This well-known tribute to the wonders of aviation was written by American John Gillespie Magee, Jr. just three months before he died in World War II. Ronald Reagan used a well-remembered line in his famous tribute following the tragic loss of the Challenger 7 crew in 1986: “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.'”