Flyingest Outfit’ Vets Relive WWII,” Oakland Tribune, July 18, 1972.
3. Dialogue between Pat and George, 340th Bomb Wing Reunion, Virginia, October 2006.”
1. Joseph Heller in interview by Susan Cheever, Special for USA Today, 1998.
2. George and Shirley Wells, personal conversation with author.
3. George Wells, personal correspondence with the author, November 7, 1988.
4. Joseph Heller, “Catch-22 Revisited,” Holiday Magazine, April 1967, Vol. 41, No. 4, p. 59.
5. George Wells, personal correspondence with author, November 7, 1988.
6. George Wells, personal correspondence with author, November 7, 1988.
7. George Wells, personal correspondence with author, November 7, 1988.
8. George Wells, personal correspondence with author, November 7, 1988.
9. Forrest Wells, top turret gunner, telephone conversation with author, 2008.
10. Men of the 57th Bomb Wing, Fall 2002, Vol. XXXV, No. 3, p. 3
11. George Wells, personal correspondence with author, November 7, 1988.
12. Joe Heller, Interview by Susan Cheever, “From Coney Island to ‘Catch-22,’ a life story.” Special for USA TODAY, 1998.
13. Excerpt from a Playboy Magazine interview of Joseph Heller, June, 1975
14. Heller, Playboy Magazine, June, 1975.
15. George Wells, personal correspondence with author, November 7, 1988.
16. George Wells, personal correspondence with author, November 7, 1988.
17. George Wells, personal correspondence with author, November 7, 1988.
18. General Robert Knapp, Men of57th, Vol. XXII No. 4, December 1988.
19. Remembrances, The 57th Bomb Wing, Harold G. Lynch, 1980s
20. Heller, Playboy Magazine, June, 1975.
21. George Wells, personal correspondence with author, November 7, 1988.
22. Ben Kanowski, Seers, Catch-22 Characters Reunite in Albuquerque, December 13-20, 1975, pp. 16-17.
23. George Wells, correspondence with author, November 7, 1988.
1. Men of the 57th, Fall 1999, Paul Gale.
2. Axis Sally was a failed American actress turned radio announcer for Radio Berlin during WWll. This star-struck girl from Maine turned into the well-known and reviled disimenator of Nazi propaganda. With her American accent and knowledge of American music and culture, she would taunt US troops about infidelities at home and the horrible fates awaiting them on the battlefields. She tried to always cast doubts and heighten feelings of homesickness.
1. Ward Laiten, “The Saga of 7-F,” Aden of the 57th, Vol. XXVIII, No. 1, Spring, 1994.
CHAPTER 9: CHAFF oVER THE TARGET
1. The Men of the 57th, Newsletter of the 57th Bomb Wing, September, 1977.
CHAPTER 10: WE LOSE THE QUESTION MARK
1. In this formation two planes and their crews went down. Tie Question Mark and Ship 8H. George, from his plane, helplessly witnessed 8H, the ship of his friend, “Red” Reichard, spiral down in flames. (See page 51, George's 37th mission.)
1. Arthur William Tedder, 1st Baron Tedder of Glenguin, GCB (11 July 1890-3June 1967) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force and a significant British commander during the Second World War.
2. Spring 2000 issue of Men of the 57th. See Fall 1999.
1. Excerpt from article titled “Catch-22 Characters Reunited in Albuquerque,” in Seeks, December 13-20, 1975.
CHAPTER 14: THE BRIDGE AT PARMA
1. Men of the 57th Vol. I, Issue XXXI, No. 4, Winter 1997, p. 16.
CHAPTER 15: PETRIFIED WITH FEAR
1. “A 50th Anniversary,” 13 May 1944, Men of the 57th, Vol. XXVIII No.3 Fall 1994.
2. George Wells personal correspondence with author's father, Brig. Gen. Willis F Chapman, 1999.
1. David Mershon, 487th. Men of the 57th, Vol. XXVIII No. I, Spring 1994.
CHAPTER 17: A LADY LEAVES THE 310TH
1. Frank B. Dean, 380th. Men of the 57th, Vol. XIII No. 3, January 1981.
1. Olen Berry, 57th Bomb Wing Newsletter, Nov. 1979, p. 5.
1. Dita Beard on Dita Beard (interview with Time correspondent Ted Hall, April 3, 1972)
APPENDIX: GEORGE'S MISSION BOOK
1. Wells and Chapman had been given different headings.
2. This Bomb Group became known as the “Bridge Busters” because of their accuracy.
3. Jinks wrote George's parents and told them George had laughed at his getting shot at; George's parents told him he shouldn't do that!
4. They flipped a coin to see who would be the pilot, as they both wanted to be pilot. George won.