I’ve got some, from my webpage of WWII Air Force poetry I’ve collected over time.

See the page here
http://www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Air%20Force%20Poetry.htm

Here’s one of my favourites

RETURN AT DAWN
By Morris Marshall
(RNZAF Overseas, from Contact, Feb 1944)

The early dawn has seen their first homecoming,
Has seen them stuggle grimly through the skies.
The skylark hearkens to the engines’ pulsing
and feels akin to every man who flies.

The grazing beast lifts gentle eyes in wonder
To gaze upon the victors’ brave return
But knows not of the dangers that beset them
Who flew into the dark of early morn.

And winging back from out the far horizons,
Now hidden deep in smoke from work well done
The bomber crews give thanks to One Almighty
Who gave them strength to battle till they won.

And another

PER ARDUA AD ASTRA
anon

In no sequestered plot of hallowed ground our ashes lie,
but in the stormy seas,
from Norway to the purple Hebrides .
On tall Italian hilltops, fortress crowned
In the fair fields of Kent , the Flanders plain,
we fell to earth,
clawed from the embattled skies.

But though this unending day may die,
not all of us are dead
nor dead in vain.
Now, other eyes this ceaseless watch are keeping,
as ours, undaunted by the allied host.
No fear and no reproach our requiem mars,
Our emblem sings from coast to distant coast
“Through hardship to the stars”

And a particular favourite for the Erks

THREE CHEERS FOR THE MAN ON THE GROUND
By Flight Mechanic E. Sykes (1942)

Wherever you walk, you will hear people talk,
of the men who go up in the air,
of the daredevil way, they go into the fray;
Facing death without turning a hair.

They’ll raise a big cheer and buy lots of beer,
for the pilot who’s come home on leave,
but they don’t give a jigger, for a flight mech or rigger,
with nothing but “props” on his sleeve.

They just say “Nice day” – and then turn away,
with never a mention of praise,
for the poor bloody erk, who does all the work,
and just orders his own beer – and pays !

They’ve never been told, of the hours in the cold,
that he spends sealing Germany ‘s fate,
how he works on a kite, till all hours of the night,
and then turns up next morning at eight.

He gets no rake-off, for working ’til take-off,
or helping the aircrew prepare,
but whenever there’s trouble – it’s “Quick at the double”,
the man on the ground must be there.

Each flying crew, could confirm it as true,
that they know what this man’s really worth,
they know that he’s part of the RAF’s heart,
even though he stays close to the earth.

He doesn’t want glory, but please tell his story,
spread a little of his fame around,
He’s just one of a few – so give him his due,
and “Three Cheers for the man on the ground

See my webpage as mentioned above for a number of other great wartime poems.

Lummy, looks like Lt. Phillips from the Navy Lark must have been at the helm!

Actually looked a lot like the Kiwi sport of jet sprint racing, except we do that in boats!

Again, fair points. Thanks David.

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your comments. As I stated, I didn’t see the point. You have made many points to try to enlighten me.

Who cares how many posts I’ve made – none of them have been about cockpits as far as I can remember so that is irrelevent.

I have friends at Ashburton Aviation Museum and they do a great job, but I don’t really see why their liking of cockpits should influence my thinking on the matter. I’ve not been to their museum yet, but I dear say it will be visited one day, and I’ll definately appreciate their complete aircraft more than their cockpits, I know that.

A museum full of just cockpits would be a nightmare to me, like an elephant’s graveyard. Just my opinion.

There are museums in this world who have been given whole aircraft but only removed the cockpit and a few bits because they could not transport the plane. Very wrong attitude. It’s not always scrap dealers at fault.

Sure, so you guys are saving and preserving something of an aircraft, often an extinct aircraft. Fair play to you.

But if the RAF is putting aircraft up for disposal by tender, surely that must be a public process, not just a private auction just for scrap dealers. My thoughts were if an aircraft type was loved by many and known to be up for tender, why not form some sort of consortium or group to tender for one or two complete airframes, to preserve as a whole, rather than waiting for the scrappers to cut up the whole fleet and then each individual buying a cockpit section from each one.

Yes there are logistical problems, no you don’t all live in the same place. But there is a place you can put the aircraft, they’ve been around a long long time, and they can be found everywhere. They’re called museums. A sweeping statement and not always easy, but it’s an option. I’m sure you’d all rather see one or two aircraft of a type in public museums being preserved than knowing they were ll destroyed but for a handful of cockpits which were whisked away to garages and never seen again.

But fair point MarkG, it is your hard earned cash, you can do what you want. I don’t have a problem with that mate. I’d just rather have seen a group effort to have saved the IWM Halifax, or the Vulcan Mk 1, and all the now extinct types, than to be able to maybe see a mere cockpit, that’s all. Sorry for being different.

There have been so many deaths of notable people this year, both personal to me and on a world scale. The biggest for me was the death of my father, Gordon Homewood, after a long battle with cancer. He died on the 23rd of July 2005. Three of his good mates have also died, one just days after Dad did.

On a note towards my research into RNZAF people, I have lost friends whom I’ve interviewed, including:
Gp Capt Bill Wells (pilot)
Tristram Hill (pilot)
Roy Paton (mechanic)
May Calvert (wife of bomber pilot and longtime friend)

Other notable wartime RNZAF deaths this year have been
Maurie Pirie (bomber pilot)
Theo MacLean de Lange (Dauntless pilot and Sqn Commander)

New Zealand has also lost two important political figures:
Sonya Davies
David Lange

On a world scale, some very notable names, among many others, include:

Lord Lichfield
Rosa Parks
Ronnie Barker
Richard Pryor
Sir John Mills
Prince Rainier III
Pope John Paul II
Dave Allen
Arthur Miller
Simon Weisenthal
James Doohan beamed up
Don Adams
Pat Morita
Peter Jennings
Hunter S. Thompson
Max Schmeling

They’ll have to be very quick, only a couple of days left of this year