Bill Hosie

Lyrics

[Verse 1] Bill Hosie built a plane A survivor from the Schneider Trophy Reign He seemed like a nice old guy With his baseball cap and his sunslit eyes He took the airframe, motor, and wings Restored all the fabric, the floats, the struts and things And "The Shark on Banana Skis" It was ready to roar once more over Cornwall seas [Verse 2] In the '27 Schneider race It was a Supermarine that took first place The year Bill Hosie was born There were still tall ships sailing 'round Cape Horn But the S5 Supermarine Was the fastest seaplane the world had ever seen Nearly 300 miles an hour With a Napier Lion engine to give her power [Verse 3] And her daughters flew in World War Two Their pilots were known as the first of the few When the Battle of Britain raged It was the spitfire blazed across the history page But Bill Hosie had a dream To haunt the skies with the ghost of a Supermarine And she rose on the steppe again With the spirit of a Schneider Trophy-winning seaplane [Verse 4] She took to the cool spring air With Bill Hosie sitting in the pilot's chair She banked along the Cornwall shore But her tail broke away and she flew no more She flew from her flight of grace The year they revived the Schneider Trophy Race And the Supermarine S5 Was the plane that made Bill Hosie feel alive