A trip to Lincolnshire for an aviation enthusiast must include a trip to Scopwick (about 6 miles SE of Lincoln) to visit the grave of John Gillespie Magee the author of 'High Flight'' 'Oh I have slipped the surly bonds'. I came across this entirely by accident when I looked at the standard military gravestone and saw the opening and last line of the poem' "Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth -
Put out my hand and touched the Face of God."
My first thoughts that the grieving wife/parents had chosen this as a fitting epitaph to their beloved husband/son. However, I suddenly realised that it was the author himself, made all the more poignant by the fact he was only 19 years old when he died and it appears that his parents weren't able to attend his funeral. A great place for some quiet reflection.
From Wikepdia:
Part of the official letter to his parents read: "Your son's funeral took place at Scopwick Cemetery, near Digby Aerodrome, at 2:30 P.M. on Saturday, 13 December 1941, the service being conducted by Flight Lieutenant S. K. Belton, the Canadian padre of this Station. He was accorded full Service Honours, the coffin being carried by pilots of his own Squadron."