A Poem by Scott Cargill
Set to music by John Temby
First sung at the Dedication of B24 Liberator A72-176
By Janette Obuch and Chorus accompanied by the Australian Air Force
Band
15 August 2000
Nineteen forty four and the second world war
Has drifted down south to Australia's back door,
There's a line drawn from Brisbane across our top end,
Said we'll give it away it's too hard to defend.
But the men and their bombers they took to the air
In the pale moonlight, on a wing and a prayer.
Check your guns, check your fuel, watch our shores disappear,
Cross your heart, cross your fingers, and swallow your fear.
From Darwin to Hedland protecting our coast,
Dawn raids into Java they don't like to boast,
Across southeast Asia they took up the fight,
To keep our land free they flew into the night
In a thirty ton bird that the men called their kite,
On a wing and prayer in the pale moonlight.
Check your guns, check your fuel, watch our shores disappear,
Cross your heart, cross your fingers, and swallow your fear.
Up to seven long hours they would spend in their kites
With fingers on triggers, sharp eyes on their sights,
Then onto the target, two minutes of hell,
If they got out alive they still knew just as well
There's still seven long hours to make it back home.
Sometimes shot to pieces, sometimes on their own.
Check your guns, check your fuel, hold your trembling hands,
Cross your heart, cross your fingers, and pray she still lands.
Not all of the men and their bombers returned,
But all of the libs have been sold, scrapped and burned.
Now the twenty first squadron are tired old men
Who know that they'll ever go flying again.
But their love for the aircraft that brought them back home
Is building a new one, so let it be known
That the ghosts and their bombers are flying tonight
On a wing and a prayer in the pale moonlight
Check your guns, check your fuel, watch our shores disappear,
Cross your heart, cross your fingers, and swallow your fear.