The Songs They Sang:  Give Me Operations

By Ron Wanttaja


Don't give me a P-38,
The props they counter-rotate
You'll loop, roll, and spin, but then auger right in,
Don't give me a P-38!

Give me operations, way out on some lonely atoll
For I am too young to die,
I just want to go home!



Roy Rogers and Gene Autry used to sing songs about their horses.  Military pilots of the 20th century sang about their airplanes.


Kinda strange, when you think about it.  One rarely hears songs about other military weapons.   Ditties about the Colt .45 pistol or M-1 Garand rifle are non-existent, and if there are songs about the M4 Sherman or M48 Patton tanks, I certainly haven't come across them.


It might be because the dual nature of flight—a plane might give the pilot limitless freedom, but it's also the venue of a fight to the death.  It might be that the idiosyncrasies of the different aircraft types give them personalities that lend themselves to songwriting.


Or it might just be that the pilot has more spare time to write songs than the ground-pounder does.


Whatever the reason, there are lots of songs about airplanes.  Tunes came from a wide variety of sources, some common, some a bit esoteric.  An early-century song called  "The Great Ship Titanic" was turned into "The Boeing Tanker."   Country tunes like  "Wabash Cannonball" are used for several, such as this one about the Republic F-105 Thunderchief of the Vietnam era:


Listen to the jingle, the grunting and the wheeze,
As she rolls along the runway, by the BAK-9 and the trees.
Hear the mighty roaring engine as you leap off in the fog,
You're flying through the jungle in Republic's Ultra Hog....


Probably the strangest  was Edith Piaf's "Mi'Lord," a song about a French courtesan mocking the pretensions of a potential English customer, being used for a song about the OV-10 Bronco forward air control aircraft:


Dear mom, your son is dead, he bought the farm today
He crashed his OV-10 on the Ho Chi Minh highway
It was a rocket pass, when he busted his [biblical beast of burden]
Hmmmm, hmmmm, hmmmm....


The "Grand Old Man," though, of the airplane-song clan is the classic, "Give Me Operations."  It's not a song about a single aircraft.  It provides a simple lyrical framework to give an aviator/songwriter a hook to write about any aircraft they flew.   Or are about to fly.  Or knows someone who flew one.  Or once heard about.


Bill Getz's 1982 book, The Wild Blue Yonder:  Songs of the Air Force, gives thirty two verses, for about twenty-five different aircraft types (several versions exist for some planes).   A cursory glance online finds lyrics for aircraft types not included in Getz' book, such as the F-4C Phantom and the F-82 Twin Mustang:


Don't give me an F-82,
that monster from out of the blue
You won't understand, just who's in command
Don't give me an F-82!


"Give Me Operations" lends itself to just about any aircraft—even homebuilt ones.  A few years back, I attended a Missouri fly-in where Chuck Slusarczyk, EAA Hall of Famer and the designer of the CGS Hawk, was one of the attendees.   Chuck, whose nickname is "El Pollo Loco" ("The crazy chicken"...don't ask!) is a real character; famed for his hilarious stories as well as his killer homemade brandy (aka, "Muzzleloader").


Like me, he's a fan of the old pilot songs.  When we knew we were going to see each other at the fly-in, we both sang "Give Me Operations" verses for each others' planes at the late-evening party:


Don’t give me a CGS Hawk,
It’s got a Rotax, and I’d rather walk
It’s ugly and slow, like El Pollo Loco
Don’t give me a CGS Hawk!


It might be an indicator of how well the party went that night from the fact that Chuck doesn't remember singing a verse about the Fly Baby....


Probably for the better, really.


Lyrics for "Give Me Operations" almost always blast the aircraft named, but let's end this article with one of the few known lyrics that are positive about a certain airplane. 


Just give me an old '51
With praise for the work it has done,
It's tried and it's true, and will take care of you,
Just give me an old '51!

Just give me my old Mustang
For defending democracy's cause
For I am too young to die
I just want to go home....


For more Information:



Part 5:   Battle Hymn

 


Questions?  Email Ron Wanttaja .

Return to the Stories Page