Date: Sat, 7 Sep 1996 22:35:24 +1608

From: "Donald M. Lance" engdl[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SHOWME.MISSOURI.EDU

Subject: Re: wing and a prayer



I think your assessment of the origin of "on a wing and a prayer" is

accurate, but I doubt that it originated before WWII. In WWII, it was not

unusual for a plane, especially a bomber, to return to its airfield with

much of one wing blown off. Photos of planes in this state are truly

amazing. Flak, which consisted mostly of anti-aircraft shells, was often the

cause of this. The shells had proximity fuses and if one exploded very near

a plane, it could easily take off big chunks of a wing. WWI is an unlikely

source; anti-aircraft barrages consisted mostly of small arms fire and while

bullets can put a lot of holes in an aircraft, it is unlikely that they

would take off a wing. Barnstorming seems even less likely a source, since

any more-than-minor accident was usually fatal. WWII yielded aircraft that

looked incapable of flight, so when these things came in, it looked like

they were supported on one side by a wing and on the other by the hopes and

prayers of the crew.



I still think it's possible for the expression to have originated in

earlier days -- and that its use as we know it and relate to it derives

from WW2 images. If the motor went out on an old single-wing aircraft, it

could glide down to a field, road, or airport. On early planes the wing

was attached to the body, whereas later aircraft have right and left wings.

Biplanes had two wings (planes) attached to the body of the craft, one

above and one below.