417's Lament

DESCRIPTION: "We are a few Canadians here in Italy, Working with the RAF boys to win the victory." The Canadians of 417 squadron are "always in trouble" because they are sloppy; they're a "screwy outfit" and are clearly proud to be "ridicuous"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1979 (Hopkins-SongsFromTheFrontAndRear)
KEYWORDS: soldier pride drink clothes flying
FOUND IN: Canada
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hopkins-SongsFromTheFrontAndRear, pp. 46-47, "417's Lament" (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #29403
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Lili Marlene" (tune, plus cross-references to songs of the Italian campaign)
cf. "O'er the Hills of Sicily" (subject: the Italian campaign)
NOTES [196 words]: According to Dunmore/Carter, p. 44, of those who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, "The majority... wanted to be pilots -- fighter pilots." But many would become ground crew, and many who did manage to fly would be pilots, and if they were pilots, it wasn't fighter pilots, because "From 1942 on, the need was for bomber crews."
417 squadron was one of the few exceptions. They got to fly, and they got to fly fighters, and they even got Spitfires -- for a while. Then "No. 417 (Fighter) Squadron was transferred from the United Kingdom to Egypt in the spring of 1942, leaving its Spitfires behind. The unit was stationed in the Nile Delta but, sine there were no aircraft available, the groundcrew worked on maintaining other aircraft while the pilots flew ferry missions. In September 1942, newer model Hurricanes arrived, modified for desert flying, and, later, Spitfire Mark VBs. The squadron stayed in the Nile Delta in the spring of 1943, when it was attached to the famed Desert Air Force. It flew escort and fighter bomber missions for the British Eighth Army in the last stages of the fighting in Tunis and again in the Sicily campaign" (Bercuson, pp. 81-82). - RBW
Bibliography

Bercuson: David J. Bercuson, Maple Leaf Against the Axis: Canada's Second World War, 1995 (I use the 2004 Red Deer Press edition)
Dunmore/Carter: Spencer Dunmore and William Carter, Ph.D., Reap the Whirlwind: The Untold Story of 6 Group, Canada's Bomber Force of World War II, 1991 (I use the 1992 McClelland & Stewart paperback)

Last updated in version 5.0
File: Hopk046

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