High Flight

"High Flight"

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

by John Gillespie Magee Jr.

Royal Canadian Air Force Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee Jr.

was born in Shanghai, China to an American father and a British mother. He entered the United States in 1939 with a scholarship to Yale University. He was a United States citizen also. Magee cast off the scholarship to Yale. The United Kingdom, the birthplace of his mother, declared war on Nazi Germany in September of 1939. So Magee went to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force instead; America had yet to enter the war. He became a pilot with the RCAF and was sent to England in July of 1941 for combat duty. In September of 1941 Magee took a new model Supermarine Spitfire up to 30,000 feet for a test flight. While at 30,000 feet Magee composed the poem “High Flight”. When Magee landed the plane that day, he wrote a letter to his parents and on the back of the letter, he wrote down the poem.

A few months after mailing the letter, Magee’s Supermarine Spitfire collided with another aircraft over Lincolnshire, England. He was killed. His parents gave his letter, with the poem written on the back, to the Royal Canadian Air Force. The poem has become famous and now you know the story behind it.

Royal Canadian Air Force Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee Jr. was 19 years old when he died.

Thank you for reading,,,,,,,