It is 75 years since Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee wrote 'High Flight', a sonnet widely recognised the world over as the aviators' poem and one read at many burials of aviators. Magee flew his Spitfire to 33,000 feet over South Wales that day and he was inspired to pick up the pen as soon as he returned to the ground. The poem was written in a day and the BBC has filmed a number of pilots reciting it. John Magee is buried in Lincolnshire. | BBC East Yorkshire

This #WorldPoetryDay, we want to share the incredible poem ‘High Flight’ by the world-renowned pilot and poet John Gillespie Magee. | RAF Benevolent Fund

80 years ago last week, Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee Jnr, the author of the Royal Air Force’s unofficial poem “High Flight,” died in a mid-air collision over England. The Royal Canadian Air Force Pilot who flew Spitfires out of RAF Digby in World War 2 now rests in Scopwick Cemetery, but will forever be known for the inspirational words that have been repeated by film stars and presidents since his death, and inspired many pilots that have taken to the skies for the RAF and other air force