Comin' in on
A Wing and a Prayer

To: lolitalark@yahoo.com

Re: loved your site

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When I was a kid, I saw a movie (I think) that had "wing and a prayer" and an aircraft coming in all busted up. That movie influenced me to become a tail gunner on a B-29 bomber.

That was in 1951 when I became old enough. I think the movie had "wing and a prayer" in it but not so sure. I did love to fly and did see many war movies.

Do you know of a movie that either showed a B-17 or a B-29 in and the song played was "wing and a prayer."

I know that there is a movie called "a wing and a prayer" but it is about an aircraft carrier, which I saw recently.

--- Bill
Bbwargo@ wmconnect.com

Hi, Bill:

When I was a little newt, during WWII, there were a spate of songs that joined the spiritual and the martial.

The favorite of them all was "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition," which included the lyrics (I now recite to you from memory, as it had been hard-wired into my little ten-year-old cerebellum):

Oh the co-pilot said it,
And you gotta give him credit,
For a son of a gun of a gunner was he,
[Singing] Praise the Lord
And pass the ammunition
And we'll all stay free.

The song you asked about came out about the same time, and I remember it well, with war-born fervor. Google tells us that it was composed by Harold Adamson and Jimmie McHugh. I include two stanzas below along with the chorus which, along with "Wing and a Prayer," is also forever implanted in my brain:

One of our planes was missing
Two hours overdue
One of our planes was missing
With all its gallant crew
The radio sets were humming
We waited for a word
Then a noise broke
Through the humming and this is what we heard

Comin' in on a wing and a prayer
Comin' in on a wing and a prayer
Though there's one motor gone
We can still carry on
Comin' in on a wing and a prayer

What a show, what a fight, boys
We really hit our target for tonight
How we sing as we limp through the air
Look below, there's our field over there
With just one motor gone
We can still carry on
Comin' in on a wing and a prayer

Since these songs were composed early on in the war, the airplane in question would have to be a B-17, since the B-29 --- with all its manifest errors and failings --- was not put into production until late 1943 or early 1944.

--- Ed

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Dear RALPH: