Famed WWII poet Pilot Officer John Magee (far right) with his

fellow pilot trainees: l-r: Fred Heather, Tom Gain, Duncan

Fowler, at #9 Elementary Flying Training School, Royal

Canadian Air Force Station St. Catharines, Ontario,

Canada, Feb. 5, 1941.

 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 have trod
The high un-trespassed sanctity of space,
- Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

HIGH FLIGHT remains the most evocative poem of the

Second World War, which has become the most famous

flying poem of all time. It was written by John Magee

in 1943, during his service as a Pilot Officer, Royal

Canadian Air Force

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Canadian_Air_Force

The son of an American father and an English mother,

Anglican missionaries, Magee was born in China in 1921,

and was educated in Britain and the USA. Though he

earned a scholarship to Yale University, Magee chose

instead to volunteer for service with the Royal

Canadian Air Force in September, 1940.

After training as a fighter-pilot, he was posted to

Britain, where he joined a Spitfire squadron.

The exhilaration of flying an aircraft inspired him to

write "High Flight" on September 3, 1941. Only three

months later, at the age of 19, John Magee was killed

when his Spitfire collided with a training aircraft. 

His grave is in Holy Cross Cemetery, Scopwick,

Lincolnshire, England.