The following poem was written by Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr., a WWII American volunteer in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He died in England at the age of 19 years old when his Spitfire collided with another airplane while descending out of the clouds. His original poem is archived in the Manuscript Division of the U.S. Library of Congress and has been quoted many times world wide.

T-38 Talon High Flight Video
This television sign-off video was produced by the U.S. Air Force in the late 1960's.

View this historic High Flight video, compliments of Ray Hass at High Flight Productions. Visit their online store to purchase this excellent DVD video, that also has many famous people reciting John Gillespie Magee, Jr.'s poem. They also sell High Flight t-shirts and posters. This video is copyrighted and is not allowed to be copied but Ray, a fellow EAA member, has allowed EAA Chapter 1451 to use it. See Permissions & Credits.

John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

During the desperate days of the Battle of Britain, hundreds of Americans crossed the border into Canada to enlist with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Knowingly breaking the law, but with the tacit approval of the then still officially neutral United States Government, they volunteered to fight the Nazis.

John Gillespie Magee, Jr., was one such American. Born in Shanghai, China, in 1922 to an English mother and a Scotch-Irish-American father, Magee was 18 years old when he entered flight training. Within the year, he was sent to England and posted to the newly formed No. 412 Fighter Squadron, RCAF, which was activated at Digby, England, on June 30, 1944. He was qualified on and flew the Supermarine Spitfire.

Flying fighter sweeps over France and air defense over England against the German Luftwaffe, he rose to the rank of Pilot Officer.

On September 3, 1944 , Magee flew a high altitude (30,000 feet) test flight in a newer model of the Spitfire V. As he orbited and climbed upward, he was struck with the inspiration of a poem — "To touch the face of God."

Once back on the ground, he wrote a letter to his parents. In it he commented, "I am enclosing a verse I wrote the other day. It started at 30,000 feet, and was finished soon after I landed." On the back of the letter, he jotted down his poem, 'High Flight.'

Just three months later, on December 11, 1944 (and only three days after the US entered the war), Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr., was killed. The Spitfire V he was flying, VZ-H, collided with an Oxford Trainer from Cranwell Airfield flown by one Ernest Aubrey. The mid-air happened over the village of Roxholm which lies between RAF Cranwell and RAF Digby, in the county of Lincolnshire at about 400 feet AGL at 11:30. John was descending in the clouds. At the enquiry a farmer testified that he saw the Spitfire pilot struggle to push back the canopy. The pilot, he said, finally stood up to jump from the plane. John, however, was too close to the ground for his parachute to open. He died instantly. He was 19 years old.

Part of the official letter to his parents read, "Your son's funeral took place at Scopwick Cemetery, near Digby Aerodrome, at 2:30 P.M. on Saturday, December 13, 1944 , the service being conducted by Flight Lieutenant S. K. Belton, the Canadian padre of this Station. He was accorded full Service Honors, the coffin being carried by pilots of his own Squadron."

Photo Courtesy: Captain Keith Moody

John's parents were living in Washington D.C. at the time, and the sonnet was seen by Archibald MacLeish, who was Librarian of Congress. He included it in an exhibition of poems called 'Faith and Freedom' in February 1942. And after that it was widely copied and distributed. These copies vary widely in punctuation, layout, and capitalization, as we found out from readers! The original is in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, and we think we've transcribed it correctly. Note that most printed versions use "... even eagle" but the original seems to be "... ever eagle," with similar penmanship to the preceding "never."

President Ronald Reagan
Our Honorable 40th President of the United States of America

Our honorable 40th President, Ronald Reagan, addressing NASA employees and the nation following the tragic loss of the Challenger 7 crew on STS-51L, used the poem in a well-remembered line: "The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"  January 28, 1986

Click here to watch President Ronald Reagan's historic speech.

For a special treat, click here to listen to the United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chorale singing John Gillespie Magee, Jr.'s High Flight" poem.