"Wild Blue Yonder" or now known as the US Air Force Song was the official song of the US Air Force’s predecessors The US Army Air Corps and US Army Air Force.
Originally, the song was titled "Army Air Corps." Robert MacArthur Crawford wrote the initial first verse and the basic melody line in May 1939.[1] During World War II, the service was renamed "Army Air Forces" due to the change of the main U.S. Army's air arm naming in mid-1941, and the song title changed to agree.
In 1947, when the Air Force became a separate service, the song was retitled, "The U.S. Air Force."
The AAF fought on almost all fronts in the Second World War .The peak size of the AAF during the Second World War was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80,000 aircraft by 1944, and 783 domestic bases in December 1943. By "V-E Day", the Army Air Forces had 1.25 million men stationed overseas and operated from more than 1,600 airfields worldwide.
The United States Army Air Forces incurred 12% of the Army's 936,000 battle casualties in World War II. 88,119 airmen died in service. 52,173 were battle casualty deaths: 45,520 killed in action, 1,140 died of wounds, 3,603 were missing in action and declared dead, and 1,910 were non-hostile battle deaths. Of the United States military and naval services, only the Army Ground Forces suffered more battle deaths. 35,946 non-battle deaths included 25,844 in aircraft accidents, more than half of which occurred within the Continental United States.[117] 63,209 members of the USAAF were other battle casualties. 18,364 were wounded in action and required medical evacuation, and 41,057 became prisoners-of-war.[117][118] Its casualties were 5.1% of its strength, compared to 10% for the rest of the Army.[119][n 59]
Original lyrics
(Verse I)
Off we go into the wild blue yonder,
Climbing high into the sun;
Here they come, zooming to meet our thunder,
At 'em boys, Give 'er the gun! (At 'em now, Give 'em the gun! now)
Down we dive, spouting our flame from under
Off with one helluva roar!
We live in fame or go down in flame. Hey!
Nothing'll stop the Army Air Corps!
10 ноя 2022
