{"product_id":"2026200011283-secondhand-john-magee-the-pilot-poet","title":"John Magee: The Pilot Poet","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: No dust jacket\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Condition as shown in image\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the skies above wartime Britain, a young RAF pilot composed what would become one of the most celebrated poems in the English language — High Flight — leaving behind a literary legacy as breathtaking as the altitudes he soared. John Magee: The Pilot Poet chronicles the extraordinary life of John Gillespie Magee Jr., an American-born aviator who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War and was killed in action at just nineteen years of age. Including all of his known works alongside a short biography by Stephen Garnett, this collection presents Magee not merely as a wartime figure, but as a gifted poet whose words transcended the conflict that claimed his life. The sonnets and verses gathered here capture a rare sensitivity — a young man grappling with mortality, beauty, and the sublime freedom of flight — rendered with a maturity far beyond his years.\n\nMagee's poetry occupies a unique place at the crossroads of military history and literary tradition, his work immortalised when President Ronald Reagan quoted High Flight in his address following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. Garnett's accompanying biography provides vital historical and personal context, illuminating the brief but luminous arc of Magee's life — from his schooling in England to his fateful deployment with No. 412 Squadron RCAF. For readers drawn to the literature of war, the romance of aviation, or the enduring power of a single, perfect poem, this intimate volume poses a quietly devastating question: what more might this singular voice have achieved, had the skies above Lincolnshire not claimed him so soon?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49161032138971,"sku":"2026200011283-SECONDHAND","price":12.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/cb3a71b1-ea84-4205-a500-ab643664ea30.png?v=1787189457","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200011283-secondhand-john-magee-the-pilot-poet","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}