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Old 21st Sep 2011, 22:58
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Robert Cooper
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Annapolis, MD
Age: 86
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Here is one from the USAAF, circa 1946 I believe...

The Air Corps Lament

(Tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic)

Mine eyes have seen the days of men who ruled the fighting sky
With hearts that laughed at death and lived for nothing but to fly
But now those hearts are grounded and those days are long gone
The force is shot to hell!


CHORUS: Glory...flying regulations, Have them read at every station, Crucify the man who breaks one, The force is shot to hell!


My bones have felt their pounding throb, a hundred thousand strong
A mighty airborne legion sent to right the deadly wrong
But now it's only memory, it only lives in song

The force is shot to hell!


I have seen them in the T-bolts when their eyes were dancing flame

I've seen their screaming power dives that blasted Goering's name

But now they fly like sissies and they hang their heads in shame

Their spirit's shot to hell!


They flew B-26's through a living hell of flak

And bloody, dying pilots gave their lives to bring them back

But now they all play ping pong in the operations shack

Their technique's gone to hell!


Yes, the lordly Flying Fortress and the Liberator too

Once wrote the doom of Germany with contrails in the blue

But now the skies are empty and our planes are wet with dew

And we can't fly for hell!


One day I buzzed an airfield with another happy chap

We flew a hot formation with his wingtip in my lap

But there's a new directive and we'll have no more of that

Or you both will burn in hell!


Hap Arnold built a fighting team that sang a fighting song

About the wild blue yonder in the days when men were strong

But now we're closely supervised for fear we may do wrong

The force is shot to hell!


FINAL CHORUS: Glory! No more regulations!
Rip them down at every station!
Ground the guy that tries to make one!
AND LET US FLY LIKE HELL!

Bob C
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