The men are dismayed when they learn that General Peckem has had Scheisskopf, now a colonel, transferred onto his staff. Peckem is pleased because he thinks the move will increase his strength compared to that of his rival General Dreedle. Colonel Scheisskopf is dismayed by the news that he will no longer be able to conduct parades every afternoon. Scheisskopf immediately irritates his colleagues in Group Headquarters, and Peckem takes him along for an inspection of Colonel Cathcart's squadron briefing. At the preliminary briefing, the men are displeased to learn they will be bombing an undefended village into rubble simply so that Colonel Cathcart can impress General Peckem with the clean aerial photography their bomb patterns will allow. When Peckem and Scheisskopf arrive, Cathcart is angry that another colonel has appeared to rival him. He gives the briefing himself, and though he feels shaky and unconfident, he makes it through, and congratulates himself on a job well done under pressure.

On the bombing run, Yossarian flashes back to the mission when Snowden died, and he snaps. During evasive action, he threatens to kill McWatt if he doesn't follow orders. He is worried that McWatt will hold a grudge, but after the mission McWatt only seems concerned about Yossarian. Yossarian has begun seeing Nurse Duckett, and he enjoys making love to her on the beach. Sometimes, while they sit looking at the ocean, Yossarian thinks about all the people who have died underwater, including Orr and Clevinger. One day, McWatt is buzzing the beach in his plane as a joke, when a gust of wind causes the plane to drop for a split second--just long enough for the propellor to slice Kid Sampson in half. Kid Samson's body splatters all over the beach. Back at the base, everyone is occupied with the disaster; McWatt will not land his plane, but keeps flying higher and higher. Yossarian runs down the runway yelling at McWatt to come down, but he knows what McWatt is going to do, and McWatt does it, crashing his plane into the side of a mountain, killing himself. Colonel Cathcart is so upset that he raises the number of missions to sixty-five.

When Colonel Cathcart learns that Doc Daneeka was also killed in the crash, he raises the number of missions to seventy. Actually, Doc Daneeka was not killed in the crash, but the records--which Doc Daneeka, hating to fly, bribed Yossarian to alter--maintain that the doctor was in the plane with McWatt, collecting some flight time. Doc Daneeka is startled to hear that he is dead, but Doc Daneeka's wife in America, who receives a letter to that effect from the military, is shattered. Heroically, she finds the strength to carry on, and is cheered to learn that she will be receiving a number of monthly payments from various military departments for the rest of her life, as well as sizable life insurance payments from her husband's insurance