Military Aviation Chronicles (MAC) was a principal organizer and sponsor of ceremonies held in January 2016 to belatedly pay homage to those Floridians who voluntarily served in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. The first event was held at The Royal Canadian Legion Post 144 in Clearwater and the second at Winter Haven Municipal Airport (KGIF). An associated Colorado Aviation Historical Society & Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame ceremony took place on 14 October 2017 in Lakewood, Colorado. Memorial plaques are on indefinite display inside the KGIF Terminal and inside the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver, Colorado.

The MAC group continues to promote the legacies of RCAF and RAF Americans in conjunction with Bomber Command Museum of Canada, which is a charitable organization and one of our partners. Readers may contact Military Aviation Chronicles and the editor via the following e-mail address: MilitaryAviationChronicles@Gmail.com

“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.