For many who find their true home in the sky, flying is far more than a mode of transportation… it is an artform, a state of being, and the intrinsic spirit that propels them forward. The romance of dancing around clouds and soaring above the Earth moves aviators to poetry, song, and verse to describe the unique and special emotions that float through the brain while held aloft.
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One of the most famous poems ever written about the passion for flight was “High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. The poem, written by Magee in the Summer of 1941, was inspired by his flights as a young pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force in a Supermarine Spitfire Mk. I. His seventh flight in the Spitfire where he took the aircraft up to 33,000 feet moved him so much that the poem was his way of expressing the wonder that he felt as he climbed through the rarified air…
- 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 nor 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.
Tragically, Magee lost his life in a midair collision on December 11, 1941 over the village of Roxholm in Lincolnshire England as he was returning to his base at RAF Digby. He was only 19 years old.
The poem carried Magee’s memory on for many generations and will certainly stand the test of time for many more. Aviators young and old have read it and many have developed a special connection to the poem.
Such is the case with the subject of today’s post… a young woman who used the poem to connect her with the spirit of her father. She wrote:
My dad, who passed away six years ago, was an avid pilot. I grew up hanging around the airport and flying with him in our Cessna 310, a Diamond jet, and the B-25 Mitchell "Fairfax Ghost" (he once flew it with Travis Hoover* sitting in the co-pilot’s seat). He was a Quiet Birdman, and so the poem "High Flight" was read at his funeral. I remember him reading it to me when I was 4, and a framed copy of it was my last Father’s Day present to him.
I chose to use only the first two lines to make it my own. I’m a classical flutist, and those words evoke the feeling I get any time I perform, but also the memory of the man who encouraged me to go for my dreams.
(*editor note: Travis Hoover was one of the original crewmembers of the Doolittle Raid)
Her tattoo in memory of her father was created by tattoo artist Jason Jones of Kaleidoscope Ink in Springfield, MO. Jason has been featured here at Tattoos In Flight several times before and our subject spoke highly of him as well: “He’s a brilliant artist and an absolute pleasure to work with” she said.
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