Ops in a Whitley

DESCRIPTION: Six pilots go on missions to Germany: "Ops in a Whitley, Ops in a Whitley, Who'll come on Ops in a Whitley with me." "The first silly blighter got into his aeroplane, Said he would fly over Germany." Each pilot finds a different way to get in trouble
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1967 (Ward-Jackson/Lucas-AirmansSongBook)
KEYWORDS: pilot disaster technology derivative
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ward-Jackson/Lucas-AirmansSongBook, pp. 150-153, "Ops in a Whitley" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Waltzing Matilda" (tune) and references there
cf. "Ops in a Wimpey" (tune, lyrics, and general concept)
cf. "I Love to Fly a Whitley Three" (subject of the Whitley bomber)
NOTES [409 words]: This song and "Ops in a Wimpey" are clearly siblings. Both are about World War II medium bombers, both use the tune of "Waltzing Matilda," and they share several of the same key lines although the broad plots are different. Nonetheless, it is clear that one is a reworking of the other, so I've kept them separate.
Which is older? This is not entirely evident.
Both the Whitley, the plane in this song, and the "Wimpey," or Wellington, were in use by the British at the very start of the war. At first glance, they seemed fairly similar -- both were two-engined bombers. But there were differences.
The Whitley, according to Munson, p. 25, and Gunston, pp. 328-329, was made by Armstrong Whitworth. It had a crew of five. It had five defensive machine guns -- one in the nose, four in the tail. It had a top speed of 228 miles per hour (so Munson; Gunston says 222) and could carry up to 7000 pounds of bombs. It was not particularly strong, and I find it hard to believe that its extremely boxy design was very aerodynamic, but it went through five marks (models) before being discontinued in 1943; a total of 1476 were built.
By comparison, the Wellington/Wimpy required a crew of six, and could carry only 6,000 pounds of bombs -- but it could fly about 30 miles per hour faster, had a much higher service ceiling (24,000 feet, to 17,600 for the Whitley), was better armed (typically six guns), and was almost indestructible -- "the Wellington was noteworthy for the fantastic amount of punishment it could withstand, thanks largely to its revolutionary geodetic construction devised by Barnes Wallis" (Munson, p. 159). The survival rate of the Wellington was much higher than for the Whitley -- which meant, first, that the Wellington stayed in mainline service much longer (Whitleys were already being reassigned to air and sea rescue in the first months of the war) and that far more were built (11,461, according to Munson, p. 160).
So this song is fitting in a psychological sort of way: Only a slightly crazy hotshot pilot would want to take a Whitley on a bombing raid; it was too likely to be shot down. And it was taken out of bombing service quite early. This might be an argument that this song is older than "Ops in a Wimpey." But the Wimpy was also in service from the very beginning, and a lot more of them were built, so that might be an argument that "Ops in a Wimpey" is the original. I don't think there is any way we can be sure. - RBW
Bibliography

Gunston: Bill Gunston, The Illustrated Directory of Fighting Aircraft of World War II, Salamander Books, 1988, 2002
Munson: Kenneth Munson, Aircraft of World War II, second edition, Doubleday, 1972

Last updated in version 6.8
File: WJL150

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