<P> Shortly after his promotion to the rank of Pilot Officer, after having been awarded his wings, Magee was sent to Britain . He was posted to No. 53 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF Llandow, in Wales . After graduating from No. 53 OTU, Magee was assigned to No. 412 (Fighter) Squadron, RCAF, which was formed at RAF Digby on 30 June 1941, and where he became a qualified Spitfire pilot . </P> <P> Magee was killed at the age of 19, while flying Spitfire coded VZ - H, serial number AD291 . He had taken off with other members of 412 Squadron from RAF Wellingore, a satellite station for RAF Digby . RAF Wellingore is near Navenby, about three miles northwest of RAF Cranwell; the airfield has now reverted to agriculture . The aircraft was involved in a mid-air collision with an Airspeed Oxford trainer from Cranwell, flown by Leading Aircraftman Ernest Aubrey Griffin . The two aircraft collided just below the cloud base at about 1,400 feet AGL, at 11: 30, over the hamlet of Roxholme, which lies between RAF Cranwell and RAF Digby, in Lincolnshire . Magee was descending at high speed through a break in the clouds with three other aircraft . </P> <P> At the inquiry afterwards a farmer testified that he saw the Spitfire pilot struggling to push back the canopy . The pilot jumped from the plane, but was too close to the ground for his parachute to open and died on impact . Griffin was also killed . </P> <P> Magee was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Scopwick in Lincolnshire, England . On his grave are inscribed the first and last lines from his poem High Flight . Part of the official letter to his parents read, "Your son's funeral took place at Scopwick Cemetery, near Digby Aerodrome, at 2.30 pm, 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". </P>

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