Presidewnt reagan's Missing Man Formation

Former President Reagan's sunset burial had a dissonant note for me. The Navy
flew a missing man formation over the site, and as is traditional the second
element lead position (the airplane that would have been represented by your
ring finger tip as they flew in finger tip formation) left its position,
representing the missing man.

For this man, this president, tradition should have been broken. The missing
man was a Leader. The lead position should have been the vacant one.

For this man, this president, tradition should have been broken. The
missing
man was a Leader. The lead position should have been the vacant one.

Not intending this as any political statement,, just an observation -
Perhaps the reason they do it that way for a president as well, is that
typically presidents usually order the military to war and the president
stays behind while the soldiers actually go into the battle, that is, the
president doesn't physically lead the soldiers into battle themselves.

On a side note: I can't claim to be one of Regan's political fans, but
watching his draped casket come down the stairs with his widow waiting was
indeed a somber moment,, looking at Nancy standing in the rain under the
umbrella.

While watching the latter, I did encounter a curious errant thought that
passed through my mind while watching that casket being carried down the
steps with music playing; how, maybe at that same moment in some part of our
country there was a widow standing alone by a graveside with only herself
(all her friend's and family had passed on), the body of her spouse, a
couple of cemetery workers and the minister in attendance and there was no
fanfare or special music, yet her loss,, to her,,, was crushing and deeply
profound - but most people would never know of the loss of her lifelong
partner and would never hear her husband's name. Just the way it
is..........

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--
=-----
Good Flights!

Cecil
PP-ASEL
Student-IASEL

Check out my personal flying adventures from my first flight to the
checkride AND the continuing adventures beyond!
Complete with pictures and text at: www.bayareapilot.com

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -

"We who fly, do so for the love of flying. We are alive in the air with
this miracle that lies in our hands and beneath our feet"
- Cecil Day Lewis -

On a side note: I can't claim to be one of Regan's political fans, but
watching his draped casket come down the stairs with his widow waiting was
indeed a somber moment,, looking at Nancy standing in the rain under the
umbrella.

While watching the latter, I did encounter a curious errant thought that
passed through my mind while watching that casket being carried down the
steps with music playing; how, maybe at that same moment in some part of our
country there was a widow standing alone by a graveside with only herself
(all her friend's and family had passed on), the body of her spouse, a
couple of cemetery workers and the minister in attendance and there was no
fanfare or special music, yet her loss,, to her,,, was crushing and deeply
profound - but most people would never know of the loss of her lifelong
partner and would never hear her husband's name. Just the way it
is..........

There are too many such lonely people looking at caskets, at holes in the
ground. I'm not sure the presence of others nearby makes their grief less
profound, just more public.

Some of us are luckier than others, we have lovers and friends, and in this
forum at least many of us have felt the load on the wheels lighten as the wind
lifts us, and as John Gillespie Magee Jr. wrote, touched the face of God.

All of us know this poem, but from time to time it's worth rereading.

Here it is.

"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 even 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.

All of us know this poem, but from time to time it's worth rereading.

"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 even 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.

Thanks, Tony.

FYI: Dwayne O'Brien (Grammy-award-winning musician, accomplished aerobatic
pilot) has put "High Flight" to music. His rendition takes an already
touching poem and adds a musical poignancy that's hard to describe.

I highly recommend his disk of flying music. It's one of the six CDs
playing in our lobby 24/7.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I'll have to check that out. The late, John Denver, put the poem to music
in one of his albums as well.

--
--
=-----
Good Flights!

Cecil
PP-ASEL
Student-IASEL

Check out my personal flying adventures from my first flight to the
checkride AND the continuing adventures beyond!
Complete with pictures and text at: www.bayareapilot.com

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -

"We who fly, do so for the love of flying. We are alive in the air with
this miracle that lies in our hands and beneath our feet"
- Cecil Day Lewis -

I'll have to check that out.

Hear a one-minute sample of it at
http://www.flightsongrecords.com/sample.htm

Click on "High Flight"...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

emoove (tony) writes:

[much cut]

All of us know this poem, but from time to time it's worth rereading.

"High Flight"

I've come to prefer works such as:


An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
by William Butler Yeats

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

[much cut]

All of us know this poem, but from time to time it's worth rereading.

"High Flight"

I've come to prefer works such as:


An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
by William Butler Yeats

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

Although I appreciated reading this, the mental attitude it suggests is
inconsistant with most pilots I've been privilged to know.

My thoughts flow more to how amasingly lucky I have been to live my life in
these times.

On 13 Jun 2004 01:25:41 GMT, emoove (tony)
wrote:

inconsistant with most pilots I've been privilged to know.

Well, Yeats was a poet, not a pilot


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

tony wrote:

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
by William Butler Yeats

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.


Although I appreciated reading this, the mental attitude it suggests is
inconsistant with most pilots I've been privilged to know.

But then how many Irish airmen fighting for the British in World War I have you
been privileged to know? ;

I'd say it reflects very powerfully the feelings of a number of combat pilots,
especially those who fought to defend another nation against its enemies. I feel
that I know exactly what Yeats is saying, though this poem, and several others
which Yeats wrote in memory of his friend Major Robert Gregory, carries more
meaning than any one of us is likely impart to it out of his own experience --
like all good writing.

See: http://ireland.wlu.edu/landscape/Group1/index.htm

http://ireland.wlu.edu/landscape/Gro...rt_gregory.htm

"Robert Gregory, the son of W.B.Yeats's friend Lady Gregory,
was a well-rounded man. He studied at Harrow, New College,
and the Slade, and he excelled at bowling, boxing, and
horseback riding. He worked in Jacques Blanche's design studio
and had his own exhibition of paintings in Chelsea in 1914.
In 1915, he joined the war effort and became a member of the
4th Connaught Rangers. He then transferred to the Royal Flying
Corps in 1916, and he became Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur
in 1917. Gregory earned a Military Cross 'for conspicuous
gallantry and devotion to duty.' He died tragically at the age
of thirty-seven when an Italian pilot mistakenly shot him down.

"Robert Gregory's death had an lasting effect on Yeats, who wrote
four poems about him:

'In Memory of Major Robert Gregory,'
http://www.bartleby.com/148/2.html

'An Irish Airman foresees his Death,'
http://www.bartleby.com/148/3.html

'Shepherd and Goatherd,'
http://www.poetryconnection.net/poet...ler_Yeats/1530

'Reprisals'
[If you find a copy on line, _please_ share the URL]

-----------------


Jack

"All things can tempt me from this craft of verse
One time it was a woman’s face, or worse
The seeming needs of my fool-driven land."
-- All Things Can Tempt Me, William Butler Yeats