The Few (or RAF Pilots) is a song from the Horrible Histories TV Series. It aired in Series 4, Episode 1 on April 9, 2012, & later in the Savage Songs Special.
As the song suggests, it stars the airmen of the Royal Air Force, who sing about their days in World War II.
Lyrics[]
Binky: We fighter pilots fought the German chaps
In World War Two
Stinky: In hurricanes & spitfires
Performed feats of daring do
Squiffy: The finest British pilots
That the world could hope to have
Binky: Binky!
Stinky: Stinky!
Squiffy: Squiffy!
František: František!
Stanislav: And Stanislav!
Stinky: Hold fire! Is that some foreign chaps
Risking their necks?
František: That’s right, some of the bravest men
Were Polish & Czech
All: We like to fire
Beating Jerry our one desire
Stinky: Yeah yeah
All: All we do each night is pray
We’ll live to fight another day
Squiffy: Take that, Hitler.
Binky: My name is Douglas Bader
Let me tell of my ordeal
Lost both legs in an accident
These ones are not real
Rest: (They’re not real)
Binky: I left the air force after that
Flying was a hobby
But when war broke in ’39
Came back
Rest: (Just like Robbie)
Binky: Shot down twenty-two of them
Led the air attack
‘Till finally the Luftwaffe
Hit me back
Oh no, pretty baby
All: His plane on fire
Binky: Stuck in Colditz, such a shame to retire
Stinky: Yeah yeah
All: Never forget this great man’s story
And his role in Britain’s glory
František: We flew in tough conditions
Lucky to survive five missions
Stinky: Not that I’m complaining
But I’ve had just ten hours training
Squiffy: Epic dogfights in the sky
Outnumbered that’s why
Stinky: We’re now known by you
As The Few
All: Oooh, ahhh
Stanislav: (Phew, he missed me!)
Stinky: The Battle of Britain
Was our pilots’ finest hour
Although it seemed at first
The Germans were the stronger power
Rest: (Oh so strong)
Stinky: We mustered all our courage
In summer 1940
Scrambled air force squadrons to fly
Sortie after sortie
Stinky: Saw Nazi invasion off
Just as airmen should
Our bravery meant Hitler
Wouldn’t be back for good
No no
All: We beat the Führer
Without us frequent flyers, your lives would be poorer
Stinky: Yeah yeah
All: Britain securer
Our story of heroics will forever endure
Stinky: Woah yeah
All: So I think you’ll find it’s true...
“Never in the field of human conflict, was so much owed, by so many, to so
few” – Winston Churchill
Cast[]
- Jim Howick as Douglas "Binky" Bader
- Mathew Baynton as Stinky
- Laurence Rickard as Squiffy
- Ben Willbond as František
- Simon Farnaby as Stanislav
- TBA as RAF Pilot #1
- TBA as RAF Pilot #2
- Martha Howe-Douglas as Female Officer
- TBA as Female Officer
Trivia[]
- An instrumental variant of the song can be heard in Horrible Histories' spin-off show Horrible Histories: Gory Games in the beginning of Series 4 Episode 10
Notes[]
František may be in reference to Josef František, a Czechoslovak fighter ace in the Battle of Britain and the highest scoring non-british fighter ace in the Battle of Britain. Similarly, Stanislav may be in reference to Stanisłav Skalski a Polish Battle of Britain pilot and the first allied ace in World War I.
External Links[]
- The Few at Horrible Histories TV
