Mrs. B.’s Uncle Ed has piloted well over 1,000 Young Eagles in the Young Eagles program. Notice the Young Eagles shirt that he wore when he recently visited from the west coast!
This week Joshua joined his sister and brother (and over 2.3 million other young people) in the World’s Largest Logbook after completing his Young Eagles flight.
How thankful we are for all these pilots who give so generously to help young people aspire to great things and reach for their dreams.
Thanks to Young Eagles volunteer pilots Braxton Freeman in his Piper Cherokee, John Wilson in his Cessna 172, and Roger Sharkey in his Enstrom Helicopter, our 3rd/4th students had the opportunity to fly like eagles! The Young Eagles program was founded in honor of the anniversary of the Wright brothers’ 1903 flight. The goal is to introduce and inspire kids in the world of aviation. Our Young Eagles will be entered into the World’s Largest Logbook now that they have completed their flight. Thank you, Experimental Aircraft Association, for your generosity to young people!
High Flight
By John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
(A sonnet written by John Gillespie Magee, an American pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force in the Second World War. He came to Britain, flew in a Spitfire squadron, and was killed at the age of nineteen on 11 December 1941 during a training flight from the airfield near Scopwick.)
(Portions Of This Lovely Poem Appear On The Headstones
Of Many Interred In Arlington National Cemetery,
Patricularly Aviators And Astronauts)
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.
Hovering 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.
Our third grade Young Eagles got to go up into the control tower, followed by learning a bit about how planes fly.
Go, Young Eagles!
A gigantic thank you to our faithful and generous Young Eagles pilot, Braxton Freeman, air traffic manager at Lebanon Airport. He helped these young scholars to fly with the eagles today!
Our wonderful Quechee neighbor, Braxton Freeman, came to present the third grade Young Eagles with their log books and flight certificates this week. Have you checked out the World’s Largest Logbook to see our Young Eagles’ flights on his Piper Cherokee Warrior listed there?
Oh, how we do love Young Eagles day! Stay tuned for more soon . . .
Is there any other day as wonderful as Young Eagles day?
Learning all about airplanes and how they fly.
Our four Young Eagles!
Thank you to our top-notch pilot, Braxton Freeman!
Memory Lane: Here is a photo of one of my first class of Young Eagles, the one that got it all started when he told me he wished to be a pilot. His caption said, “Today I had the privilege of soloing a T-53. It was an experience like no other and the joy of being up there with no one but God and my thoughts, is beyond compare. I can’t wait to see what further adventures He has planned for me.”
So here is one Young Eagle thirteen years later!
For all young people ages 8 through 17, the EAA offers a free flight to inspire you to reach for your dreams. While they only technically offer one flight per person, they will often let a child take additional flights at these open days. One of our wonderful pilots, Braxton Freeman, says that the Lebanon day is planning to have a helicopter as one of the opportunities again this year.
*July 19th from 10-3 at the Lebanon Airport
(This year’s first and second graders waving to the third grade Young Eagles as they passed over MVCS!)
We give a huge, soaring thanks to our Young Eagles pilot, Braxton Freeman!