More great aviation photography from Norman Feltwell.
Thanks, Norman.
Showing posts with label Spitfire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spitfire. Show all posts
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Friday, September 7, 2007
Spitfire Tribute to a 60-Year Love That Refused to Die
This story was in the Scotsman newspaper, online edition, today. It was sent to me by my friend Richard in Scotland, who lives near the site of the crash.
CLAIRE SMITH
A SPITFIRE aircraft that fought in the Battle of Britain will fly low over East Lothian this Saturday in honour of a Czech airman killed in the war and the woman who loved him.
Juliette Liska, now 85, will be standing by the graveside of her fiancé, Vaclav Jicha, in St Martin's RC Cemetery, Haddington, in memory of the airman who was killed in a wartime crash over the Lammermuir Hills.
"He was a very serious man, but I understood him very well because we were both pilots," said Ms Liska, who was captured by the Germans in 1943 then became a translator for the American forces after the war ended.
Mr Jicha fled Czechoslovakia in 1939 to escape the Nazis and ended up flying missions for the Allies. After the occupation of France, he worked in Britain as a test pilot and was awarded both the DFC and the AFC.
In the closing months of the war, the Czech pilot was posted to RAF Kinross and it was from there that he took his last flight, on 9 April, 1945. Mr Jicha was one of three people on board a flight that crashed into the Lammermuir Hills in deep snow.
He survived the impact, but froze to death trying to make his way back through the snow and was found six days later by a shepherd on the hills.
Meanwhile, Ms Liska did not know if her fiancé was alive or dead. On returning to Czechoslovakia after the war, she finally learned the truth about what had happened.
Following the wishes of her family, Ms Liska married, but she never forgot her wartime sweetheart and has made several visits to his grave. This year, poor health following a fall almost prevented her from making the trip, but she was determined to come to visit the grave.
Inspired by her determination, Bill Nicholson of the Spitfire Club and Jack Tully Jackson, a local historian, arranged for the flypast at 2:30pm tomorrow.
The spitfire, which is in Scotland for the Battle of Britain fundraising ball at Leuchars, was at the Battle of Britain and its body is pockmarked with shrapnel holes.
Bill Nicholson said: "I contacted the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and told them the story of Vaclav Jicha and Juliette Liska and they agreed to arrange the flypast."
Standing in the East Lothian cemetery where her fiancé lies alongside other airmen, Ms Liska wondered if it might be the last time she will make the trip. "This is a lovely place, a peaceful place," she says, admiring the freshly planted flowers around her fiancé's grave.
"I think I will ask to have my ashes sprinkled here alongside Vaclav. But I don't think I am ready to join him yet."
She said she was looking forward to watching the planes flying above the cemetery on Saturday and will do as she always does when she visits the grave: "I will speak to him in Czech."
CLAIRE SMITH
A SPITFIRE aircraft that fought in the Battle of Britain will fly low over East Lothian this Saturday in honour of a Czech airman killed in the war and the woman who loved him.
Juliette Liska, now 85, will be standing by the graveside of her fiancé, Vaclav Jicha, in St Martin's RC Cemetery, Haddington, in memory of the airman who was killed in a wartime crash over the Lammermuir Hills.
Juliette Liska, 85, at the grave of her fiancé, who was killed in 1945 Picture: Ian Rutherford
Ms Liska survived a German labour camp and went on to marry another man, but she never forgot the love of her life, whom she met at a flying club in Prague before the war.
"He was a very serious man, but I understood him very well because we were both pilots," said Ms Liska, who was captured by the Germans in 1943 then became a translator for the American forces after the war ended.
Mr Jicha fled Czechoslovakia in 1939 to escape the Nazis and ended up flying missions for the Allies. After the occupation of France, he worked in Britain as a test pilot and was awarded both the DFC and the AFC.
In the closing months of the war, the Czech pilot was posted to RAF Kinross and it was from there that he took his last flight, on 9 April, 1945. Mr Jicha was one of three people on board a flight that crashed into the Lammermuir Hills in deep snow.
He survived the impact, but froze to death trying to make his way back through the snow and was found six days later by a shepherd on the hills.
Meanwhile, Ms Liska did not know if her fiancé was alive or dead. On returning to Czechoslovakia after the war, she finally learned the truth about what had happened.
Following the wishes of her family, Ms Liska married, but she never forgot her wartime sweetheart and has made several visits to his grave. This year, poor health following a fall almost prevented her from making the trip, but she was determined to come to visit the grave.
Inspired by her determination, Bill Nicholson of the Spitfire Club and Jack Tully Jackson, a local historian, arranged for the flypast at 2:30pm tomorrow.
The spitfire, which is in Scotland for the Battle of Britain fundraising ball at Leuchars, was at the Battle of Britain and its body is pockmarked with shrapnel holes.
Bill Nicholson said: "I contacted the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and told them the story of Vaclav Jicha and Juliette Liska and they agreed to arrange the flypast."
Standing in the East Lothian cemetery where her fiancé lies alongside other airmen, Ms Liska wondered if it might be the last time she will make the trip. "This is a lovely place, a peaceful place," she says, admiring the freshly planted flowers around her fiancé's grave.
"I think I will ask to have my ashes sprinkled here alongside Vaclav. But I don't think I am ready to join him yet."
She said she was looking forward to watching the planes flying above the cemetery on Saturday and will do as she always does when she visits the grave: "I will speak to him in Czech."
Monday, July 23, 2007
High Flight--A Great Air War Poem
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew
—And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr
John Gillespie Magee, Jr., was born in Shanghai, China, in 1922 to an English mother and a Scotch-Irish-American father, He was 18 years old when he entered flight training. Within the year, he was sent to England and posted to the newly formed No 412 Fighter Squadron, RCAF, which was activated at Digby, England, on 30 June 1941. He was qualified on and flew the Supermarine Spitfire.
Flying fighter sweeps over France and air defense over England against the German Luftwaffe, he rose to the rank of Pilot Officer.
On 3 September 1941, Magee flew a high altitude (30,000 feet) test flight in a newer model of the Spitfire V. As he orbited and climbed upward, he was struck with the inspiration of a poem — "To touch the face of God."
Once back on the ground, he wrote a letter to his parents. In it he commented, "I am enclosing a verse I wrote the other day. It started at 30,000 feet, and was finished soon after I landed." On the back of the letter, he jotted down his poem, 'High Flight'.
Just three months later, on 11 December 1941 (and only three days after the US entered the war), Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr., was killed. The Spitfire V he was flying, VZ-H, collided with an Oxford Trainer from Cranwell Airfield flown by one Ernest Aubrey. The mid-air happened over the village of Roxholm which lies between RAF Cranwell and RAF Digby, in the county of Lincolnshire at about 400 feet AGL at 11:30. John was descending in the clouds. At the enquiry a farmer testified that he saw the Spitfire pilot struggle to push back the canopy. The pilot, he said, finally stood up to jump from the plane. John, however, was too close to the ground for his parachute to open. He died instantly. He was 19 years old.
Read more about Magee and his poem at http://www.skygod.com/quotes/highflight.html
The poem was made famous by President Ronald Reagan. Speaking at the memorial service for the Challenger Space Shuttle astronauts, Reagan said:
"We shall never forget them nor the last time we saw them, as they prepared for their mission and waved good-bye and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God."
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew
—And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr
John Gillespie Magee, Jr., was born in Shanghai, China, in 1922 to an English mother and a Scotch-Irish-American father, He was 18 years old when he entered flight training. Within the year, he was sent to England and posted to the newly formed No 412 Fighter Squadron, RCAF, which was activated at Digby, England, on 30 June 1941. He was qualified on and flew the Supermarine Spitfire.
Flying fighter sweeps over France and air defense over England against the German Luftwaffe, he rose to the rank of Pilot Officer.
On 3 September 1941, Magee flew a high altitude (30,000 feet) test flight in a newer model of the Spitfire V. As he orbited and climbed upward, he was struck with the inspiration of a poem — "To touch the face of God."
Once back on the ground, he wrote a letter to his parents. In it he commented, "I am enclosing a verse I wrote the other day. It started at 30,000 feet, and was finished soon after I landed." On the back of the letter, he jotted down his poem, 'High Flight'.
Just three months later, on 11 December 1941 (and only three days after the US entered the war), Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr., was killed. The Spitfire V he was flying, VZ-H, collided with an Oxford Trainer from Cranwell Airfield flown by one Ernest Aubrey. The mid-air happened over the village of Roxholm which lies between RAF Cranwell and RAF Digby, in the county of Lincolnshire at about 400 feet AGL at 11:30. John was descending in the clouds. At the enquiry a farmer testified that he saw the Spitfire pilot struggle to push back the canopy. The pilot, he said, finally stood up to jump from the plane. John, however, was too close to the ground for his parachute to open. He died instantly. He was 19 years old.
Read more about Magee and his poem at http://www.skygod.com/quotes/highflight.html
The poem was made famous by President Ronald Reagan. Speaking at the memorial service for the Challenger Space Shuttle astronauts, Reagan said:
"We shall never forget them nor the last time we saw them, as they prepared for their mission and waved good-bye and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God."
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