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“High Flight” – More Than a Poem
HIGH FLIGHT
“Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;…”
From the poem by John Gillespie Magee Jr. (June 1922-December 1941)
Submarine Spitfire Mk-Vb
These are the first two lines of the poem High Flight (the whole poem is included at the end of this post). It is one of my favorites and perfectly describes the emotions I often felt while flying. It was only recently that I learned the full story of the poem’s author, a 19-year old American who gave up a scholarship to Yale and enlisted in October 1940 in the Canadian Royal Air Force to become a pilot for the defense of Britain in WWII. The story of John Gillespie Magee Jr. is sad, fascinating and inspirational. (Here’s the Wiki article.) He died young – barely 19 years old – killed in a mid-air collision with another aircraft during training in the UK. After earning his wings he was sent to a fighter squadron in Britain that flew the Spitfire Mk-II and then the Mk-Vb. It was shortly after the thrill of flying one of the new Mk-Vb’s to 33,000 feet that he penned his famous poem.
(Some info from the Wiki article: He borrowed the final line (“put out my hand and touched the face of God.”) from a poem by Cuthbert Hicks, admitting that it was this line that inspired him to write his own poem. Hick’s poem “The Blind Man Flies” was published three years earlier.)
John Magee Jr. wrote the poem, sent it home in a letter to his parents, and was killed not long afterward. It would have been forgotten long ago except that:
“…his father, then curate of Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, reprinted it in church publications. The poem became more widely known through the efforts of Archibald MacLeish, then Librarian of Congress, who included it in an exhibition of poems called “Faith and Freedom” at the Library of Congress in February 1942…” (from Wiki article)
It was also read aloud by Hollywood stars doing patriotic tribute shows, and inscribed on tombstones of many lost airmen over the years. It is still the official poem of both the Royal Canadian and Royal Air Forces and every first-year US Air Force Academy cadet must memorize it.
I don’t remember when I first heard or read it but it stuck with me and helped me understand the sense of wonder I would feel when the right combination of clouds and sky and a highly maneuverable aircraft came together – like the first time I flew a F/A-18 Hornet.
My squadron was transitioning from the A-7E Corsair II to the new F-18C Hornet. We were switching from a working horse, one that could capably plow the field, to a racehorse with power, grace, and speed. Suddenly, we had more power, speed, and agility than we’d ever dreamed of. For example, on a hot day with a full fuel load, the underpowered A-7 struggled to accelerate to takeoff speed and then climbed without much enthusiasm until you had accelerated to at least 300 knots airspeed. In contrast, the Hornet in full afterburner could take off almost vertically.
I completed my flight simulator training and was scheduled for my first airplane flight in a two-seat “D” model with an instructor in the back. It was a simulated instrument 
navigation flight with approaches into San Clemente Island Naval Air Facility airfield off the coast of Los Angeles and then back at the home base in Lemoore, California in the Central Valley southwest of Fresno. It was a typical clear Autumn day on the coast and in less than a half hour we were over LA and starting the approach into San Clemente Island.
Although I’d only flown the Hornet in the simulators so far, I was comfortable flying it. It flew like you expected a “hot” aircraft to fly. It went where you pointed it and had all the bells and whistles you wanted in an aircraft with 30-years newer technology than the Corsair. In short, it was my dream aircraft.
F/A-18 Landing
The instrument approach was uneventful. It wasn’t difficult to fly the Hornet precisely. It had both the controls sensitivity and the stability that made a good instrument platform. I flew a ground-controlled approach (GCA), our most accurate instrument approach back in the 80’s. The ground controller monitored your position on radar and gave radio directions to keep you on glideslope and on course: “Come right 2 degrees; approaching glideslope from below; Up and on glideslope.” I flew the glideslope and centerline down to 200-feet on the radar altimeter and then simulated not being able to see the runway by performing a “missed approach”. This meant adding full power, raising the gear and flaps, and climbing via the “missed approach” path, generally over the runway, and then turning to an outbound radial to try again. I radio’d the Approach controller.
“Hornet 503 is missed approach. Request clearance Navy Lemoore.”
“Hornet 503 you are cleared via to altitude 150 (15,000 feet) and then via flight planned route (the route we’d filed with the FAA) Navy Lemoore. On reaching 150, switch to LA Center on frequency …(a radio channel)”
It was a beautiful day – a clear sky and no clouds. You could see for miles up and down the coast. There was nobody visible in the direction I was flying. During my approach, I had been checking my fuel and determined that I had more fuel than needed for the return flight. With that in mind, when I added full power for my missed approach, I decided to go all the way to full afterburner, something I’d never experienced before, even in the flight simulators.
“…Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew;…”
Full afterburner was most satisfying! As soon as I raised the gear and flaps the Hornet quickly accelerated to 250 knots. I had to quickly raise the nose to maintain that airspeed, the maximum allowable airspeed below 10,000 feet. Passing through 11,000 feet I looked in my side mirrors and saw that my climb angle was so steep that I was still over the runway and going up like a rocket.
Accustomed to a single-pilot aircraft, my next move was instinctive. I had to get the Hornet’s nose back on the horizon by the time we hit 15,000 feet to avoid breaking through my cleared altitude. I was going up too steeply to simply push the nose back over with forward stick – it would have required negative “g” to hit the altitude. So I rolled upside down and gently pulled back on the stick to move the nose “down” towards the horizon, timing it so that as I rolled back upright, the altimeter was nailed at my assigned altitude. I reported “Hornet 503 is level at 150” to the LA Center controller. “Hornet 503 you are cleared direct Navy Lemoore at 150. Switch frequency …..”
The instructor in my back seat had been quiet during the approach. Over the intercom, he cleared his throat “Ummm, Sir? Just for future reference, in the Hornet we don’t generally use full afterburner on instrument missed approaches. A lot of A-7 pilots make that mistake the first time.”
He was right of course. But then he added, “But I admit it was pretty cool!”
That was my first and last afterburner missed approach. Full throttle was more than sufficient. But it wasn’t the last time I understood how that young American John Magee Jr. had felt when he wrote…
“[I]…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.”
In tribute and to the memory of Canadian Royal Air Force Pilot-Officer John Gillespie Magee Jr.
“High Flight”
By
John Gillespie Magee Jr.
“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.
Hovering 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, 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.”
I remember seeing this poem for the first time when I was about in 4th grade. The picture that accompanied it was an early-cold-war vintage straight-wing jet, maybe a P-80 or T-33. Sad that Magee never got to fly such.
Ronald Reagan quoted from the first and last lines of the poem when he replaced the State of the Union speech he was already scheduled to deliver with a short statement written by Peggy Noonan on the Challenger disaster that had happened just that morning.
I also liked Yeats’ “An Irish Airman Foresees his Death”
Back in the 60s many TV stations finished their broadcast day with this video:
F-104 Starfighter.
I’ll bet that’s where I first saw it! I would have been the right age. Thanks for this additional gem.
The F-104 Starfighter was my favorite jet growing up. I remember “High Flight” as well. Down here, it was followed by a version of “Dixie” sung as a hymn, the “The Star Spangled Banner” right before going off the air.
Update: Found a version of Dixie sung like a hymn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YarfMcrt0jA
I was in the Protestant choir for 4 years at the Academy – we sang it. When I went to my 30th reunion in 2018, we reformed the protestant and catholic choir among ourselves and sang for our memorial ceremony. I never thought I would sing it again until that time.
This was outstanding! Thanks for sharing.
I remember doing this in a T-38, although for the longest time we allowed to go at 300 knots below 10,000. Our climb was not as steep, We’d be topping out about 5-10 miles down range.
Interesting. Was 250 too slow for a clean Talon? What was best inflight refueling speed?
It was a flight characteristic and had been around for a long time. They changed it to 250 in the mid 90’s. The Talon didn’t do air refueling.
The Buff did, 275KIAS
I take it back, I know we discussed going to 250 below 10,000 but looking at other forums, it never happened. We had a waiver for 300KIAS below 10,000. Initial was a 300K and 1500′ AGL. The final turn speed was 175+Fuel (1K/100lb of fuel over 1000). Final speed was 155+fuel – touchdown at 130+fuel (but we never briefed touchdown speed.)
My USAF pilot dad had a framed copy of “High Flight” over his desk at home for years. He’s gone now, but my mother still has it hanging near her desk.
Interesting! That was a very thin wing compared to the A-7 and even the Hornet. We did similar calculations to confirm that our angle of attack (AOA) gauge was correct when it showed “on speed”. The indicated airspeed (IAS) needed to match. I don’t remember the exact formula for the A-7 but it was something like “121 knots with 3,000 lbs of (fuel + external loads) plus 3 knots per each additional 1,000-lbs.” That was at full flaps, which we always used (unless they failed). We liked to practice our flaired landings at AF bases! :-)
It is definitely a beautiful poem. This post gave me an excuse to read it again after so many years and I was struck by how true the lines still rang.
I did more than a few flaired landings at Navy fields, the Tweet had to land beyond the arresting gear; the Talon could run over it.