Ops in a Wimpey

DESCRIPTION: To the tune of "Waltzing Matilda," the airmen describe the dangers of flying a Wellington over Germany. The song may ask whether an airman is willing to fly the "Wimpy," or describe the dangers encountered in bombing operations
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1957 (Pinto & Rodway, The Common Muse)
KEYWORDS: soldier war death technology flying Germany derivative
FOUND IN: Canada
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Hopkins-SongsFromTheFrontAndRear, pp. 126-127, "Ops in a Wimpey" (1 text, tune referenced)
Ward-Jackson/Lucas-AirmansSongBook, p. 149, "Ops in a Wimpey" (1 text, tune referenced)
ADDITIONAL: Albert Smith and Ian Smith, _Mosquito Pathfinder_, 2003 republished as Lewis Brandon, Albert Smith, Ian Smith, _Night Flyer/Mosquito Pathfinder: Night Operations in World War II_, Stackpole Military History Series, 2011, p. 315, "(Ops in a Wimpy, Ops in a Wimpy)" (1 fragment, but reported by someone who was actually part of a Wimpy's crew)
Roud #10390 and 29392
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Waltzing Matilda" (tune) and references there
cf. "Ops in a Whitley" (tune, lyrics, and general concept)
cf. "Old Fashioned Wimpey" (song about the Wellington bomber)
NOTES [919 words]: There seem to be two collected forms of this, one in Hopkins-SongsFromTheFrontAndRear, one in Pinto & Rodway, and Roud gives them two different numbers (Hopkins's is #29392, the Common Muse version is #10390). And indeed they don't have many words in common. Yet they're both to the tune of "Waltzing Matilda," they're both about the Wellington, and they both describe the dangers of bombing Germany. Clearly there has been a rewrite along the way, but I'd still call it fundamentally the same song.
If I had to guess which version came first, I'd say the Pinto & Rodway text. It mentions raiding Hanover and Magdeburg, but not Berlin, That argues for a date relatively early in World War II. The Hopkins version is much less specific -- no particular raids mentioned, and indeed, nothing specific to the Wellington bomber except the name "Wimpy." Ditto the Ward-Jackson/Lucas-AirmansSongBook which is similar to, but not identical to, that in Hopkins-SongsFromTheFrontAndRear. Indeed, Ward-Jackson says it was sometimes applied to a different plane, the Whitley.
Nonetheless is is no surprise to find a song about the "Wimpy." The British started World War II with a plethora of two-engined medium bombers -- the Whitley, the Manchester, the Beaufort, the Blenheim, the Hampden, the Wellington. Most of them were flops of one sort or another. The Wellington was pretty definitely the best, and as a result, it remained in service long after the others.
"The Vickers Wellington -- or 'Wimpy' as it was universally and most affectionately dubbed by its myriad air and ground crews -- was almost unique in several respects. Its greatest claim to fame in the context of Royal Air Force history is usually considered to be the fact that it was produced in greater quantity than any other bomber ever to enter RAF service. Yet the Wellington's outstanding record did not rest simply on statistical prominence. Wellingtons saw active service in the RAF from 1938 to 1953, including operational service from the first to the last days of the 1939-1945 war.... In its prime bomber role the Wellington was unquestionable the real backbone of the RAF's bombing offensive against the Axis powers during the first three years of World War II" (Bowyer, p. 13) -- that is, until the Lancaster gave the British a good heavy bomber and the Mosquito gave them a fast medium bomber.
"The type had been in service since before the war; it was a pleasant aircraft to operate, good-natured and utterly reliable, though shatteringly noisy. Veterans who flew the Wellington in action still recall its ability to absorb horrific damage and remain aloft, thanks to its geodetic 'basket-weave' construction. The Wellington was unusual among modern aircraft in having a fabric skin stretched over its metal framework, through which the clumsier members of the ground crews frequently stuck their boots. The Wellington carried a crew of five: pilot, navigator, bomb-aimer, wireless operator, and [tail] gunner. [British aircraft usually did not have co-pilots; they had no station for a second pilot although the 'flight engineer' served some of those functions in larger aircraft.] ... The aircraft had a range of about 2,000 miles. Its top speed was in the region of 250 mph and it had a service ceiling of 22,000 feet. The Wimpy's defensive armament consisted of four Browning .303 machine guns in the rear turret and two in the nose turret. The Wellington could carry 4,500 pounds of bombs, a formidable load back in the early Thirties when the aircraft first flew" (Dunmore/Carter, p. 12) -- although that bomb total was only a quarter of what a Lancaster could carry by the end of the war.
Munson, p. 159, concurs with its ability to survive: "One of the outstanding aeroplanes of the war, the Wellington was noteworthy for the fantastic amount of punishment it could withstand, thanks largely to its revolutionary geodetic construction devised by Barnes Wallis of 'dams' fame. [Wallis would design the 'bomb-buster' spinning bomb that could take out targets, such as hydroelectric plants, that could not easily be destroyed by conventional aerial bombs.] ... Wellingtons made the first raid of the war, against Wilhelshaven, on 4th September 1939."
The nickname "Wimp(e)y" was not because the plane was somehow weak or cowardly; "The Wellington was [nick]named after a confederate of the popular cartoon figure Popeye (of contemporary wartime fame in the Daily Mirror newsletter); one J. Wellington Wimpy, a rotund, somnolent devotee of the American savory hamburger" (Bowyer, p. 14).
It's not too surprising that the Canadians knew this song; for much of the war, Canadian flyers had higher casualty rates and lower success rates than regular RAF crews (Dunmore/Carter, pp. 144-145) -- and so, it was rumored, weren't assigned to the higher-value Lancaster bombers; they were stuck with the old, easier to kill but easier to replace Wellingtons. It wasn't until the end of 1943 that the strategic bombing forces were entirely converted to the heavier Lancasters and Halifaxes (Dunmore/Carter, p. 194). Even then, the Wellington was used for tasks other than strategic bombing.
I've spelled the the aircraft "Wimpey" in the song title, because that's the title Hopkins uses, but Bowyer and others are adamant that it should be spelled "Wimpy." This is also the spelling used in Smith, and he fought in them.
For another song about the Wellington, see "Old Fashioned Wimpey"; also "The Benghazi Mail Run," plus "A Malta Song." - RBW
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