HIGH FLIGHT

[PALADIN85020]

While I've never flown an aircraft other than taking the controls of a light plane for an hour or so under pilot supervision, I've always been fascinated by airplanes. This fascination was born during WWII, when I saw fighter planes overhead as a kid.

I took this picture of a WWII P-51 fighter at an air show last year. It reminded me of a sonnet composed by an American serving in the Canadian Air Force during the war. Many of you have read it, I'm sure, but it reflects the thrill of flying probably more than anything out there. Sadly, John Magee died when his Spitfire collided with another in mid-air. His parents later published what he had written and sent to them.

Worth reading again.

John

 

[shouldazagged]

Thanks, John, I hadn't read that in many years. It's one of my all-time favorites.

 

[moe smith]

Reagan chose to recite that after the Challenger disaster. That was my first exposure to it.

 

[boatme99]

That was used on a local television station as the closing screen, with The National Anthem and film of military jets in flight, when I was a kid in Massachusetts. Late 1950s, early 1960s.

 

[Jessie]

It a classic and helped me decide on an aviation career.
After I read that I thought ' I want to experience that! '
My still unfulfilled dream is to do it in one of those P-51s

 

[elm_creek_smith]

It a classic and helped me decide on an aviation career.
After I read that I thought ' I want to experience that! '
My still unfulfilled dream is to do it in one of those P-51s

You can ride in the 2 place P-51 "Galveston Gal" at the Lone Star Flight Museum on days when they're flying. http://www.lsfm.org/ Last I heard it was $1995.00 for about a 20 minute flight...

ECS

 

[3dots]

I have this hanging on a wall in my game room, I'm an R/C sailplane pilot. My avatar is two logos one atop the other. AMA is the Academy of Model Aeronautics and LSF is the League of Silent Flight. Flight is something that fascinates many but few experience it on any level.

There is a spiritual connection with soaring as it is Mother Nature that keeps your ship aloft. Riding thermal activity for long periods with no motor is very fulfilling and relaxing. Most people can't see what is above them as your focal point is relative to large objects on the ground. When your 3 meter ship is at 2500' AGL, you're almost always with hawks or other bird playing in the lift, it's very humbling.

A member of LSF wrote this:

R/C Soaring-

A slim, graceful, long-winged craft arcs upward smoothly and steeply into the summer sky, accompanied only by the faint whisper of air accelerating past its gleaming surfaces. All eyes focus on the machine as it dwindles with each passing second - a surging aerial trout playing out yards of taut, singing line. A tiny parachute fills and gently returns the shining filament to earth. The children hurry to pluck the floating blossom before it touches the ground.

Soon, another, and then another craft, seeks the morning sun. Little sound or movement is evident among the small group whose gazes pierce the sky yet there is tension and keen anticipation. All are alert for the tiny, almost indiscernible, lift of a wing that signals the sign of warm, rising air. Now, a turn begins and then a tightening sweep into the lift. The pilot curves his obedient ship upward, betraying his satisfaction by giving just a hint of a smile and a noticeable relaxation. Minutes, or perhaps hours later, the craft reappears from the heavens and is ordered to rest at the feet of its once-remote master.

In these frantic times which seem, more than ever, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, there is an oasis; cool, clean, quiet and very personal. The serenity of soaring is available to each of us just for the asking. Those who pause to refresh themselves at the spring always return to it, or, having found it, never leave.

-League of Silent Flight

 

[Jessie]

You can ride in the 2 place P-51 "Galveston Gal" at the Lone Star Flight Museum on days when they're flying. http://www.lsfm.org/ Last I heard it was $1995.00 for about a 20 minute flight...

ECS

Ride, hell! I wanna fly the thing!

 

[galena]

Twenty-two years United States Air Force...........that still brings tears to my eyes. Thanks for posting it Paladin85020.

 

[williamlayton]

Elm Street
You can't do that anymore----they can't find all the pieces.
Blessings

 

[feralmerril]

And right now I am fighting to get my flight physical back and it looks problematic.

 

[rwsmith]

They used to.....

They used to sign off of TV stations with someone reciting this with pictures of a jet plane in flight. I NEVER got tired of watching it.

I guess it was this or the national anthem with the flag waving.

 

[Jessie]

Reagan chose to recite that after the Challenger disaster. That was my first exposure to it.

I remember and thought it was a class act on his part and very fitting.

 

[the ringo kid]

Reagan chose to recite that after the Challenger disaster. That was my first exposure to it.

Thats when I remembered it from.

 

[Babalooie]

I have a framed copy that came from Dayton, Ohio (USAF Museum).

I was an avionics technician (Autopilot / AFCS and Compass systems) for twelve years in Uncle's Air Force.

Once, during a TDY to Panama, I had the opportunity to fly the canal in a Huey. The cargo doors were open and intercom hooked up to the local radio station.

At one point, we flew through a cloud. Just because I could, I reached out and touched the cloud formation. I then had the dubious honor of being able to say that I had "touched the clouds." Not really a big deal, but it made a great impression on my son.

There's still JP4 in my blood.

 

[Big Cholla]

I flew small airplanes privately and professionally for 33 years. The one regret that I have from piloting is that I never got to pilot a P-51. At the time I had about 2,500 hours in taildraggers alone. I was on business in Orlando and was all set to go take the check rides in a dual seater based there leading to one solo flight (if they thought you could safely). A personal family emergency occurred back home in Las Vegas and I had to skip that. I always thought that I would get back and finish that bucket list item, but didn't. I did get as far as soloing a T-6. That in itself was a big thrill. I was standing on a desert foothill south of LV looking for a reported stranded car when I heard coming from the south that distinctive sound of a turbocharged Merlin Packard V-12. I quickly found a brightly painted and mostly polished aluminum P-51 coming towards me and about 100 ft. above me. I watched with binocs and then with naked eyeballs as it flew by. I waved and darned if the pilot in a white crash helmet didn't wave back. I knew that this A/C was headed for Nellis AFB and the upcoming airshow. I thought about attending, but didn't because it would just bring back all those feelings of regret of never having flown a P-51.

The first Las Vegas TV station also used John Magee's poem for its signoff at midnight. I would stay up just to hear it over and over again. It was a big factor in me becoming a pilot. .......... Big Cholla

 

[feralmerril]

I was lucky and raised out of oshkosh wisconsin. They always have the EAA airshow every july. It go`s for a week and durring that time there were endless warbrds, antiques and home builts all the time coming and going. Just a couple weeks ago theresa and I joined the EAA chapter in hurricane.

 

[Babalooie]

Several years ago, at the DeKalb air show, someone auctioned off a ride in a Mustang as part of a fund raising deal. I had five bucks in my pocket and was very disappointed.

The next year, I showed up with ten crisp hundred dollar bills. The only rides offered were in a Ford Tri Motor.

I feel your pain.

 

[DR505]

I've always liked that sonnet. Saw it most recently in Fort Erie, Canada, on the plate attached to a Canadian T-33 on a stick.

 

[11B Lifer]

For years they would recite this when TV was signing off for the night!