The RAF seek out their targets
On recognisance missions
Brave young men
Flying beyond enemy lines
Armed with nothing more than cameras
They make pass after pass
Taking shot after shot
Before returning home
With their precious load
When the photo interpreters
Of Medmenham
Enhance the images
With their stereoscope’s
To create a 3D picture
For detailed analysis
By the boffins
Who identify a target
For more brave young men
To bomb the sites
Of the vengeance weapons
St Crispin’s day has been
A bloody day in history
Famous for being a day
When battles were fought
High in the cost of life
Among these, in 1944
The Battle of Leyte Gulf
In the Pacific theatre
Of World War Two
Fought in the waters
Of the Philippine Islands
Off Cape Engaño, Samar Island
And in the Straits of Surigao
The largest naval combat
In history, between
The Navy’s of the Japanese
And the United States
When the Japanese fleet
Was comprehensive destroyed
Valiantly he fought
Against kite balloons
And the patrols alike
A young man,
In the prime of life
In two short months
In 1918
He wreaked havoc
On the enemy
He died in 1921
In an ironic death
Not taken by the bullet
Or by the bomb
But in a training accident
Flying a Sopwith Snipe
Preparing for an air show
At RAF Hendon
Captain Andrew (Anthony) Frederick Weatherby
Beauchamp-Proctor, VC, DSO, MC and bar, DFC (4 September 1894 – 21 June 1921)
The British Aerospace Sea Harrier
Was developed directly
From the Hawker Sidderley Harrier
And was used by the Royal Navy
Operating them from
Invincible-class aircraft carriers
Informally known as the "Shar"
The Sea Harrier
Served in the Falklands War,
Both Gulf Wars and the Balkans
She was French born
But died as an agent for the SOE
In June 1944 while on a mission
She was captured by the Germans
And the SD Interrogated her at Limoges
Then transferred her to 84 Avenue Foch
Their HQ in Paris
But with the Allies closing in
She was transferred to Germany
To be imprisoned at Ravensbrück
Along with two other agents
And In the early morning hours
In February 1945,
They were shot in the back of the head
Their bodies then immediately
Burned in the crematorium.
She was posthumously awarded
A British George Cross and
A French Croix de Guerre with bronze star
And the Médaille de la Résistance
A Squadron Leader is up for promotion
And a board is held in order to be fare
The S.L. must answer three questions
To ascertain if he has the right flare
The chairman to put him at his ease
Directs him to be seated in a chair
“What do you call the gas we breathe”
The squadron leader answered “air”
“What is it that grows on your head”
The squadron leader answered “hair”
“What is the name for an animals’ den”
The squadron leader answered “lair”
“Well done now just one final test
But you can still fail so take care
We are looking for a short phrase
Which will open any door you care
Arrange your previous answers to
Make the phrase to get you there”
The Squadron Leader briefly thought
Then confidently said, “air hair lair”
Don’t hate the Hun across the field
He’s not so very different to you
He doesn’t want to fight in foreign wars
He wants to be in the loving embrace
Of the sweet woman he loves
As you want to be in the arms of yours
