Posted by Flip on March 19, 1999 at 22:49:57 {MWOPugj/bwTPM}:
In Reply to: *1914? Not a Big Deal posted by Surly COMF on March 19, 1999 at 19:46:53:
Just some background on the author of this stirring poem, for those having not the time to research�
High Flight, a poem by John Gillespie McGee, Jr. (1922 - 1941). An American/British fighter pilot, he flew with the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. He came to Britain, flew in a Spitfire squadron, and was killed at age 19 on December 11, 1941, during a training flight from the airfield near Scopwick, Lincolnshire. The poem was written on the back of a letter to his parents which stated, "I am enclosing a verse I wrote the other day. It started at 30,000 feet, and was finished soon after I landed."