Liberantus Lardassarus Rex
IMA just posted this awesome USAAF A2 leather flight jacket issued to a Lieutenant G.S. Tate who was a Bombardier in the 15th Air Force, 456th Bombardment Group, 745th Bomb Squadron who’s B-24’s motto was Liberantus Lardassarus Rex.
It just doesn’t get any better than that.
In semi-related news, I just blew through the six-episode miniseries, Catch-22 on Hulu, about the life and times of a B-25 bombardier trapped in an unwinnable situation on the Italian front in 1943 and found it great, if very dark.
I read Joseph Heller’s book at a young age and have revisited it often.
Of course, Heller himself in 1942, at age 19, joined the Army and flew 60 combat missions as a B-25 bombardier on the Italain Front with the 488th Bombardment Squadron, 340th Bomb Group, 12th Air Force, so Catch-22 certainly has some real-life to it.
The latest Hulu version is marketly different from the book in a number of ways, like Mike Nichol’s 1970 movie (which is on Amazon Prime) but it is nontheless enjoyable.
Major Major Major Major