Col Tennessee Ernie Ford singing the Ballad of Ghost Squadron.

Ford's experiences as a navigator and bombardier in World War II led to his involvement with the Confederate Air Force (now the Commemorative Air Force), a war plane preservation group in Texas. He was a featured announcer and celebrity guest at the annual CAF Airshow in Harlingen, Texas, from 1976 to 1988. He donated a once-top-secret Norden Bombsight to the CAF's B-29 bomber restoration project. In the late 1970s, as a CAF colonel, Ford recorded the organization's theme song "Ballad of the Ghost Squadron."

Lyrics

There's a ghostly squadron standing down beside the Rio Grande.
A mythical Commander beckons with a ghostly hand.
Like the old and fabled Phoenix, they'll rise to fly again,
to perpetuate the spirit of the peace they helped to win.

Ghost Squadron.
Ghost Squadron.
Gallant planes and valiant men,
Gallant planes and valiant men.

Some rose to fight at Schweinfurt, Pearl Harbor, and Cologne.
They filled the skies of Britain, Ploesti and Bastogne.
They bore intrepid airmen
Across embattled skies.
The legend of their conquest
Enshrined in history lies.

Ghost Squadron,
Ghost Squadron,
Gallant planes and valiant men,
Gallant planes and valiant men.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Ernie Ford
• P-51
• B-29
• B-25
• P-38

[whisperingdeath308]

The Days of The CAF in Harlingen tx were the best.

[monomozzi]

A Great Song for Great Planes !!

[monomozzi]

A Great Song for Gerat Planes !!