Recognition

[Deskpilot]

Three Cheers For The Man On The Ground

 

by

 

Flight Mechanic E Sykes (1942).

 

Wherever you walk, you will hear people talk,

 

of the men who go up in the air,

 

of the daredevil way, they go into the fray;

 

Facing death without turning a hair.

 

They'll raise a big cheer and buy lots of beer,

 

for the pilot who's come home on leave,

 

but they don't give a jigger, for a flight mech or rigger,

 

with nothing but "props" on his sleeve.

 

They just say "Nice day" - and then turn away,

 

with never a mention of praise,

 

for the poor bloody erk, who does all the work,

 

and just orders his own beer - and pays !

 

They've never been told, of the hours in the cold,

 

that he spends sealing Germany's fate,

 

how he works on a kite, till all hours of the night,

 

and then turns up next morning at eight.

 

He gets no rake-off, for working 'til take-off,

 

or helping the aircrew prepare,

 

but whenever there's trouble - it's "Quick at the double",

 

the man on the ground must be there.

 

Each flying crew, could confirm it as true,

 

that they know what this man's really worth,

 

they know that he's part of the RAF's heart,

 

even though he stays close to the earth.

 

He doesn't want glory, but please tell his story,

 

spread a little of his fame around,

 

He's just one of a few - so give him his due,

 

and "Three Cheers for the man on the ground

 

 

[facthunter]

Very appropriate You never see senior Airline management near the naintenance facilities to see what goes on there, these days. They just whinge about the cost. Nev

 

 

[Deskpilot]

You younger folks probably don't recognise the name but Eric Sykes went on the become famous as a comedian in film and on radio/tv.

 

 

[Piet Fil]

I like it a lot, gotta love the grease monkeys for without them nothing happens.

 

 

[facthunter]

Your life depends on them. There was a special relationship between the maint. guys and the pilots during the war as I think they were "paired" with the same person doing the maintenace of the plane all the time. Some pilots are not very "au fait" with maintenance and don't get much beyond carrying on about the cost, without realising that the rate charged per hour is sometimes less than what you are charged to work on a car. The LAME also puts his/her name to a legal document.

 

Some pilots regard themselves as a cut above maintenance people. (Hopefully rare)

 

I was hauled in front of a senior Airline management person for the heinous crime of being on first name terms with the tarmac despatch engineers.. Bloody ridiculous ..eh! ( How else am I going to find out what's really wrong with the aircraft?). Nev

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

If you watch a show called "The Aviators" they have an episode coming up about the Blue Angles and the relationship between the ground crew and the pilot.

 

The pilot acknowledges that the aircraft 'belongs' to the groundcrew and that they let the pilot fly it. The aircraft is handed over to the pilot with a handshake.

 

 

[Thalass]

Hear hear! As a man on the ground i was rendered speechless when a pilot once said to me "No offence, but as a minor part of operations..." I couldn't believe it!