Aviator Epitaphs

[Warmtoast]

Aviator Epitaphs
Last week in the Aviation & History forum I attempted to answer a puzzle posed by OUAQUKGF Ops.
I got the location right but not at first the person concerned, but later did find the right answer.
Turns out the person concerned, was an early aviator who died when his aeroplane crashed.
Details here: http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/598666-name-ppilot.html post#12.

I was intrigued by the epitaph carved on the base of his ornate memorial that says:
"Now gallant boy, pursue thy happy flight with swifter motion haste to purer light."

So what other epitaphs are there that apply to deceased miltary and civilian aviators?


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/George%20Lee%20Temple/Image4_zpsphfcaoas.jpg

[Danny42C]

Warmtoast,

Can't think of any offhand, but you could sure start a Competition for light hearted suggestions.

Danny.

[Madbob]

Airman epitaph


My late father who died in 2012, was a WWII Stirling pilot, and he cut out this one he found and had it stuck inside of one of his logbooks....




He had seen it on the grave of an airman's tomb in France so It's not his original......






"To the World he was just an airman; To his family he was the world......"




Says a lot in 15 words IMHO.


MB

[bobward]

My personal favourite is attributed to the late, great spelling error Spike Malligna:

I told you I was ill......

[Warmtoast]

Jenkins
Re Wykham-Barnes

Can't find any comments that are really flattering as an epitaph, but found this comment by one of his American air crew (he was at the time helping the USAF develop low-level tactics in Korea) - "Damned if I am going to fly with that crazy English commander again - he's gonna kill us all."

Wykham went on to be one of the first Britons to be decorated in the Korean war.

WT

[teeteringhead]

I wouldn't mind the "sub title" I use to the left (and elsewhere).

The "Aviator" is unanswerable, the "Gentleman" may be more conjectural...........

[Schiller]

Madbob

We may be thinking of different memorials, of course.

But the original quotation, I believe, was on a grave at El Alamein

''To the world he was a soldier; to me he was the world''

Says it all, really.

[stevef]

Not aviation related except that ex-RAF servicemen in Shetland might have seen this inscription on an Eshaness tombstone:

"Donald Robertson, born 14th January 1785. Died 14th June aged 63 years. He was a peaceable, quiet man, and to all appearances a sincere Christian. His death was much regretted which was caused by the stupidity of Laurence Tulloch of Clothister (Sullom) who sold him nitre instead of Epson Salts by which he was killed in the space of five hours after taking a dose of it."

The long finger of shame will be pointing at poor Laurence for centuries to come. :ooh:

[Dan Winterland]

On a grave in Edinburgh.

'A victim of fast women and slow horses'.

Would apply to many pilots I should think.

[DirtyProp]

"This is not the farm I wanted to buy" seems fitting to me.

[Wensleydale]

There is a small "Stately Home" in West Yorkshire, and one of the sons of the family was killed on the Western Front during WW1. There is a memorial to him in the grounds, but unfortunately, after his details, comes the phrase: "Erected by his Wife" and the date. She must have been a looker!

[rlsbutler]

Danny42 was looking for light hearted answers, by which I guess he means us to imagine what we might have written for ourselves.

In the mode of Spike Milligan mentioned earlier, I can see myself as the student pilot who declares "I knew I should not have skipped breakfast" or who later says "I did not think I was that low".

Her Majesty never let me ride any suitable aircraft (like an Me 163, if you are asking) but, if she had and if it found me out, I would have hoped for a good band at my funeral to play John Adams and for my stone to exclaim "A short ride in a fast machine".

[BEagle]

"I told you it would look good on camera!"

[Barksdale Boy]

RLS

You would have needed a very large orchestra and a very large church. However, there is a band transcription by, I think, Lawrence Odom. Hope all is well in Wiltshire.

[Krakatoa]

I was hoping for an Oscer Brand one from his wild Blue Yonder collection.

When my flying days are over
and from this world I pass
I hope they bury me upside down
so the World can kiss my a**

[Cazalet33]

I suspect it won't be long before there's a gravestone with a QR code linking to a YouTube video of him/her attempting to equal some low flying record.

[rlsbutler]

BarksdaleBoy #15

I have form for musical greed in this way. We had a very willing elderly lady organist for our wedding, whom I pressed hard to perform the fanfare from Janacek's sinfonietta on our entry. No luck.

If things are well with Wiltshire, it is no thanks to me. When I was in charge of the RAF bombing ranges, I stage managed a Vulcan that dropped a stick of 1000-pounders on Salisbury Plain for an RAF publicity film. I am sure they knew it was me because I seemed for a long time unable to pass Boscombe Down on my way to Devon without collecting a speeding ticket, at whatever speed and at whatever time of night.

[SASless]

My Uncle Damon died when his parachute failed to open after he bailed from an airplane that suffered structural failure during some aerobatics. Seems the other guy....who was sat next to the door....hesitated and finally jumped and survived while Uncle got out too late as a result and became The Late.

I have considered the following:

I am not the Aviator my Uncle was....I flew to retirement but did not make as much of an impression as he.

[2Planks]

Not an epitaph as such but I attended a RNLAF funeral at a very modern crem. As the conveyor belt started for the chaps final journey the Bose sound system burst forth with the Top Gun Theme.


Still makes me shiver with emotion today.

[Dan Winterland]

When I die, I want to go like my father - peacefully - in his sleep. Not screaming and terrified, like his passengers!

[pettinger93]

There is a brass plaque in Newtimber church, W Sussex, commemorating a squadron leader who died in , I think, 1926, in a race to fly to South Africa from the UK. Will try to take a note of his name when I am next there.

[Rossian]

......to a suggested epitaph. Think excited Malaysian officer who felt that the RAF pilot who (he said) had saved his life "Thank you, you shi' ho' pirot".
Eventually it was sneaked onto the plinth at a later date. (and yes, he was).

The Ancient Mariner

[Haraka]

There is(was) a plaque on Thorney Island which read(s)

"In September 1933 the pilot of a Fury Aircraft of No 1 Fighter Squadron crashed at this spot. Representatives of the RAF who came to investigate the crash observed the unique suitability of the adjoining land as an airfield and their recommendation subsequently resulted in the building of this aerodrome.

He died not in battle yet not in vain."

[safetypee]

' Why Not. '

[pettinger93]

Further to my post on 3rd September:
There is a brass plaque in Newtimber Church, West Sussex, (just north of Brighton) commemorating the death of Squadron leader Arthur Gordon Jones-Williams, MC. He died on 17th December 1929, aged 31 , in Tunisia, while attempting to break the world long distance non-stop record by flying from the UK to Capetown. According to Wikipedia, he was an RFC ace in World War 1, having shot down 11 enemy aircraft, and, after the war, was the first pilot to fly non stop UK to Karachi.

[Old Bricks]

Not an aviator, but there is a grave from 1917 in New Irish Farm Cemetery outside Ypres of Gunner OB Gentle of the Royal Garrison Artillery. With a name like that, who needs an epitaph?

[Hydromet]

Next to the highway alongside Richmond RAAF there was, in the 1960s, a small group of WW II graves where we were taken as a group of Offr. Cadets. I believe they were from a single crash. When I've been past since I've kept an eye out, but haven't seen them. Does anyone know if they are still there, or have they been quietly moved, possibly when the highway has been widened?

[parabellum]

Was it John Le Mesurier, (Sgt Wilson, 'Dad's Army'), who has on his headstone, "Can I have a Second Opinion?"

[BSD]

CFIT incidents still take lives, in spite of all the modern AIDS to prevent it. EGWPS, for example.

In an early chapter of "Wind, Sand and Stars" St.-Exupery decries the early aviators technique of dead-reckoning that the Aeropostale pilots sometimes used in their Breguet biplanes en-route to North Africa and beyond.

"Navigating by the compass and the stopwatch above the clouds over Spain is all very well, but remember, below the sea of cloud lies eternity"

Sends a chill down one's spine. May it never be an epitaph for me or anyone I know.

[Warmtoast]

parabellum

Was it John Le Mesurier, (Sgt Wilson, 'Dad's Army'), who has on his headstone, "Can I have a Second Opinion?"
No - his headstone just says "resting" - as actors do when not working.

See here: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/find-a-grave-prod/photos/2011/227/17883725_131349967390.jpg

[Old-Duffer]

Re Post No: 3.

In the Daily Torygraph on 1 December each year is the (almost) identical inscription: "To the world you were but one, to us you were the world".

It's a tribute to Major Richard Pirie, who died in an accident in France whilst on an SAS exercise in 1971.

Old Duffer

[gzornenplatz]

"P.O.Prune is dead and gone
his face we see no more
For what he thought was H2O
was H2SO4"

[N.HEALD]

Here lies the body of Michael Day
He died defending his right of way,
He was right, dead right
But he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong.

[November4]

http://i68.tinypic.com/28klfug.jpg

[langleybaston]

In the grounds of Petwood Hotel there is a memorial to Flt Lt John A Saunders DFC and Bar, Pilot, 1919 - 2000.
I have not been able to find the connection with Petwood or indeed 617 squadron, if any.

[Old-Duffer]

Langley,

I think you might have the wrong spelling. John Alfred SANDERS DFC*

DFC with 49 Sqn April 1944, Bar with 617 Sqn December 1944 as P/O and F/O respectively.

I'll check for a citation later.

Old Duffer

[langleybaston]

Many thanks for the correction and the look-up. I have a photo of the memorial.

[stevef]

One of my own (in the style of Tee Emm's P/O Prune):

Here lies the body,
Of Pilot Officer Meek,
The spirit was willing,
But the mixture was weak.

[Fonsini]

Not exactly an epitaph, but I recall seeing a photo of a dejected looking Lightning pilot trudging back to the ops shed in the pouring rain while 2 technicians stared into the back end of his aircraft with torches. The photo was captioned with an excerpt from "High Flight".

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings

[FinelyChopped]

Not exactly an epitaph, but I recall seeing a photo of a dejected looking Lightning pilot trudging back to the ops shed in the pouring rain while 2 technicians stared into the back end of his aircraft with torches. The photo was captioned with an excerpt from "High Flight".

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings

Wasn't that a Wren cartoon in an old RAF Yearbook, ca. 1980? Unfortunately, I don't have my collection to hand to check.
Can anyone confirm/deny?

[Warmtoast]

Grave of Pilot Officer J. G. Magee, famous for his poem "High Flight" and laid to rest in Scopwick cemetery.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/Epitaph%20-%20Magee%20Cemetery_zpsbnkaajum.jpg

John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (9 June 1922 – 11 December 1941) was an American aviator and poet who died as a result of a mid-air collision over Lincolnshire whilst serving with the RCAF during World War II.

Epitaph on his grave reads:
"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."

I find it most moving and appropriate - WT

[Fonsini]

Wasn't that a Wren cartoon in an old RAF Yearbook, ca. 1980? Unfortunately, I don't have my collection to hand to check.
Can anyone confirm/deny?

You have a good memory, I think it was a cartoon. Was it really 37 years ago :uhoh:

[Fareastdriver]

John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (9 June 1922 – 11 December 1941) was an American aviator

John Denver did a tribute record to him call 'High Flight.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qqVRBZO5gc&t=7s

[langleybaston]

and, I believe, used in Memphis Belle?

Fabulous film, my wife has been forced to watch it more than a few times .....