interested. And Trigger Joe! He's great!" Joe became the central character in an entire series of films developed to further gunnery training. The animation department was staffed with a stellar assortment of animators, including department head Rudolf Ising, one of the creators of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, and one of Disney's Nine Old Men, Frank Thomas. Also assigned the unit as a sergeant was Bill Scott, later to gain fame as co-producer of The Bullwinkle Show, the "Voice of Bullwinkle" as well as many other characters. Although he was not an animator at the time, he would claim that he was kept in the unit because he was the only person who knew how to drive the stick-shift truck. Bombing of Japan One of the most important assignments of the unit was to develop navigational and topographic materials to support the bombing campaign against Japan. This top secret series of films, code-named "Special Film Project 152" was, according to Gregory Orr, "perhaps the most important and challenging effort to come from the First Motion Picture Unit." The unit was given forty days to produce the films which would be used by B-29 Superfortress crews. In 1944 the United States readied its forces in the Pacific Theatre for the final assault on the Japanese mainland. The 20th Air Force, tasked with carrying out the bombing campaign, lacked necessary information regarding flight routes and targeting data. Orr explains what the unit was expected to deliver: After conducting extensive research on the topography of Japan, an scale model (1 foot: 1 mile) of target areas was fabricated complete with mountains, buildings, railroads and the rice paddies. It also depicted clouds and fog. The films were produced using a specially mounted overhead camera. The camera was motorized and could be moved to simulate an airplane's flight over the model. According to the New York Sun, "the camera recorded what the crew of a B-29 would see from 30,000 feet." Using the films, pilots of the 20th Air Force easily found their targets and were amazed at the level of detail and the accuracy that the unit was able to produce. General Arnold said the following of the units accomplishment: "there never has been anything quite so good as this for briefing men on dangerous missions." Bomb damage in Europe After Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945, General Arnold ordered Crump to document the