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The Aviation Historian
the
real
catch-22
The modern journal of classic aeroplanes and the history of flying
®
JOSEPH HELLER’S WW2 COMBAT CAREER
ISSUE
N
o
18
Published quarterly by:
The Aviation Historian
PO Box 962
Horsham RH12 9PP
United Kingdom
Subscribe at:
www.theaviationhistorian.com
(published January 15, 2017)
The Aviation Historian
The modern journal of classic aeroplanes and the history of flying
®
ISSUE NUMBER 18
TM
Editor’s Letter
“IT WAS LOVE at first sight”. It’s one of the most memorable
opening lines in 20th-Century literature, and the phrase that its
author, Joseph Heller, claimed was the genesis of what would
become his enduring masterpiece —
Catch-22.
Heller’s 1961
novel relates the experiences of a USAAF B-25 bombardier in
the Mediterranean during World War Two. Heller knew what
he was talking about: he’d completed 60 combat missions over
Italy in 1944. Published here for the first time in English, Pavel
Türk’s profile of Heller’s wartime career gives an insight into
where the novelist found inspiration for characters including
the abominable General Dreedle, Snowden the tragic gunner
and the morally flexible quartermaster Milo Minderbinder.
No less brutal, boardroom conflicts also feature in this issue,
with Professor Keith Hayward’s analysis of BOAC’s troubled
procurement of the VC10, in which the Corporation was very
much caught between a rock and a hard place; and David H.
Stringer’s biography of George T. “Ted” Baker, the famously
combative owner of Florida-based National Airlines. Typical
of the band of ruthlessly ambitious silverbacks who forged the
USA’s early airline system, Baker loved a scrap; when he and
Eastern Airlines’ boss Eddie Rickenbacker went head-to-head,
they became scorpions in a bottle, as David’s article illustrates.
Another alpha male unafraid to make his presence felt was
General Curtis LeMay, who, as Robert Hopkins III explains
(pages 46–55), appropriated an early Boeing KC-135 to prove
the value of a cutting-edge VIP transport in a Cold War world.
It is said that when a crew chief warned “Old Iron Pants”
against smoking his ever-present cigar beside an aircraft while
it was being refuelled, lest it explode, LeMay narrowed his
eyes and replied, “It wouldn’t dare . . .” Happy reading!
Nick Stroud
e-mail nickstroud@theaviationhistorian.com
Mick Oakey
e-mail mickoakey@theaviationhistorian.com
EDITOR
MANAGING EDITOR
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Amanda Stroud
Lynn Oakey
FINANCE MANAGER
For all telephone enquiries:
tel +44 (0)7572 237737 (mobile number)
Gregory Alegi, Dr David Baker, Ian Bott,
Robert Forsyth, Juanita Franzi, Dr Richard
P. Hallion, Philip Jarrett HonCRAeS,
Colin A. Owers, David H. Stringer,
Julian Temple, Capt Dacre Watson
EDITORIAL BOARD
David & Angie Siddall,
David Siddall Multimedia
Published quarterly by
The Aviation Historian,
PO Box 962, Horsham RH12 9PP, United Kingdom
©
The Aviation Historian
2017
ISSN 2051-1930 (print)
ISSN 2051-7602 (digital)
While every care will be taken with material
submitted to
The Aviation Historian,
no responsibility
can be accepted for loss or damage. Opinions
expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect
those of the Editor. This periodical must not, without the
written consent of the publishers first being given, be
lent, sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of in a
mutilated condition or in any unauthorised cover by way
of trade or annexed or as part of any publication or
advertising literary or pictorial matter whatsoever.
WEBMASTERS
If you do not wish to keep your copy of
The Aviation Historian
(impossible to imagine, we know),
please ensure you recycle it using an appropriate facility.
Printed in the UK by
The Magazine Printing Company
using only paper from FSC/PEFC suppliers
www.magprint.co.uk
FRONT COVER
A picture you can almost hear — B-25s line-up for
take-off during the making of the 1970 film
Catch-22.
ALPHA ARCHIVE
MADE IN BRITAIN
BACK COVER
The unmistakable, beautifully sculpted empennage of
BROOKLANDS MUSEUM TRUST
the Vickers VC10 — see pages 10–19.
3
Issue No 18
THE AVIATION HISTORIAN
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4
THE AVIATION HISTORIAN
Issue No 18
10
CONTENTS
20
Issue No 18
3
EDITOR’S LETTER
6
AIR CORRESPONDENCE
10
BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
Professor Keith Hayward FRAeS continues his series on
the political aspects of Britain’s post-war aircraft industry
with BOAC’s troubled procurement of the Vickers VC10
20
A GRAND DAY OUT AT CHÂTEAU D’ARDENNE
32
NATIONAL TREASURE?
In 1930 a former Belgian royal castle was the setting for a
spiffingly social aerial weekend, as Nick Stroud explains
Graham Skillen laments the fate of most of the once-
mighty Hawker Sea Furies he photographed awaiting
disposal at Lossiemouth in the early 1960s
36
DEFENDING THE REICH: PART 2
Luftwaffe specialist Robert Forsyth’s three-part series on
the work of wartime experimental unit E.Kdo 25 continues
with its investigation into towed bombs and “fire-clouds”
60
32
46
THE SPECKLED TROUT FROM MOSES LAKE
Former Boeing RC-135 pilot Robert Hopkins III details the
long career of the much-travelled KC-135 used by General
Curtis LeMay and others to set a number of world records
56
AN EYE FOR DETAIL: THE ITALIAN JOB
60
MIRAGE AU CONGO
Juanita Franzi continues her series on notable airframes
with an Ansaldo Balilla much flown by Eddie Rickenbacker
Dassault’s distinctive delta-winged jet fighter served —
and saw combat — with the
Force Aérienne Zaïroise
during 1975–88, as Arnaud Delalande reveals
68
UNLUCKY 13
Dutch aviation historian Nico Braas charts the development
of one of Fokker’s rare misadventures — the post-war
S.13 twin-engined trainer, of which only one was built
92
78
78
TED BAKER & NATIONAL AIRLINES
Award-winning airline historian David H. Stringer profiles
the pugnacious George E. “Ted” Baker, owner and tyrant-
in-chief of the Florida-based National Airlines
90
THE SHOT OF A LIFETIME
92
THE REAL CATCH-22
We take a look at the story behind a well-known Hunter
picture — and how it almost cost the photographer his life
Pavel Türk chronicles the wartime combat career of
Joseph Heller, whose 1961 novel
Catch-22
drew heavily
on his experiences as a B-25 bombardier in Italy
106
HILLSON’S HORRIBLE HELVELLYN
46
110
ARCTIC ASSIGNMENT
Using two recently rediscovered 1940 flying reports, Philip
Jarrett discovers why only one Hillson Helvellyn was built
Our regular series based on newly-discovered rolls of film
taken by aviation journalist John Stroud continues with
visits to Finland in 1949–56 by John and his wife Patricia
120
ARMCHAIR AVIATION
125
LOST & FOUND
126
JUST ADD WATER
Bill Harrison recalls making the first night alighting in a
flying-boat in the UK since the end of the war — or was it?
130
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
Issue No 18
THE AVIATION HISTORIAN
5

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