Oh, yes, that certainly meets the 'gruesome' criteria.
The incident where Kid Sampson was killed
almost happened.
In my essay on Catch-22 I used a photo from Quentin Kaiser's web site that shows a C-47 buzzing the beach at Alesan, Corsica at an altitude of, maybe, 40 or 50 feet.
http://www.warwingsart.com/12thAirForce/beach.html
After I published that I found this entry in the War Diary of the 340th Bomb Group HQ for August 31, 1944:
Quote:
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To many the afternoon at the beach involved a hair raising experience to Colonel Malcolm Bailey,Major Joseph Reubel and remainder of Headquarters Staff, Miss Davis Red Cross girl and a host of other beach mongers. A reconnaissance Piper Cup flying low thought it great fun to buzz the length of the beach. Coming to a height of no more than two or three feet, the plane forced each and every person to lay flat. Many unsuspecting the quietly approaching plane and who were not able to take cover till the last minute nearly had their head cut off. The plane then decided to take after Miss Davis chasing her over sand dunes into the water and on two occasions coming too close for comfort or desirable fun. The young lady with proper provocation was frightened well out of her wits. Colonel Bailey was talking of writing a letter asking for severest disciplinary action to be taken. Moral: Don't buzz beach or bathers when high ranking staff officers are around......
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Colonel Bailey was the Deputy Commander of the 340th BG and the model for Colonel Korn in Catch-22.
If Joseph Heller was not at the beach that day, he certainly would have heard about the incident in full detail.