Within the Fighter Aviation of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), an environment rich in traditions and history, the songbook is one of the aspects with the greatest legacy, being transmitted between generations of hunters since its very foundation in the midst of the Second World War.
But among the countless songs, one stands out and is among the most important of the set (if not the most important). Carnival in Venice, which came from a carnival march and today is the official anthem of FAB fighter aviation. Any member of the Air Force, be it a pilot, specialist or a modern soldier, will sing Carnival in Venice at some point.
But how did a simple march become such an important song for the Air Force? To understand this, we need to go back to the last days of the War, in 1945.
February 07, 1945 fell on Ash Wednesday. That morning, the Jambocks of the 1st Fighter Aviation Group (1st GAvCa) took off for another mission in Italy, this being Nº 207.
Eight P-47D Thunderbolt fighters, forming two squadrons, departed from the Pisa air base, targeting a railway junction bridge in the commune of Ponte de Piave, in the province of Treviso, region of Veneto. In command of the fighters were the following pilots:
- captain aviator newton Wineries da Silva, leader of the first squadron
- Aviator Lieutenant José Rebelo Meira de Vasconcelos, wing of Capt. mills
- Aviator Lieutenant Luiz Felipe Perdigão Medeiros da Fonseca
- Lieutenant Aviator Paulo Costa, wing of Ten. Perdigão
- Captain Horatio Monteiro Machado, leader of the second squadron
- Lieutenant Pedro de Lima Mendes, wing of Capt. Horace
- Lieutenant Rui Barbosa Moreira Lima
- Lieutenant Alberto Martins Torres, wing of Lt. lime
At 10:10 am the aircraft arrived at the target, and dropped a total of 16 demolition bombs of 500 pounds, in chopped bombing (diving), destroying the bridge in five different points. After the bomber, the aviators went hunting for targets of opportunity to engage them with their .2 caliber AN/M50 machine guns.
One vehicle was destroyed southeast of Padua, plus three others east of Venice, with damage to a wagon and a 100-foot steamer. But when attacking two anti-aircraft artillery positions, the Germans responded with heavy fire from several points.
“It was just near Maestre, a small village located in the Venice area, that the Lima Mendes saw, attacked and destroyed a German Anti-Aircraft Artillery position. The reaction of the tedescos was violent, just not reaching the squadron by sheer luck”, said Brigadier Major Moreira Lima, who died in 2013.
The Brazilian aviators accomplished their mission and returned to their base in Pisa. And that's where our song is born. After landing, the Jambocks gathered at Albergo Nettuno, a bar in the historic city that was also the quarters of the 1st Fighter Group aviators.
“On our way back to Pisa, we stopped at the Bar at Albergo Nettuno for a beer. At that moment, the hotel musicians were playing “Funiculi Funicula”, music similar to our “Carnival in Venice”, a very successful march at the time”, reported the Brigadier.
The march to which Brigadeiro Rui refers is “A Dança do Funiculi”, whose melody composed by Herivelto Martins and Benedito Lacerda was inspired by the Neapolitan music song Funiculi Funicula, composed in 1880 by Luigi Denza and Peppino Turco. Funiculi Funicula it is still one of the most famous songs in Italy, along with the Neapolitan Tarantela.
To celebrate the results of the mission, Lima invited his colleagues Perdigão, Meira, Aspirante Fernando Correa Rocha and Captain Roberto Pessoa Ramos to create their own version of the carnival march, telling the story of mission Nº 207.
“From then on it was not difficult for us to put the lyrics to the music. We only tried to describe the mission, naturally and, like everything that is born spontaneously, the words adjusted to the song, becoming the Hymn of the 1o Hunting Group in Italy. The next day we launched the “Carnival in Venice” at the “Clube Senta a Pua” with enthusiastic ADELFIS (greeting from the Hunting Group) and clinking glasses of different drinks”.
And so were the lyrics of “Carnival in Venice”.
I spent Carnival in Venice
Taking some firecrackers from here
I did my dive well
It was the noise, the target I hit
Bingo!
The gang there shot
I shot without ceasing
and the poor jambock jumped
He jumped up and down and screamed, like this:
Sheet, flak, this is forty
Flak, flak, dot fifty
A Bug here a bug” there
A bug here a bug there
Sit down my people
that we still have to narrow.
A Bug here a bug” there
A bug here a bug there
Sit down my people
that we still have to narrow!
Even in the face of the horrors of war, “a cruel and unfair killing”, as Brigadeiro Rui described it, the Jambocks still maintained their good humor and carried with them the traditions of Brazil.
The lyrics of the anthem of Brazilian fighter pilots are filled with references to the mission, and are still sung with great enthusiasm by military personnel and even enthusiasts.
Firecrackers — the 500-pound bombs used to attack the bridge.
The gang there — the Germans, also called tedescos.
Bingo — Energetic expression used to indicate hit on target.
Jambock — It was the radio code used by the 1st GAvCa in Italy. The word originates from Indonesia and refers to a whip made from rhino hide, called a “sjambok”. The word is still used as a callsign by the unit and became the name of the 1st Squadron of the 1st GAvCa, although the unit is most often referred to and known for its battle cry: “Senta a Púa!”
jumped — attitude of the pilots in maneuvering the P-47 to “dodge” the German artillery.
Flak — Acronym for Fliegerabwehrkanone ou Flugzeugabwehrkanone, which means Cannon for Defense against Airplanes in German.
This one is forty; has point fifty — Reference to the caliber of German flaks. However, the German Army did not employ .50 caliber anti-aircraft artillery, as Brazilian aviators believed.
Bug — A code used by Allied air forces during World War II, indicating an initially unidentified aircraft. If the plane was an enemy, it stopped being a Bug and started to be called a Bandit.
Sit a Pua — War cry of the 1st GAvCa.
Narrow — Aportuguesation of English “Strafing” or “Strafe”, which is the action of attacking targets on the ground using the machine guns or cannons of an aircraft.
Sources: Jambock portals, Sentando a Púa, ABRA-PC and the book Senta a Púa! by Rui Moreira Lima.
