THE BOMBING RUN

Written September 15, 1944 by George (Ole) Olson, a veteran from British Columbia.

With thanks to David Lyon

Bomb doors open, I hear this call

Soon our load of bombs will fall

Onto our target down there below

Then we'll turn and homeward go

But now starting on a bombing run

The most dangerous period has begun

Any evasive action we cannot take

As a steady bombing run we must make

Puffs of black smoke fill the air

From shells a-bursting everywhere

That they have missed us brings relief

A feeling that will be far too brief

Left, left, steady, I now do hear

While my heart beats fast in fear

Sitting in my turret in awful dread

Frightening visions are in my head

Steady, steady, that voice so cool

He must be fearless, or else a fool

And then I hear bombing, bombing , go

We now drop the bombs upon our foe

Bombs away, we now start to weave

We turn around and our target leave

Homeward bound our bomber now flies

Through the black puffs in the skies

For the guns below send up more flak

But we're going home and heading back

Yet before we reach our distant base

There are still perils we must face

Anti-aircraft guns and a fighter plane

To shoot us down they will try again

Luck is with us and we do survive

Back safe on our base we do arrive

Surviving perils through which we flew

Another safe return for a bomber's crew.