The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is an American twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-lift helicopter. Its primary roles are troop movement, artillery placement and battlefield resupply. It has a wide loading ramp at the rear of the fuselage and three external ventral cargo hooks. With a top speed of 170 knots (196 mph, 315 km/h) the helicopter was faster than contemporary 1960s utility helicopters and attack helicopters, and is still one of the fastest helicopters in the US inventory. The CH-47 is among the heaviest lifting Western helicopters. Its name is from the Native American Chinook people.
The Chinook was designed and initially produced by Boeing Vertol in the early 1960s; it is now produced by Boeing Rotorcraft Systems. It is one of the few aircraft of that era – along with the fixed-wing Lockheed C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft – that remain in production and frontline service, with over 1,200 built to date. The helicopter has been sold to 16 nations with the U.S. Army and the Royal Air Force (see Boeing Chinook (UK variants)) being its largest users.
I can't forget you my little Mushanga
I keep a place in my heart for you
The days of waiting they keep getting longer
And not a thing I can do
I was a poet, a magazine writer
Sent to report on political views
It was by chance through a lens that I met you
A Capetown girl with no shoes
You were runnin' down the road
I was going your way
I stopped and turned around to lent you my hand
You smiled though you were suffering
I didn't understand, then
You broke into my heart
I saw your eyes and then I knew
You broke into my heart
Like the wind and rain that followed you
You broke into my heart
Had the Lord above forgotten you?
You broke in from the start
And all my tears belong to you
Mushanga, oh, Mushanga, oh
I sat and watched as she danced by the fires
Through ancient songs did the tale unfold
They sang of diamonds that came from their mountains
The loss of lives mining white man's gold
I had to leave and go back to Manhattan
Where all my stories are bought and sold
I know the city would surely be saddened
If what I knew could be told
You were runnin' down the road
I was going your way
I stopped and turned around to lent you my hand
You smiled though you were suffering
I didn't understand, then
You broke into my heart
I saw your eyes and then I knew
You broke into my heart
Like the wind and rain that followed you
You broke into my heart
Had the Lord above forgotten you?
You broke in from the start
And all my tears belong to you
Mushanga, oh, Mushanga, oh
It's been so long since I last heard your laughter
So many letters and still no news
I hope you find all the things that you're after
You know my heart is with you
You were runnin' down the road
I was going your way
I stopped and turned around to lent you my hand
You smiled though you were suffering
I didn't understand, then
You broke into my heart
I saw your eyes and then I knew
You broke into my heart
Like the wind and rain that followed you
You broke into my heart
Had the Lord above forgotten you?
You broke into my heart
I saw your eyes and then I knew
You broke in from the start
And all my tears belong to you