The Lost Airmen

The mission had been a close run thing The Japanese had thrown up quite a sting They had sent up their fighter planes And the anti-aircraft fire like leaden rain The other aircraft in Bombing Six Had been carved up in the attacking mix And his Dauntless was damaged in the sweep With his gunner killed with the anti-aircraft fire greet So he left the Japanese carrier group of ships But his luck might have meant he was down on chips As his compass and radio had been smashed in the fight And he would need to guess his direction of his homeward flight He had enough fuel if his luck would hold And he did not have to fly a plan too bold The wonder of it all in the end may be That his plane did not end up in the sea Then out the corner of his eye He saw another plane which was a PBY The black cat waggled its wings a bit And it's pilot wanted him to follow not quit The hours went and the pilot worried the fuel wouldn't last But he followed the PBY determined for this chance to grasp Until just as the night was about to fall He saw the wake of his carrier in a close call He landed on the deck of the carrier then It had been a frightening flight to spend As he pulled himself out of the cockpit he looked to the sky But after scanning the horizon round he didn't see the PBY He walked into the pilot's ready room Happy to be back in the gathering gloom He wanted to thank the PBY's crew So he submitted a report to his captain through The report went to the PBY base And the commander checked his records to place The PBY plane but he found it had crashed and burned When the Japanese attacked in their southward turn As the Second World War went on the PBY Turned up to guide lost pilots in the sky It seemed the PBY crew didn't want their war to end So they did their best saving Allied pilots in the war to contend. © Paul Warren Poetry