Friday, May 15, 2009

Slip the Surly Bonds

This week's contribution for Skywatch Friday was inspired by the famous aviation poem High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Eighteen year old Magee was an American who crossed the border into Canada to volunteer for the Royal Canadian Air Force. In 1941, he was assigned to the 412th Fighter Squadron at Digby, England.

He was inspired during a test flight in the new (then) Spitfire V to the high (then) altitude of 30,000 feet. He included the poem in a letter to his parents shortly thereafter. At the age of 19, Magee was killed in a mid-air collision with an RAF trainer.



I often think of this verse as we fly through and around the clouds. It truly feels like you could "touch the face of God." -- Margy

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