Born in Shanghai, China, in 1922 to an English mother and a Scotch-Irish-American father, John Gillespie Magee, Jr. was 18 years old when he began his flight training. Within a year, he was sent to England and posted to the newly formed No. 412 Fighter Squadron, RCAF, which was activated at Digby, England, on June 30, 1941. He was qualified on and flew the Supermarine Spitfire. This plaque holds the verse he wrote to his parents after flying to the altitude of 30,000 feet on a test flight in a newer model of the Spitfire V.