Maquette for a 9ft bronze memorial monument to Anglo American pilot John Gillespie 

John Gillespie Magee 1922-1941, was an Anglo-American pilot, educated at Rugby School.

He went to America in 1939 and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force instead of enrolling at Yale 

University. Sent for training to a British airfield, he died in a mid-air collision in his Spitfire in 

1941 at the age of 19. His poem ‘High Flight’ inspired by a high-altitude test flight became world 

famous among the flying and astronaut communities. A poster with the poem, his portrait and 

an image of the plane was issued to British airfields. Extracts from the poem were read out by 

President Ronald Reagan to the American people following the Challenger shuttle disaster. 

Profits from the sale of maquettes will help fund a 9ft bronze memorial sculpture and a granite 

plaque bearing the words of the poem, (for which planning permission has been granted) in a 

dedicated park in the village of Wellingore, Lincolnshire where Magee was posted during the war.