- The men bomb the village, but Dunbar drops his bombs far from the village itself so that they don't harm anyone.
- After this, Dunbar "wastes away."
- We discover that the chaplain's visit to Wintergreen has proven futile.
- Yossarian channels his frustration into thoughts about taking a machine gun and killing all his oppressors – the Germans, Havermeyer, and Appleby.
- We learn that Orr crash-landed in the water because Havermeyer and Appleby insisted on flying straight to the target with no evasive action.
- Yossarian replays the first Avignon mission in his mind. We learn that when Yossarian treated Snowden, he cared for the wrong wound.
- Thanks to the disastrous Avignon mission, Yossarian feels safer flying with McWatt than Dobbs or Huple, even though McWatt has a love of flying dangerously. Basically nothing is safe anywhere.
- When training the replacement crew (to replace Orr), McWatt flies dangerously close to the ground, hugging every hill and valley with his plane.
- Yossarian, scared out in mind, gets McWatt in a chokehold and threatens very seriously to kill him if he doesn't bring the plane to a safer altitude.
- McWatt complies.
- Yossarian feels guilty for threatening McWatt.
- But McWatt seems OK with it. And it hasn't stopped him from flying over the beach where Yossarian and the men relax.
- One day, Yossarian is on the beach with Nurse Duckett. Apparently they are dating now. He is constantly affectionate with her.
- Nurse Duckett flirts with all the men and thrives on male attention. Nurse Cramer shadows her, silent and disapproving of Yossarian.
- Yossarian likes Nurse Duckett because she knows how to keep quiet.
- He stares at the sea thinking of his friends who have died in it – Clevinger and Orr.
- One day, McWatt buzzes the beach and Kid Sampson jumps up from his raft to touch the oncoming plane.
- McWatt's plane, flying too low, slices Kid Sampson in half with its propellers.
- Everyone on the beach panics. They retreat and watch McWatt's plane climb higher and higher in slow spirals.
- Sergeant Knight remarks that several other men, including Doc Daneeka, are in the plane with McWatt – he worries for them.
- But Doc Daneeka is right there on the ground, watching the plane with everyone else.
- Everyone wonders why McWatt doesn't come down. But Yossarian suddenly realizes why. He runs and shouts hysterically.
- After all the other men (except Knight's imaginary Doc Daneeka) have jumped out with parachutes, McWatt flies his plane straight into a mountain, committing suicide.
- Colonel Cathcart, upset by McWatt's death, increases the number of missions to sixty-five.