"Washing Out" In 1941 (Humorous Poem)
Great book: "The Arnold Scheme", by Gilbert Guinn, chronicles the training of RAF pilots in the American South during WWII. (After all, with so much of the British Isle being in the war zone, you don't want your pilots flying their first solos and getting jumped by a Messerschmidt...)
One of the camps was close to me, geographically - Camden, SC, ironically the site of a battle between the American rebels and the English during the Revolutionary War. (They whipped us at Camden, in fact.)
The washout rate was quite high, and young British cadets who didn't make pilot were generally sent to a school in Canada to become navigators, instead. One failed pilot candidate, Allan Grant, made the best of a bad situation by leaving a poem, which he called - "To The Departed".
Unhappy we, and lack-a-day,
Sackcloth and ashes scatter
An ode I give you here, to us
Whose dreams are all a-shatter.
4000 miles to fail a course
Is surely fate most bitter,
It is enough to shake and shock
Or paralyze a "critter".
"Relax", "Nose down!", "Co-ordinate",
"Use rudder when you turn",
"Keep looking round", "Fly with the tee",
"Oh will you never learn?"
We thank the noble band of men,
Our ever patient tutors,
Who truly worked like men possessed
To aviate our futures.
We tried our best to make the grade
But it was not to be,
And now we're gone to learn
To guide you home from Germany.
And so cheer-ho! to all you blokes,
We'll meet soon never fear,
And yours will be the privilege
Of paying for the beer!
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