The brief life of John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (1922-1941), author of High Flight," the most famous aviation tribute ever, was a life surrounded by strong Christian influences. He was born in Shanghai, China to Christian missionary parents.
In 1940 he earned a scholarship to Yale where his father then served as a chaplain but chose instead to enlist with the Royal Canadian Air Force – America not yet at war with the Axis.
The poem "High Flight" was scribbled on the back of a letter to his father, then rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in D.C. Magee was killed in a Spitfire which crashed into another plane in the clouds. He was only 19 years old. President Reagan cited his poem in tribute to the astronauts who died on the Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986.