Above: An RCAF member directs a CF-18 Hornet at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, on 13 February 2018. USAF photo by Senior Airman Chase Cannon 180213-F-GO091-073. Story link: Holloman hosts Royal Canadian Air Force

“High Flight”

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. Hov’ring 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.

– Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee Jr., RCAF