---
title: I wonder if old pilots just fade away?
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-old-pilots-fade-away-1957/
description: A general at a desk labelled 'Chairman Joint Chiefs', with 'Twining' on his chair back, rests his chin on his hand beside a newspaper headline 'Gen.
section: Collection
---

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3. I wonder if old pilots just fade away?

[![I wonder if old pilots just fade away?, 1957 US cartoon: A general at a desk labelled 'Chairman Joint Chiefs', with 'Twining'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-old-pilots-fade-away-1957.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-old-pilots-fade-away-1957.jpg)

# I wonder if old pilots just fade away?

A general at a desk labelled 'Chairman Joint Chiefs', with 'Twining' on his chair back, rests his chin on his hand beside a newspaper headline 'Gen. Gavin proposes junking Joint Staff setup', under a framed portrait of a pipe-smoking general in a peaked cap. The caption plays on a familiar line about old soldiers; the portrait attaches that association to the speaker, which is the transfer tell (the portrait is unlabelled; identification is an inference).

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
"I WONDER IF OLD PILOTS JUST FADE AWAY?"
TWINING
CHAIRMAN
JOINT CHIEFS
GEN. GAVIN
PROPOSES
JUNKING
JOINT STAFF
SETUP
JIM BERRYMAN WASHINGTON STAR.....
12/15/57
```

[← Pishraft-e Iran wall news poster, No. 45: Shah's land grants (Farsi, Tehran)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/pishraft-e-iran-wall-news-poster-45-shah-land-grants-farsi-tehran-1957/) [In a Changing World poster (English, distributed in India) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/in-a-changing-world-english-india-1958/)

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- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)