Spitefire Fighter Pilot Poem by Colin Ian Jeffery
Spitefire Fighter Pilot
(Battle of Britain 1940)
Hardly out of teens
Still boys learning ways of manhood
Answered call to arms
Trained with the RAF
Became Spitfire pilots
One of the few who gave for the many.
Flew sorties with squadron
Six Spitfires wing to wing
Patrolling Sussex downs and out to sea
Wondering what battle would be like
Thinking they might die
Never to know a lover's embrace.
Waiting daily at squadron's hanger
For siren wail to send pilots running to planes
Playing cards, chess, reading books
Laughing and joking, keeping spirts up
Putting on show of courageous
Never showing other pilots their fear.
Siren goes and they runs
Climbing aboard spitfires
Throttles up, roaring down runway
Up and away into blue summer's sky
Joining five spitfires in formation
German fighter planes are coming.
Pilot sees in rear-view mirror
Messerschmitt 109 swooping from the sun
Pulls hard back on joystick
Loops the loop coming behind the German
Thumb paused on machine-gun button
Ready to make first kill.
Deadly burst of tracer bullets
Sees German pilot's face
Young like himself, hardly out of teens
Still learning ways of manhood
Knowing in other circumstances than war
They might have met as friends.
Messerschmitt spirals to the ground
Black smoke billow from the cockpit
Pilot in agony struggles to slide it open
Trapped with parachute on fire
Plane smashes into the ground
Exploding in fireball ending the young life.
That night spitfire pilot lays on his bed
Alone in his room weeping
Grieving for his first kill
Young man's blood on his hands
Wondering if the German pilot
Would weep for him if killed instead of him?
You wrote on a passion. I think the Finnish Air Force was first to adopt the finger-four formation during 1934–35, because their air force was small and they wanted to be more aggressive. Luftwaffe pilots in the Condor Legion in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War developed the formation independently. Four aircraft, consisting of a lead element and a second element pair, allows leaders an offensive attack role, wingmen a defensive role covering their rare.
'Up and away into blue summer's sky Joining five spitfires in formation German fighter planes are coming.' Loved this poem which was exceptionally written. I was going to write a poem on the tactical error in the RAF at the start of the Battle of Britain flying the five finger formation. The problem was the fifth aircraft in the middle got shot down as fighter spit in combat, with two pairs left and right, leader and wingman, leaving the middle pilot alone and easy prey.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/6/2024 3:43:08 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Very nice battle of the heart and mind of the pilot. Youth facing the abyss and remaining steadfast for few memories, yet still cherished ones. QtR