Choral Art Maine John Gillespie Magee ââåhigh Flightã¢â❠Poem Set to Music

Purple Canadian Air Force officer

"John Gillespie Magee" redirects here. For the missionary, John Gillespie Magee Sr., see John Magee (missionary).

John Gillespie Magee Jr.
Royal Canadian Air Force photograph, 1941
Built-in	9 June 1922 (1922-06-09) Shanghai, Commonwealth of Prc
Died	11 December 1941 (1941-12-12) (aged nineteen) Ruskington, England
Identify of burial	Holy Cross Cemetery, Scopwick, England
Service/co-operative	Purple Canadian Air Force
Years of service	1940–1941
Rank	Pilot Officer
Unit	No. 412 Squadron RCAF
Battles/wars	World State of war II

John Gillespie Magee Jr. (9 June 1922 – eleven December 1941)^{[ane] [2] [3]} was a Globe War Two Anglo-American Imperial Canadian Air Force fighter pilot and state of war poet, who wrote the iconic sonnet "High Flight". He was killed in an accidental mid-air collision over England in 1941.

Early life [edit]

Sonnet to Rupert Brooke

"We laid him in a absurd and adumbral grove

One evening in the dreamy scent of thyme

Where leaves were green, and whispered high above —

A grave as humble as it was sublime;

There, dreaming in the fading deeps of low-cal —

The hands that thrilled to touch a woman'southward hair;

Brown optics, that loved the Day, and looked on Nighttime,

A soul that establish at last its answered Prayer...

There daylight, as a dust, slips through the copse.

And globe-trotting, gilds the fern around his grave —

Where even now, perhaps, the evening breeze

Steals shyly by the tomb of him who gave

New sight to blinded eyes; who sometimes wept —

A short time dearly loved; and later, — slept."

John Gillespie Magee was born in Shanghai, China, to an American father and a British female parent, who both worked as Anglican missionaries.^{[2] [3]} His male parent, John Magee Sr., was from a family unit of some wealth and influence in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Magee Senior chose to get an Episcopal priest and was sent as a missionary to Mainland china. Whilst at that place he met his future married woman, Religion Emmeline Backhouse, who came from Helmingham in Suffolk and was a fellow member of the Church Missionary Order. Magee'south parents married in 1921, and their first child, John Junior, was built-in 9 June 1922, the eldest of four brothers.

Magee began his teaching at the American School in Nanking in 1929. In 1931 he moved with his mother to England and spent the post-obit four years at St Clare, a preparatory school for boys, in Walmer, in the county of Kent. From 1935 to 1939 he attended Rugby School, where he developed the ambition to become a poet, and whilst at the school won its Poesy Prize in 1938. He was impressed past the school's Scroll of Honour listing its pupils who had fallen in the Commencement World State of war, which included the Edwardian poet Rupert Brooke (1887–1915), whose writing style Magee emulated. Brooke had won the school's Poesy Prize 34 years prior to Magee. The prize-winning poem by Magee centred upon the burial of Brooke'due south body at 11 o'clock at night in an olive grove on the Greek island of Skyros in Apr 1915.

Whilst at Rugby Magee roughshod in love with Elinor Lyon, the daughter of P. H. B. Lyon, the headmaster. In after life an accomplished children'southward writer, she became the inspiration for many of Magee's poems.^[4] Though his dearest was not returned, he remained friends with Elinor and her family.

Magee visited the United States in 1939, staying with his mother and brothers in Martha's Vineyard. He also visited relatives of his father in Pittsburgh, role of a very wealthy extended family unit which included the Mellons. One of these relatives was his uncle, Pittsburgh lawyer and Congressman James McDevitt Magee, who had served as a first lieutenant in the United states of america Regular army Air Service during the Commencement World State of war. During Magee'due south stay in Pittsburgh, he participated to the full in the social life available to him there, including the Rolling Rock Club. His expenditures on these activities attracted critical correspondence from his clergyman father.^[v]

Considering of the outbreak of Globe War II, Magee was unable to travel to Britain for his concluding schoolhouse year (1939-forty) at Rugby, and instead attended Avon Erstwhile Farms Schoolhouse in Avon, Connecticut.^[6] The school "Provost," or headmaster, Rev. W. Brooke Stabler, after recalled an incident during the winter of 1939-40, when, after a school dance:

Magee climbed a tall tree to rescue a cat; before he had come up down out of the tree, there was a circumvolve of admiring and exclaiming girls watching him from the ground . . .

His attitude toward the state of war gradually evolved from one approaching pacifism to a conclusion to become a pilot to assist protect his friends in Britain. Stabler recalled:^[7]

One afternoon, later on lying on top of a tower [at the School] for a couple of hours in the dominicus, Magee turned to his companion and suddenly announced, "Well, I call up I'll bring together the R.A.F."

He over again stayed with his family in Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 1940, learning to drive and having a very active social life:^[8]

"Mornings on the beach, surrounded by a bevy of girls . . . dances . . . embankment parties . . . occasionally a drib too much of alcohol . . . wild drives around the bay to Vineyard Haven and Edgartown . . . . . and grave discussions with his father on the state of the world or some phase of Christian living. When his father remonstrated with him in one case on turning night into day, John answered, 'My generation does non expect to alive long, and we desire to enjoy ourselves while we may.'"

After discussions with his parents, he decided to become to Canada to join the Imperial Canadian Air Force (RCAF), with the intention of learning to wing, and then being sent to United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland. Accordingly, while he had been offered a scholarship to Yale University for 1940-41, he did non enroll.^[9]

Earth State of war II [edit]

Magee joined the R.C.A.F. in October 1940 and received flight preparation in Ontario at No.9 Elementary Flying Training Schoolhouse, located at RCAF Station St. Catharines (St. Catharines), and at No. two Service Flying Training School at RCAF Station Uplands (Ottawa). He soloed at St. Catharines afterwards six hours dual pedagogy, when the boilerplate was ten or 11.^[ten] He passed his Wings Examination in Ottawa in June 1941.

Shortly after his promotion to the rank of Pilot Officer, after having been awarded his wings, Magee was sent to the Uk, where on arrival he was posted to No. 53 Operational Preparation Unit at RAF Llandow, in Wales. His start flight in a Spitfire occurred on 7 August 1941. On 18 August, while still stationed at Llandow, he flew a Spitfire to 33,000 feet, by far his highest flight to that appointment. This is the flight usually accepted as having inspired his famous poem.^{[xi] [12]}

Afterward completing his training with No. 53 Operational Grooming Unit he was assigned to No. 412 (Fighter) Squadron, R.C.A.F.,^[one] a Canadian unit formed at RAF Digby on 30 June 1941. No. 412 Squadron was office of the "Digby Wing", allowable by the legendary "Cowboy" Blatchford. One of the other pilots serving at Digby that September was Flight Lieutenant "Hart" Massey, the son of Vincent Massey, the showtime Canadian-born Governor General of Canada.^[13]

Magee arrived at Digby on 23 September 1941, where he continued to train on the Spitfire. When Magee joined No.412 Squadron it was flying the Supermarine Spitfire Mk 2; the squadron switched to the more than powerful Mk Vb shortly after his arrival. He first took a Mk Vb aloft on 8 October 1941. On xx October 1941, he took part in a convoy patrol, and on that aforementioned twenty-four hour period the Squadron moved from the Digby Aerodrome to the nearby RAF Wellingore in Lincolnshire, a satellite station of Digby.

Raid on Lille [edit]

On 8 November 1941, he took part in a sortie to Occupied France escorting bombers attacking railway workshops at Lille. Twelve aeroplanes from No.412 Squadron flew from Wellingore to RAF West Malling to refuel, and and then headed out over the English Aqueduct almost RAF Manston. They crossed the hostile coast east of Dunkirk, encountering flak, after which they were attacked by Luftwaffe fighters.^[14] Of Magee's four-ship section that entered the date, only he survived; all the others (including No.412'southward acting-Squadron Leader) were shot down and killed in action by the leading German ace Joachim Müncheberg. In the form of the engagement Magee fired 160 rounds of .303 armament, but fabricated no merits for the infliction of damage to the enemy on returning to base in England. This was Magee's lone engagement with the Luftwaffe during the war.^[xv]

In late November- early December 1941 Magee took part in iii more convoy patrols.^[16]

Expiry [edit]

On 11 December 1941, in his tenth calendar week of agile service, Magee was killed while flying Spitfire VZ-H (Serial No.AD291, the aforementioned shipping he had flown in the date with the Luftwaffe over French republic four weeks earlier).^[17] He had taken off in the late forenoon with other members of No.412 Squadron from RAF Wellingore (the airfield post-war has now reverted to agriculture) to practise air fighting tactics, during the performance of which Magee'southward aircraft was involved in a mid-air collision with an Airspeed Oxford trainer (Series No.T1052) flight out of RAF Cranwell, piloted by 19-year-quondam Leading Aircraftman/Pilot Under-Training Ernest Aubrey Griffin.^[eighteen] The two aircraft collided just below the deject base at about 1,400 anxiety AGL, at xi:30, over the hamlet of Roxholme, which lies between RAF Cranwell and RAF Digby, in Lincolnshire.^[2] Magee was descending at high speed through a pause in the clouds in concert with three other Spitfires when his struck the Airspeed Oxford.
At the inquiry after a local farmer who witnessed the accident testified that he saw Magee after the collision struggling to push button back the canopy of his Spitfire as it descended plain out of control.^[ii] Magee succeeded in opening the canopy and bailing out of the out of control aeroplane, merely was at as well low an altitude for his parachute to have time to open, and he fell to world and was killed instantly on impact with the basis in farmland about the village of Ruskington. He was 19 years of age.^{[17] [ii] [3]} Leading Aircraftman/Pilot Under-Training Griffin, the other pilot involved in the mid-air collision, was likewise killed in the incident.^[19]

Magee's manuscript of "High Flight", mailed to his parents, signed and dated 3 September 1941 ("3•IX•41"). He would die three months after.
Note that this version has had the Library of Congress markings digitally removed, to more closely resemble this letter's advent when it was received past the Magee parents (click on this image to meet the original).

Magee's torso was buried in the graveyard of Holy Cross Church in the village of Scopwick in Lincolnshire.^{[2] [iii]} On the gravestone are inscribed the commencement and terminal lines from his verse form "High Flying". Part of the official letter to his parents read, "Your son'south funeral took place at Scopwick Cemetery, near Digby Aerodrome, at 2.30 pm, on Saturday, thirteen December 1941, the service beingness conducted by Flying Lieutenant S. K. Belton, the Canadian padre of this Station. He was accorded full Service Honours, the coffin beingness carried by pilots of his ain Squadron".

"Loftier Flight" [edit]

Magee's posthumous fame rests mainly on his sonnet "High Flight", which he began writing on 18 August 1941 (but a few months before his decease) while stationed at No. 53 OTU most London. In his 7th flight in a Spitfire Mk I, he had flown upwardly to 33,000 feet. As he climbed upwards, he was struck by words he had read in another poem — "To touch the face of God." He completed his poetry soon subsequently landing.^{[ citation needed ]} Magee enclosed the poem in a alphabetic character to his parents, dated 3 September 1941. His male parent, then curate of Saint John's Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, reprinted information technology in church publications. The poem became more widely known through the efforts of Archibald MacLeish, then Librarian of Congress, who included information technology in an exhibition of poems chosen "Organized religion and Freedom" at the Library of Congress in February 1942. The manuscript copy of the verse form remains at the Library of Congress.^{[ commendation needed ]}

Reading of the verse form "High Flight"

Cultural significance [edit]

During Apr and May 1942, many Hollywood stars including Laurel and Hardy, Groucho Marx, Cary Grant, Bing Crosby, and Bob Promise joined the Hollywood Victory Caravan equally it toured the United States on a mission to raise war bonds. Extra Merle Oberon recited "Loftier Flight" equally function of this show.^[20] During the functioning on thirty Apr 1942, at the Loew'southward Capitol Theatre in Washington, D.C., and before her recitation of "High Flying", Oberon acknowledged the attendance of Magee's father, John Magee, and blood brother Christopher Magee.

"High Flight" has been a favourite poem among both aviators and astronauts. Information technology is the official poem of the Imperial Canadian Air Force and the Purple Air Strength and has to exist recited from memory by fourth class cadets at the United States Air Force Academy, where it can be seen on display in the Cadet Field House.^[21] Portions of the verse form announced on many of the headstones in the Arlington National Cemetery, and it is inscribed in full on the back of the Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial. It is displayed on panels at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, the National Air Force Museum of Canada, in Trenton, Ontario. It is the subject of a permanent display at the National Museum of the Us Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio.^[22]

Per Ardua [edit]

Per Ardua

 (To those who gave their lives to England during the Battle of
Britain and left such a shining example to us who follow,
these lines are defended.)

They that have climbed the white mists of the morning;
They that have soared, earlier the world's awake,
To herald upward their foeman to them, scorning
The thin dawn'southward rest their weary folk might have;
Some that have left other mouths to tell the story
Of high, blueish battle, quite young limbs that bled,
How they had thundered upwards the clouds to celebrity,
Or fallen to an English field stained cherry.
Because my faltering anxiety would fail I discover them
Laughing abreast me, steadying the hand
That seeks their deadly courage –
All the same backside them
The cold low-cal dies in that one time bright Land ....
Practise these, who help the quickened pulse run slowly,
Whose stern, remembered paradigm cools the brow,
Till the far dawn of Victory, know simply
Night's darkness, and Valhalla's silence now?

Before long afterward Magee'south starting time combat action on viii November 1941, he sent his family part of another verse form, referring to it as "some other trifle which may interest yous". It is possible that the verse form, "Per Ardua", is the concluding that Magee wrote. In that location are several corrections to the poem, fabricated by Magee, which propose that the poem was non completed when he sent information technology. Per ardua advert astra ("Through adversity to the stars") is the motto of a number of Commonwealth air forces, such as the Royal Air Strength, RAAF, RNZAF and the RCAF. It was first used in 1912 by the newly formed Royal Flying Corps.

References [edit]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Government of Canada (2007). Battle of Britain – Pilot and Aircrew Manual – Anniversary 2007. Ottawa: Government of Canada.
2. ^ ^{a b c d eastward f} "RAF Digby – John Gillespie Magee Jr". Retrieved 2 March 2008.
3. ^ ^{a b c d} "High Flight Poem – John Gillespie Magee Jr". Archived from the original on 8 February 2008. Retrieved ii March 2008.
4. ^ Sunward I've Climbed. Hermann Hagedorn, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1942. (In this biography, Elinor was referred to every bit "Diana.")
5. ^ Haas, Ray. Touching the Face of God: The story of John Gillespie Magee, Jr. and his verse form "High Flight." High Flight Productions; 1st edition (Sept. ten 2014)
6. ^ "Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee". Macla.co.uk . Retrieved 27 January 2016.
7. ^ Haas, Ray. Touching the Face of God: The story of John Gillespie Magee, Jr. and his verse form "Loftier Flight." High Flight Productions; 1st edition (Sept. x 2014)
8. ^ Hermann Hagedorn. Sunward I've Climbed. New York. The Macmillan Visitor. 1942. p86
9. ^ Haas, Ray. Touching the Confront of God: The story of John Gillespie Magee, Jr. and his verse form "High Flight." High Flight Productions; 1st edition (Sept. 10 2014)
10. ^ Hagedorn, p. 103
11. ^ Rob Kostecka, "Finding Magee – the Story Behind the High Flight Harvard." Vintage Wings of Canada. http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/tabid/116/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/44/Finding-Magee--In-search-of-the-High-Flight-Poet.aspx Photo of logbook page here: http://www.vintagewings.ca/Portals/0/Vintage_Stories/ArchivedStories/Magee12.jpg
12. ^ see besides: Elinor Florence, "High Flying Written 75 Years ago." 17 February 2016. https://www.elinorflorence.com/blog/high-flight/
13. ^ Stephen G. Fochuk, "Maggie'south War – John Gillespie Magee'southward One and Just Time he engaged the Luftwaffe", Air Force Magazine, Vol. 41, No. iii, 15 December 2017, p. 44, p. 49; http://www.raf-lincolnshire.info/digby/digbyhistory_ch3_1941.htm
14. ^ The Composite Combat Study filed by No.412 Squadron states these were Messerschmitt Bf 109s: Stephen M. Fochuk, "Maggie's State of war – John Gillespie Magee's 1 and Only Time he engaged the Luftwaffe", Air Force Magazine, Vol. 41, No. 3, 15 December 2017, p.48; however, Fochuk in his article refers to them as Focke-Wulf 190s, and the entry on Joachim Muncheberg says his unit of measurement was flying FW190s at that fourth dimension
15. ^ Stephen M. Fochuk, "Maggie'south State of war – John Gillespie Magee's One and Only Time he engaged the Luftwaffe", Air Force Magazine, Vol. 41, No. 3, xv December 2017, p. 48
16. ^ Stephen M. Fochuk, "Maggie's State of war – John Gillespie Magee's One and Simply Time he engaged the Luftwaffe", Air Force Magazine, Vol. 41, No. 3, fifteen December 2017, p. 47
17. ^ ^{a b} Stephen M. Fochuk, "Maggie's War – John Gillespie Magee's Ane and Only Time he engaged the Luftwaffe", Air Force Magazine, Vol. 41, No. 3, 15 December 2017, p. 49
18. ^ 'Bomber County Aviation Resource' website, 1941 Lincolnshire Aviation Incident Logs, entries for 11 December 1941. http://www.bcar.org.uk/1941-incident-logs
19. ^ "Casualty Details". CWGC.org . Retrieved 27 January 2016.
20. ^ "Search Library Databases | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". Academy of Motion Pic Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
21. ^ [1] Archived 6 Apr 2009 at the Wayback Auto
22. ^ [2] Archived 28 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography

• The Complete Works of John Magee, The Pilot Poet, including a short biography by Stephen Garnett. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire: This England Books, March 1989.
• Icarus: An anthology of the poetry of flight. Macmillan, London, 1938.
• Sunward I've Climbed. Hermann Hagedorn, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1942.
• High Flight: A Story of World II. Linda Granfield, Tundra Books, August 1999.
• High Flying: The Life and Verse of Pilot Officeholder John Gillespie Magee. Roger Cole, Fighting High Publishing, January 2014.
• Touching the Face up of God: The Story of John Gillespie Magee Jr. and his poem High Flight. Ray Haas, High Flying Productions, North Carolina, September 2014.
• A Twenty-four hour period in Eternity. Kathryn Gabriel Loving, SoulJourn Books, September 2016. (Based in part on the life, letters, and poesy of John Gillespie Magee Jr.)

External links [edit]

• A website devoted to Magee, by High Flying Productions.
• A video of the original 1960s "High Flight" telly station sign-off on YouTube.
• Works past John Gillespie Magee Jr. at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gillespie_Magee_Jr.

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