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Companion Song: 13,760 Feet - My Personal Hole in the Sky
One More Story (Chapter 42) – Smoke in the Cockpit

lyrics

In Ernest K. Gann’s Day - lyrics


In the thirties and forties
His flights were called sorties
In Liberator Bombers
And DC-2s

He earned his wings
Beside Captains like Kings
The High and the Mighty
Made him pay his dues

Then war brewed in Europe
So he went and signed up
To help out our country
In the Air Transport Command

He earned a promotion
To fly ‘cross the ocean
Now as a captain
With a steady hand

Ernest K. Gann
Wore epaulets
And flew across the ocean
Well before jet

But Fate is a Hunter
A blood-thirsty butcher
And every pilot
Was all too aware

It took skill and luck
To fly through the muck
And with wings full of ice
Just to stay in the air

That was before radar
But still he found Gander
And then on to Greenland
With barely a map

Bluie West One
Was never any fun
Tucked into fiords
As a dire one-way trap

Ernest K. Gann
Wore epaulets
And flew across the ocean
Well before jets

Then on to Iceland
A dark lonely island
With no navaids to follow
He dead-reckoned his way

On my first ocean crossing
I can’t help but thinking
How much has changed
Since back in his day

Without laser-ring gyros
Those pilots were heroes
They crossed the cold ocean
Without GPS

Those early days of aviation
Have my admiration
Because every flight
Was a lethal game of chess

Ernest K. Gann
Wore epaulets
And flew across the ocean
Well before jets

In the thirties and forties
His flights were called sorties
In Liberator Bombers
And DC-2s

A pilot, an author
A gentleman of adventure
There was never a man
Like Ernest K. Gann

credits

from 13​,​760 Feet - My Personal Hole in the Sky, track released September 28, 2013
Words by Mark L Berry
Music by Mike Skliar
Performed by Mike Skliar

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Literary Companion Songs Missouri

Mark’s an airline pilot with an MFA from Fairfield University, author of a memoir and two novels, contributing editor for Airways magazine, and former managing editor for Mason's Road literary journal. His work has also appeared in numerous magazines, journals, and newspapers. He lives in St. Louis, MO near the big staple in the middle of the USA map. Locals call it: The Arch. ... more

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