Didn’t learn to fly until after the war
not too hard
only took fifteen hours.
Only a stick and foot pedals to steer.
Couldn’t turn real good though
until a guy told me
‘just lay your foot to the side
where you want to turn’
So I did, worked real good.
From then on, I flew ‘bout once a week.
I’d fly over the lake and the city
once some friends and I flew to Idaho
had dinner in Boise
then we flew home.
Another time, it was cloudy
guy at the airport said it wasn’t a good day
but I went up anyway.
Flew under one o’ them clouds
got sucked up like an elevator.
I pointed her down and dived
toward the ground.
That got me out of that.
Then I flew under another
got sucked up again
another nosedive,
It was startin’ to get fun.
Did that some more
then headed back to the airport.
‘told you not to go up
with them thunderheads’
he said, but it worked out okay
I walked away from it, didn’t I?
So I flew once a week or so
until I heard how your mama worried.
She’d hear a plane fly over the house
and run out to see if it was me.
I took her up one day
she kissed you and your sister good-by
said a word of prayer
then sighed a big sigh and said
‘guess I’m ready as I’ll ever be.’
We climbed into the plane.
Flew over the Wasatch and all ‘round the Valley
over to Provo and Utah Lake
up over Kennecott copper mine
over Great Salt Lake
turned back at Bountiful
and came in over the Capitol.
Coming in to the runway
‘Oh, is it over?’ she says to me
. ‘Can’t go much further on empty tanks’
I told her and landed the plane.
I thought that would help her
let me keep flying
but when I saw how it worried her
still
I just gave it up
and that’s about all the flying I did.
Hey, you recordin’ this?