| "Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer" | |
|---|---|
 Sheet music cover | |
| Song | |
| Published | 1943 |
| Composer(s) | Jimmy McHugh |
| Lyricist(s) | Harold Adamson |
"Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer" is a World War II song with lyrics by Harold Adamson and music by Jimmy McHugh, published in 1943 by Robbins Music Corp. [1] [2]
The lyrics tell of the aftermath of an Allied night aerial bombing mission over enemy territory. One bomber has not returned, and the ground crew at its home airfield are becoming concerned. When they eventually establish radio contact, the pilot tells them that the mission has been a success ("we really hit our target for tonight"), but that the aircraft was badly damaged in combat and has lost one engine. The crew is nonetheless unharmed and in good spirits, sustained by their religious faith ("With our full crew aboard / And our trust in the Lord"), as the plane limps homeward, "on a wing and a prayer".
Different incidents have been credited as the inspiration for the song. It is sometimes said to be based on the events of February 26, 1943, when "Southern Comfort", a B-17 Flying Fortress piloted by Hugh G. Ashcraft Jr. of Charlotte, North Carolina, was badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire on a bombing mission over mainland Europe. As it approached the British coast, Ashcraft told his crew over the radio: "Those who want to, please pray." The aircraft made it home safely. [3] The song has also been associated with the similar survival against the odds, despite extensive damage, of another B-17, "Thunderbird", piloted by Lt. John Cronkhite, on a mission from Biskra, Algeria, over Tripoli on January 12, 1943. [4]
The song was recorded by the Song Spinners [5] for Decca Records, reaching number one on the Billboard pop chart on July 2, 1943. [6]
"Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer" was the only song with a war connection to appear in the top twenty best-selling songs of 1943 in the United States (although record sales in this period were heavily affected by the first Petrillo recording ban). [7]
The song also became widely known in the Soviet Union in a 1943 adaptation by the popular singer and jazz band leader Leonid Utyosov, titled "Bombers". The translation of the lyrics into Russian is broadly faithful, but the term "prayer" (with its unacceptable religious overtones) is rendered as "word of honor". [8] This Russian idiom – на честном слове, or na chestnom slove – means "only just managing" or "just holding on".
The song is the origin of the English idiomatic phrase "a wing and a prayer", which alludes to reliance on hope in a desperate situation. [9] Most immediately, it inspired the title of the 1944 war film, Wing and a Prayer, The Story of Carrier X .
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater of Operations and dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II. It is the third-most produced bomber of all time, behind the American four-engined Consolidated B-24 Liberator and the German multirole, twin-engined Junkers Ju 88. It was also employed as a transport, antisubmarine aircraft, drone controller, and search-and-rescue aircraft.
The Junkers Ju 87, popularly known as the "Stuka", is a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 and served the Axis in World War II from beginning to end (1939–1945).
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress, the Superfortress was designed for high-altitude strategic bombing, but also excelled in low-altitude night incendiary bombing, and in dropping naval mines to blockade Japan. B-29s dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only aircraft ever to drop nuclear weapons in combat.
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The Tupolev Tu-22 was the first supersonic bomber to enter production in the Soviet Union. Manufactured by Tupolev, the Tu-22 entered service with Long-Range Aviation and Soviet Naval Aviation in the 1960s.
A bomber is a military aircraft that delivers bombs or other explosives.
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Royal Air Force Raydon or more simply RAF Raydon is a former Royal Air Force station located just to the northeast of the village of Raydon, about 6 miles (9.7 km) from Ipswich, England.
The Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission was a strategic bombing mission during World War II carried out by Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers of the US Army Air Forces on August 17, 1943. The mission was an ambitious plan to cripple the German aircraft industry; it was also known as the "double-strike mission" because it entailed two large forces of bombers attacking separate targets in order to disperse fighter reaction by the Luftwaffe. It was also the first American shuttle mission, in which all or part of a mission landed at a different field and later bombed another target before returning to its base.
The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress is a 1944 documentary film which provides an account of the final mission of the crew of the Memphis Belle, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. In May 1943 it became the third U.S. Army Air Forces heavy bomber to complete 25 missions over Europe, but the first to return to the United States.
The Petlyakov Pe-3 was the long-range heavy fighter version of the successful Petlyakov Pe-2 high-speed dive bomber used by the Soviet Union during World War II.
Wing and a Prayer, The Story of Carrier X is a black-and-white 1944 war film about the heroic crew of an American aircraft carrier in the desperate early days of World War II in the Pacific theater, directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Don Ameche, Dana Andrews and William Eythe. Although arguably a classic propaganda movie, it was appreciated for its realistic portrayal and was nominated for the 1944 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Lieutenant Colonel Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal was an American lawyer and Army officer. A highly decorated B-17 commander of the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II, Rosenthal was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross and two Silver Stars. Although bomber crews were initially only required to complete 25 combat missions in a combat tour to earn the right to rotate home, Rosenthal flew a total of 52 missions and was shot down twice. After the war, Rosenthal served as an assistant to the U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials.
Kampfgeschwader 55 "Greif" was a Luftwaffe bomber unit during World War II. KG 55 was one of the longest serving and well-known in the Luftwaffe. The wing operated the Heinkel He 111 exclusively until 1943, when only two staffeln of its four Gruppen (Groups) used the Junkers Ju 88C.
Aerial ramming or air ramming is the ramming of one aircraft with another. It is a last-ditch tactic in air combat, sometimes used when all else has failed. Long before the invention of aircraft, ramming tactics in naval warfare and ground warfare were common. The first aerial ramming was performed by Pyotr Nesterov in 1914 during the First World War. In the early stages of World War II the tactic was employed by Soviet pilots, who called it taran, the Russian word for "battering ram".
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The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident occurred on 20 December 1943, when, after a successful bomb run on Bremen, 2nd Lt. Charles "Charlie" Brown's B-17F Flying Fortress Ye Olde Pub of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) was severely damaged by German fighters. Luftwaffe pilot Franz Stigler had the opportunity to shoot down the crippled bomber but did not do so, and instead escorted it over and past German-occupied territory so as to protect it. After an extensive search by Brown, the two pilots met each other 50 years later and developed a friendship that lasted until Stigler's death in March 2008. Brown died only a few months later, in November of the same year.
The All American was a World War II Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress heavy bomber that was able to return safely to its base after having its rear fuselage nearly cut off by an in-flight collision with a German Bf 109 over enemy-held territory. The bomber's flight is said to have yielded one of the most famous photographs of World War II, and has been linked with the phrase "Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer." It inspired the 414th Bombardment Squadron's emblem, an image of a puppy praying atop an aircraft's tail section.
Valentina Flegontovna Savitskaya née Kravchenko was a Russian pilot and squadron navigator in the 125th Guards Dive Bomber Regiment during World War II. She was awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation on 10 April 1995.
Everett Ernest Blakely was a career officer of the United States Air Force. He was a highly decorated B-17 pilot with the “Bloody Hundredth” Bombardment Group of the 8th Air Force in Europe during World War II. He received eleven medals for his service including the Silver Star for “gallantry in action”, the Distinguished Flying Cross for “heroism or extraordinary achievement during aerial flight” and the Air Medal with 4 oak leaf clusters. Blakely and the crew of his plane “Just A Snappin” long held the record for the most enemy aircraft shot down on a single mission. The crew of Just A Snappin was credited with 9 enemy aircraft shot down. He also received his Pilot Wings with 3 stars from the Colombian Air Force.