|
-John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
 "High Flight" was composed by Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr., an American serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was born in Shanghai, China in 1922, the son of missionary parents, Reverend and Mrs. John Gillespie Magee; his father was an American and his mother was originally a British citizen.
He came to the U.S. in 1939 and earned a scholarship to Yale, but in September 1940 he enlisted in the RCAF and was graduated as a pilot. He was sent to England for combat duty in July 1941.
In August or September 1941, Pilot Officer Magee composed "High Flight" and sent a copy to his parents. Several months later, on December 11, 1941 his Spitfire collided with another plane over England and Magee, only 19 years of age, crashed to his death.
His remains are buried in the churchyard cemetery at Scopwick, Lincolnshire.
In my opinion, flight is one of the most beautiful and exciting things in the world. Breaking gravity and soaring like an eagle brings a sense of freedom and ecstacy that is unparalleled by anything else in this universe. This page is dedicated to flight, those who brought it about, and my favorite airplanes.
The Blue Max
 The "Pour le Merite" ("for merit"), otherwise known by its unofficial title, "The Blue Max" (in German, "Blauer Max"), was Prussia's highest military award until the end of World War I, envied by pilots and perhaps the equivalent of the U.S. Medal of Honor. It was invented in 1740 and was named in French, the language of the royal court. Its most famous recipients were German fighter pilots, to whom it would be awarded after a pilot downed 8 enemy aircraft (the number of aircraft downed needed to win the award continued to increase during the war; eventually it became 16, then 18 - which is when Richthofen recieved his - and then 20 downed enemy aircraft). Max Immelmann was the first to recieve the award.
To the left is pictured is a slightly different variation of the Pour le Merite - it is the Pour le Merite with oak leaf, which had strict requirements that required its recipient be "one who takes influence on a field battle in such an obvious way that the enemy has to retreat due to his actions". Therefore Richthofen was not awarded this, but rather the normal Pour le Merite, which you can see at the bottom of this article.
Notable recipients included Field Marshal Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal, Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the "Red Baron", Hermann Göring, who flew with the Red Baron and later to become one of the most senior leaders of the Third Reich, Erwin Rommel, the famed "Desert Fox" of WWII, and Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck , who led German forces in the guerrilla campaign in German East Africa. The last living holder of the Pour le Mérite was novelist Ernst Jünger who died in 1998 and who, at the age of 23, was the youngest ever recipient as well.
The legend of the Blue Max is documented well in the movie, "The Blue Max", starring George Peppard.
The Men
Wilbur and Orville Wright
 Wilbur Wright was older than Orville by four years. The brothers' educational and career paths were so similar that although Orville outlived Wilbur by 36 years, the two are almost always mentioned together.
The Wright household was a stimulating place for the children. Orville wrote of his childhood: "We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity." The house had two libraries: Books on theology were kept in the bishop's study, while the downstairs library had a large and diverse collection. Although Bishop Wright was a firm disciplinarian, both parents were loving and the family was a close one.
The family moved from Richmond, Indiana back to Dayton in June of 1884, the month Wilbur was to have graduated from high school. Wilbur left Richmond without receiving his diploma, and returned to Central High School the next year for further studies in Greek and trigonometry. Both went through high school, but neither ended up with a diploma -- Wilbur missed his commencement ceremony because the family moved, and Orville studied special subjects rather than the regular curriculum his senior year. They had always loved tinkering with mechanical things.
 Probably during the winter of 1885-1886, Wilbur was hit with in the face with a bat while playing an ice-skating game. The injury at first did not seem serious. In the Bishop's words, "In his nineteenth year when playing a game on skates at an artificial lake at the Soldier's Home near Dayton, Ohio, a bat accidentally flew out of the hand of a young man... and struck Wilbur, knocking him down, but not injuring him much. A few weeks later, he began to be affected with nervous palpitations of the heart which precluded the realization of the former idea of his parents, of giving him a course in Yale College." For the next four years, Wilbur remained homebound, suffering perhaps as much from depression as from his vaguely-defined heart disorder. During this period, Wilbur cared for his mother Susan, who was dying from tuberculosis.
After high school, Orville built and operated a printing press. The brothers published a weekly paper that Wilbur edited. Orville was a champion cyclist, and in 1892 they opened a bicycle shop, selling and renting the newly popular vehicle. Soon they began building bicycles themselves.
In 1896 they took an interest in flying, which at that time meant gliding. They read everything they could find on the subject. Considering that there were very few absolutes yet established in the field of science and very few theories that were proven fact, it is nothing short of amazing that with their new knowledge they with three years they had built and tested their first glider near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Even the engine was built entirely on their own. They had built a motorized plane and had become skilled pilots. The press and public were not the least interested... at first.
Over the next few years they ran increasingly successful trials of their airplane prototypes. In 1908 Wilbur took the equipment to France, where he stunned the European aviation community. The Wright brothers' technology was far ahead of anyone else's. Soon after that, they contracted with the U.S. government for the first military airplane. Their success advanced the airplane industry but also led to imitators, patent infringements, and lawsuits.
The Wrights remained in aviation for the rest of their lives. This was not long for Wilbur, who died of typhoid fever in 1912. Orville sold his share in the Wright Company three years later, and continued aeronautical research in his own lab. In 1929, the first Guggenheim Medal was given to Orville for his and Wilbur's contributions to aeronautics. Orville died in 1948. Both Wilbur and Orville were elected posthumously to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.
Read speeches and writings by the Wrights on their inventions and engineering!
 
Manfred von Richthofen
 Manfred von Richthofen was born in Schweidnitz, Germany in 1882. He was originally a cavalry officer in the German Army, but transferred to the German Army Air Service in May 1915. Initially an observer on reconnaissance flights over the Eastern Front, he became a fighter pilot on the Western Front in August 1916. He served under Oswald Boelcke and quickly became his star pupil.
By January 1917, Richthofen had shot down fifteen aircraft had been appointed commander of his own unit. He painted the fuselage of his Albatros D-III a bright red - a very bold and daring move - and was nicknamed the "Red Baron". After the death of Oswald Boelcke and Max Immelmann, Richthofen became the most famous war ace in Germany. Richthofen was also well-known in Britain and became a hate-figure after Allied propaganda portrayed him as a man who enjoyed killing.
In June 1917, Richthofen was appointed commander of the German Flying Circus. Made up of Germany's top fighter pilots, this new unit was highly mobile and could be quickly sent to any part of the Western Front where it was most needed. Richthofen and his pilots achieved immediate success during the air war over Ypres during August and September. He also held strong opinions on aircraft design and was inv olved with Anton Fokker in the production of the Fokker D-VII.
Manfred von Richthofen was killed on 21st April 1918, and though there have been many claims, to this day no one knows for certain who shot the Red Baron (this excellent site explores the possibilites). Richthofen had been responsible for shooting down 80 allied aircraft, the highest score of any fighter pilot during the First World War.
I also found another excellent site at which you can read the entire book Richthofen wrote, online!
Learn More About Richthofen From These Links:
LIST OF VICTORIES WITH DATES AND LOCATIONS - http://www.jastaboelcke.de/aces/m_v_richthofen/manfred_victories.htm
THE PLANE HE FLEW - http://www.jastaboelcke.de/aces/m_v_richthofen/mvr_aircraft01.htm
HIS LAST WILL - http://www.jastaboelcke.de/aces/m_v_richthofen/mvr_%20last_will.htm
Pictures:
"Mein Hund" - Manfred with his dog, "Moritz"
"Der Rote Kampfflieger" - Manfred's gorgeous red triplane
The Machines
The Wright Flyer
The 1903 Wright Flyer was constructed of spruce and ash covered with muslin. The framework "floated" within fabric pockets sewn inside, making the muslin covering an integral part of the structure. This ingenious feature made the aircraft light, strong, and flexible. The 1903 Flyer was powered by a simple four-cylinder engine of the Wrights' own design.
To fly the airplane, the pilot lay prone with his head forward, his left hand operating the elevator control. Lateral control was achieved by warping the wing tips in opposite directions via wires attached to a hip cradle mounted on the lower wing. The pilot shifted his hips from side to side to operate the mechanism, which also moved the rudder.
| Wingspan: |
12.3 m (40 ft 4 in) |
| Length: |
6.4 m (21 ft) |
| Height: |
2.8 m (9 ft 3 in) |
| Weight, empty: |
274 kg (605 lb) |
| Engine: |
Gasoline, 12 hp |
| Manufacturer: |
Wilbur and Orville Wright, Dayton, Ohio, 1903 |
Fokker Dr 1 Triplane
The Fokker Dr 1 ("Dr" standing for Dreidecker or 3 wings) was one of the most famous planes of World War One. This is probably because it was associated with the Red Baron. The Fokker Dr 1's airframe was made out of steel tubing that was covered in aircraft doped canvas. When it was empty, it weighed 405kg. It had one 80kw engine and could fly a maximum speed of 185Km/H and fly a maximum time of 1 hour and 30 minutes. It could fly at a maximum altitude of 14,000ft. Like most planes in World War One, the Fokker Dr 1 had a rotary engine. The propeller was bolted directly onto the engine and the engine and the propeller would rotate together. The Fokker Dr 1 had one open cockpit, which could hold one pilot. It also had two machine guns with an intercepting gear that was designed to fire bullets through the propeller arc without hitting the blades.
The Fokker Dr 1 was a smaller plane compared to other planes of World War One; also it was not as fast as most planes, but it was very agile because of the multiple wings (this also made it more unstable and trickier to fly, however). When the Fokker Dr 1 was first came into service, the enemy thought the Fokker Dr 1 was just a huge joke until pilots like Werner Voss showed what it could do in combat. Flying a prototype, Voss shot down 10 British aircraft in six days of aerial combat in September 1917. Only 320 Fokker Dr 1's were made in World War One, so no Fokker Dr 1 is still around today - there are only replicas.
| Length: |
18' 11" |
5.77 M |
| Height: |
9' 8" |
2.95 M |
| Wingspan: |
23' 7" |
7.19 M |
| Wing area: |
200.90 Sq Ft |
18.66 Sq M |
| Empty Weight: |
895.00 lbs |
405.00 Kg |
| Gross Weight: |
1295.00 lbs |
587.00 Kg |
| Engine: |
Oberursel Ur II or LeRhone |
| Horsepower (each): |
110 |
| Armament: |
Two 7.92 mm Spandau LMG 08/15 machine guns. |
Good Flying Movies
These are my favorite films pertaining to aviation.
Escape of the Birdmen
(This movie has also been called "The Birdmen")
 "They used to boast there were only two ways to escape from Hitler's Beckstadt prison: to die...or to sprout wings."
During World War II, American soldier Harry Cook is sent to Norway to aid in the defection of a scientist working on the atomic bomb for the Germans. Before they can escape Europe, they are captured and sent to a POW prison camp in a high alpine castle on the German-Swiss border. Cook must find a way to escape with the scientist before the Gestapo discover the Norwegian's true identity. Cook convinces the other prisoners to build a two person glider that can fly to Switzerland. The race is on to complete the glider before the German guards discover the plane. Starring Doug McClure, Rene Auberjonois, Richard Basehart, Chuck Connors, Max Baer Jr., Don Knight and Tom Skerritt. Produced in 1971.
This movie was made for TV and until now, no copies have been available. You can now get them through a small, private source at www.angelfire.com/wa/birdmen for a very reasonable price! ($15, in our case)
Twelve O'Clock High
 A hard-as-nails general takes over a bomber pilot unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape. Starring Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Dean Jagger and Millard Mitchell. Produced in 1949.
The Great Waldo Pepper
 A biplane pilot who had missed flying in WWI takes up barnstorming and later a movie career in his quest for the glory he had missed, eventually getting a chance to prove himself in a film depicting the dogfights in the Great War with Ernest Kessler. Starring Robert Redford, Bo Svenson, Bo Brundin and Susan Sarandon. Produced in 1975.
The Blue Max
 A young pilot, previously infantry who joins the German air force of 1918, disliked as lower-class and unchivalrous, tries ambitiously to earn the medal offered for 20 kills. Starring George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress, Jeremy Kemp and Karl Michael Vogler. Produced in 1966.
Flight of the Intruder
 After his co-pilot is killed, Jake Grafton, a carrier-based Intruder pilot, questions the purpose of Navy bombing missions. He finds an ally in Virgil Cole, a weapon's officer on his third tour of duty, and together they ponder the notion of one unsanctioned mission "downtown" to "Sam City" in North Vietnam. Starring Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe and Brad Johnson. Produced in 1991.
Tora! Tora! Tora!
 The incredible attack on Pearl Harbor as told from both the American and Japanese sides; a dramatization of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the series of American blunders that allowed it to happen. Starring Martin Balsam, So Yamamura, Joseph Cotten, Tatsuya Mihashi, E.G. Marshall and James Whitmore.
The Rocketeer
 A young pilot in the 1940's stumbles onto a prototype jetpack that allows him to become a high flying masked hero. Starring Bill Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton and Paul Sorvino.
Comment on the content of this page!
|
