Pilot Officer Magee.

Pilot Officer Magee.

I thought for a while as to where to post this image. It is an image I have had in my "mind's eye" for some time.

I am ex RAF and as such, know the sonnet very well. I also knew that Pilot Officer Magee, the composer of the sonnet, was buried at Scopwick, a village close to where I live. I had always wanted to do something as a sort of 'tribute' not only to Pilot Officer Magee, but to all aviators, past and present.
The words of the sonnet have been quoted many times, by numerous people. The most poigniant time for me was the occasion of the Challenger space shuttle disaster when President Reagan quoted from it. (On the day of the disaster, I was part of a team guarding an RAF Phantom that had crashed on the Yorkshire moors. We spent two weeks living in a chicken shed!)

The image was constructed in the following way:- The main image of the grave was overlaid with the image of a spitfire Mk.Vb at 45% opacity. A 'clear to black' gradient fill layer was added to darken the right side of the main image. A text layer containing the sonnet was inserted and to the text a drop shadow was added. The various layers were then flattened and a white margin was added using the "stroke" command.