B292 High Flight (Poem)
During the dark days of the Blitz, John Gillespie Magee, Jr., was one of the
many Americans who enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Within a year,
he was sent to England and assigned to the No. 412 Fighter Squadron, RCAF,
where he flew the Supermarine Spitfire. On September 3, 1941, he flew a
high-altitude test flight in a new model of the Spitfire V. As he climbed upward
through 33,000 feet, he experienced great exhilaration which inspired his immortal
line, “to touch the face of God.” He later expanded it into a poem.
Three months later, he was killed in a midair collision. He was only 19 years
old. Although young John Magee was lost, he had sent a copy of his poem to
his father, who was then rector of a Washington, DC, church. His father printed
it in church publications. This led to its inclusion in an exhibition of poems
called Faith and Freedom at the Library of Congress in February 1942.
High Flight has since become the most famous aviation poem ever written.
It has inspired countless aviators and astronauts. It is the subject of a special
exhibit at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.
U.S. Air Force Academy cadets are required to memorize it.
The poster magnificently depicts his Spitfire climbing toward the peak of its
exciting flight and cites the full text of his ageless and classic poem. A caption,
located in the lower left corner, tells the story behind it.
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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 windswept 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.
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