WWII Aircraft and Wartime Songs

songs

Dave,
When I was an aviation cadet, (about 11 months) anytime we marched on base in cadense, we sang the air force song, also remember Pearl Harbor and I’ve been working on the railroad, also Dinah.
I think it was an official air force song.

VoyTech, my apologies, you are of course absolutely correct about The White Cliffs of Dover. I must have had a brain overload. Thanks too for the excellent lyrics to all those Air Force related Bless Em Alls. Great stuff.

Jules – I have a copy of that US Air Force Anthem, and I have wondered two things. One, is it postwar, as it is USAF and not USAAF? And also, what circumstances was it used in? I mean, was this an official song used at military parades? Or was it just a fun release for public consumption? It sounds more like a song from a film or musical than a military march, yet it has a very official sounding title.

songs

The U.S. air force song Off we go into the wild blue —–etc
How about When the Lights Come on Again

VoyTech – I had thought of The White Cliffs of Dover, with which I think everyone thinks of Spitfires, Hurricanes and Me109’s when they here it. But it doesn’t directly reference the RAF or aircraft so I didn’t mention that one. Great song though. I’ll never, ever forget the sequence between Mark and Ray Hanna in the Buchon and TB863 at Wanaka 1992, to that tune, as the grand finale. Stunning.

I’ll never forget the people I met
Braving those angry skies
I remember well as the shadows fell
The light of hope in their eyes
And though I’m far away
I still hear them say
Thumbs Up!!

As for the Lancaster crew song, I was really referring to recorded songs so I can track down copies, but that is a very interesting one. Have you got the rest of the lyrics? I have a book somewhere called Bless Em All which has all sorts of soldiers, sailors and airmen’s ‘versions’ of popular songs in it, mostly too bawdy to repeat of course. 🙂

They say there’s a Lancaster leaving the Ruhr
Bound for old Blighty shore,
Heavily laden with flak-frightened crew
S*** scared and prone on the floor.
There’s many a bomber long finished his tour
There’s many a plonk signing on
We’ll get no promotioon this side of the ocean
So cheer up my lads, bless ’em all.

others:

They say there’s a Whitley just leaving Ringway
Bound for old Tatton Park
Heavily laden with parachute troops,
Bound for a jump in the dark.
There’s many a soldier who has jumped before,
There’s many a one had a fall,
But you’ll get no promotion if your chute doesn’t open,
So cheer up my lads Bless ’em all.

A crippled old Fortress was leaving the Ruhr
Bound for old Blimy’s shore
Holes in the fuselage, holes in the wings
Blood all over the floor
Many a Focke Wulf filled her with lead
Many a Messerschmitt, too,
Shot off her ********, shot up her hydraulics
So cheer up my lads, bless ’em all.

Worry me, worry me
Wellingtons don’t worry me.
Oil-chewing b****rds with flaps on their wings,
Buggered-up pistons and buggered-up rings,
The bomb-load is so f***ing small
Four-fifths of five-eighths of f***-all,
There’ll be such a commotion when we’re over the ocean
So cheer up my lads, bless’em all.

Now they say there’s a convoy leaves New York tonight,
Bound for old England’s shore
Heavily laden with browned-off young men
Bound for the land they “adore”.
Now they all know their Mustangs are keen as can be
To catch a Focke-Wolf in their sights
They’re experts at moaning and bitching and groaning
When everything’s going just right.
Bless ’em all, bless ’em all
The needle, the airspeed, the ball
They sent us to school just to teach us to fly
They sent us to solo and left us to die
And if ever your fighter should stall
You’re in for one helluva fall
No lilies and violets for dead fighter pilots
So cheer up, my lads, bless ’em all.

Other versions are welcome!

Daz, Whispering Grass? I hadn’t picked up on that tune being played for that sequence, I’d have thought it was merely tense incidental music. Must watch again. I associate Whispering Grass with the late great Don “Lofty Sugden” Estelle. 😉 He made it more famous than the Ink Spots did originally.

Dave, the Don Estelle/Windsor Davies one is the most well-known, obviously, although I once managed to download the original Ink Spots version on MP3!

In PofC it’s just before Moggy hasa go at the bridge – he tunes his Spit’s radio into a local ground station (or whatever it was). I just always associate it with that sequence – lulls you into a false sense of security! 😉

Incidentally, I have got a fair old collection of movie themes on either CD or MP3, including “First of the Few” (Walton) and the theme from Spitfire Ace.

Somewhere, I’m sure. It was generally a Frank Ziegler / Joe Atkinson duet I gather. I think it’s a squadron one, and the tune you mention does sound likely but I can’t really recall.

Thanks everyone, some good suggestions.

VoyTech – I had thought of The White Cliffs of Dover, with which I think everyone thinks of Spitfires, Hurricanes and Me109’s when they here it. But it doesn’t directly reference the RAF or aircraft so I didn’t mention that one. Great song though. I’ll never, ever forget the sequence between Mark and Ray Hanna in the Buchon and TB863 at Wanaka 1992, to that tune, as the grand finale. Stunning.

As for the Lancaster crew song, I was really referring to recorded songs so I can track down copies, but that is a very interesting one. Have you got the rest of the lyrics? I have a book somewhere called Bless Em All which has all sorts of soldiers, sailors and airmen’s ‘versions’ of popular songs in it, mostly too bawdy to repeat of course. 🙂

Janie – who sang Big Beautiful Doll? I haven’t, heard of that one. (I know the P51D you mean though).

Locobuster, yes, that is a good one I’d forgotten to mention. Cheers.

Daz, Whispering Grass? I hadn’t picked up on that tune being played for that sequence, I’d have thought it was merely tense incidental music. Must watch again. I associate Whispering Grass with the late great Don “Lofty Sugden” Estelle. 😉 He made it more famous than the Ink Spots did originally.

Snapper, is that a Squadron song then? Not heard that one. Let me guess, to the tune of “She had to go and lose it in the Astor”? Got lyrics?

the 609 refrain:

‘E ‘ad to go and prang ‘er in the hangar.

Whispering Grass – I always connected it with the “under the bridge” sequence in Piece of Cake 😉

“Straighten Up and Fly Right”

Big Beautiful Doll!

Vera Lynn’s “White Cliffs of Dover”!
“Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer” was also recorded in the Soviet Union with Russian lyrics (needless to say, they replaced the Prayer with “a Word of Honour”).
I recall quite a few aviation-related variations of the “Bless’em (F***’em) All”, one of which started like this:
“They say there’s a Lancaster leaving the Ruhr…”
but I am not sure if you meant this kind of songs, or just those recorded and broadcast officially.

A Wellington in a Polish squadron (can’t remember which one) was called “Rose Marie” after a tune, and I think it also carried some notes of the actual tune, painted next to the name.
Also, there was a Ilushin Il-2 with rather large-size representation of the notes of a popular Russian tune.