Ithaca Bound

In December of 1941, a 19-year old American pilot, flying for the Royal Canadian Air Force, dove his Spitfire through a gap in the clouds while returning from a convoy mission over England. As he did so, a training craft emerged from the clouds. There was no time to avoid a collision. The young pilot made a valiant effort to save his plane and land safely. By the time he bailed out, he was too low, and his parachute failed to properly open. But at 19, the young pilot had achieved an ...In December of 1941, a 19-year old American pilot, flying for the Royal Canadian Air Force, dove his Spitfire through a gap in the clouds while returning from a convoy mission over England. As he did so, a training craft emerged from the clouds. There was no time to avoid a collision. The young pilot made a valiant effort to save his plane and land safely. By the time he bailed out, he was too low, and his parachute failed to properly open. But at 19, the young pilot had achieved an immortality that most of us never attain in decades of living.

His name was John Gillespie Magee, Jr., born in China, the son of American missionaries. A few months before his fatal collision, while flying a high altitude training mission at 30,000 feet, the exhilarating experience began to take the form of a sonnet in his mind, which he later wrote on the back of a letter to his mother. It found its way into publication, became widely known and admired, serving as an inspiration not only to all airmen, but to all who dream dreams and dare to make them come true, even at the risk of life itself.