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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Pilot Who Never Came Back</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The mist was rolling in clouds, opaque<br>As I hurried along the line, <br>Looking for A3-22<br>The Mirage of Lieutenant Devine, <br>There wasn't much hope of flying time<br>If the weather didn't improve, <br>But I still had an Instrument Pre-Flight<br>‘Just in case, ' said the Duty Crew.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">‘You never know with Devine, ' they said, <br>‘He'd fly in a howling gale, <br>At the first swift burst of sunlight, he'll<br>Be sitting right here on your tail, <br>Trying to give you the hurry-ups<br>As you strap him into the seat, <br>A bit of a caution is Jack Devine…'<br>‘A pain in the arse, ' said Skeet.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Skeet was the Armament Fitter that<br>I found under 22, <br>Fitting the Matra Missile there, <br>And a sidewinder, or two.<br>‘Where the hell is he going, this<br>Is more than a training run! '<br>‘He's going on out to the firing range<br>Out there, past Avalon! '</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Devine appeared in the mist, while<br>Taking the pitot covers off, <br>I pulled all the undercarriage pins<br>As he gave me the hurry-up, <br>‘I'm going the moment the mist has cleared, <br>So do what you have to do! '<br>I climbed in, ran up the gyro's<br>Checked out the auto-pilot, too.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">He wouldn't wait for a moment<br>So I threaded his lanyards through, <br>Pulled out the Martin-Baker pin<br>And held it out for his view, <br>He sat on the live ejection seat<br>Took whiffs of the oxygen, <br>And sat impatient, drumming his feet<br>‘Til a little bit after ten.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">I stood by the guy on the battery cart<br>To wait for the mist to clear, <br>The pilot gave thumbs up for a start<br>We could finally disappear, <br>We watched him heading off down the strip<br>With a roar like an avatar, <br>And headed on back to the duty hut, <br>‘He'll be back in less than an hour! '</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">We grabbed a coffee, an hour went by, <br>But still no sign of Devine, <br>The Gunny had given a meaningful look, <br>He was cutting it more than fine, <br>He wasn't fitted with dropp tanks, so<br>An hour was all that he'd got, <br>We phoned the guys in the tower, and asked, <br>‘Is he overdue, or what? '</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">It was then that A3-22<br>Came screaming over the strip, <br>Smoke was streaming out of its tail, <br>Black as a coal mine pit, <br>He turned and landed, the fire trucks<br>Were waiting to put it out, <br>A pool of kerosine lay in the tail, <br>As Devine came tumbling out.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">His face was thunderous, back in the hut<br>Where he signed the duty log, <br>But he kept his visor firmly shut, <br>Then turned, and he just stalked off, <br>I didn't see him again, but heard<br>He'd tried to report us all, <br>He blamed the erks for the whole damn works, <br>Said the engine nearly stalled.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">He left the following morning for<br>Another Miracle flight, <br>We didn't go out to look for him<br>‘Til the day turned into night, <br>We never discovered his plane at all, <br>It's missing still, at sea, <br>But his wife was down in the hospital, <br>And that was what interested me.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">She'd been admitted with cuts and scrapes<br>And scratches down to her feet, <br>They said that she was hysterical, <br>Was babbling in white heat, <br>‘I haven't a clue who that pilot was<br>Dressed in my husband's clothes, <br>But it wasn't my Jack Devine, ' she said, <br>‘And I think that a wife would know! '</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">She said he'd taken her there by force, <br>And raked her body with claws, <br>He'd bitten her shoulder ‘til it bled, <br>She couldn't fathom the cause.<br>He'd looked like her husband, walking in, <br>But then his body had changed, <br>‘He looked like he had a scaly skin<br>And his face was rearranged! '</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The last that I heard of Jean Devine<br>Was in June, the following year, <br>She'd gone to deliver her baby<br>But was shaking in dread, and fear, <br>They told her that it had been stillborn<br>And refused to show her its face, <br>Or the tiny body scales it had, <br>Unknown to the human race! </a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=365969" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">18 September 2012</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><a href="http://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="http://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=David+Lewis+Paget">David Lewis Paget</a></strong></div>