[AndyJWest]

Glad you like it. I'm rather pleased with this, though it needs a little more work:

Tom Sopwith and the carpenters (with apologies to Lewis Carroll)


"The time has come", Tom Sopwith said,
"To talk of many things:
Of ribs and struts and bracing wires,
And planes with triple wings.
To twist and turn, and loop and climb
and run around in rings".


"A rotary is what we need,
behind, a Vickers gun:
two wheels, a prop, a wicker chair,
And suchlike 'till it's done.
We'll send it up into the clouds
To perforate the Hun".


Tom Sopwith set his men to work,
upon his new contraption
They hammered, sawed and glued and screwed
till driven to distraction,
then broke for tea, and biscuits (three!),
continued with the lamps on.


All through the night (the Moon was bright)
They worked on Tom's invention
Of finest wood, of cloth and dope
And wires all tight with tension,
assembled all from wheels to tail
And then they fixed the wings on.


The pilot sat inside the Tripe
behind the Vickers gun
they spun the prop, and off he shot
to climb up to the sun
to turn and loop, and wheel about
and perforate the Hun.


The German in his Albatross
was clueless what was coming
The triplane pounced, then wheeled right round
and went on with its gunning
The Huns below, all saw the show,
Astonished at such cunning.


So off they went, all giving vent,
to see their best constuctor
With gutteral curse, and language worse,
they barked out urgent order
To build and fly, as their reply
A triple-winged destructor.


"Tis time", Anthony Fokker said
"To talk of many things
Of ribs and struts (no bracing wires!)
And planes with triple wings.
To twist and turn, and loop and climb
and run around in rings..."


© Andrew West 2012. All rights reserved.