Uploaded October 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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SIXTEENTH – AERIAL

By P B Taylor

I

A distinguished character always a superb athlete
A history of such courageous bold achievement
An exceptional story which can never compete
Everywhere excelling illuminating the sporting temperament

From the controlled relaxed bustle of an active RAF station
To that quiet leafy hospital snoring so peacefully
Surviving painfully the Thirties era of dud conciliation
And abounded by the Hitler menace on our continent security


Then on to pilot action unsurpassed as cloud decreases
Fighting the survival game in the cold wild blue skies
To a defiant custody like the pain which ceases
When an aeroplane yaws and one enemy dies

Then that place where youthful generations again perish
And those who lucky lived and control at the finish


II

Always a surviving member of the second doomed heroes
With natural understandable Germanic enmity
Always an intractable strength as blitzing snows
Exploiting volatile natures with such fervent energy

Conquering supreme disability such shattering proportions
As the success of a late warm spring bloom
Captivity defiant ever against a mental depression
Deprived liberty fighting through years of gloom

Always strong reluctance pushing extreme vitality
Always forceful often pleasant an always aggressive person
To feed your ambition with a special intransigent tenacity
Contrasting that friendly charm with the strict lesson

For us all your undefinable heroism and courage
Dominated indestructible power in your conflicted age

DB Harrogate September 1973