She wrote "Celestial Flight" in memory of her best friend and fellow pilot Marie Mitchell Robinson, who was killed in the crash of a B-25.

Elizabeth Magid, also known as "Kit," was among 1,074 women who became pilots in the short-lived program Women Airforce Service Pilots. She was assigned to ferry planes, some that were damaged.

Her son said one of her favorite memories was the time she and a WASP classmate ferried two planes that were going to be used for parts.

"We were flying side-by-side, and nuts and bolts were literally popping off and flying by. All we did was hold our thumbs up and say, 'We're still here!' As long as she was giving me that sign, we knew we were OK," she told her son.

    After graduation from flight school in 1944, Elizabeth and Marie were stationed together as ferry pilots with the Air Transport Command, Love Field, Dallas, Texas. Later Elizabeth was sent to Cochran Field, Georgia,   where she flew overhauled basic and advanced trainers. Marie was sent to Victorville Air Force Base, California, where she flew twin-engine bombers. In October, 1944, Marie was killed in the crash of a B-25. She was nineteen years of age.

   While waiting for transportation to Michigan for a Memorial Service for Marie, Elizabeth completed her test flying duties for the day. As she soared upward amidst the soft fair weather cumulus clouds, she fantasized that her friend was there. She recalled the happy days training when she, Marie and sky were one -- on playful silver wings. But Marie was not there. Elizabeth landed and in a secluded spot in the Operations Room she penned "Celestial Flight" in words that seemed to come from a Source other than herself.

    As soon as possible Elizabeth caught military flights to Michigan and shared the words of the poem with Marie's mother, thus fulfilling the promise exchanged many months before at a dusty, windswept training field in Texas.

 There is no service ceiling,
Or any fuel range,
And there is no anoxia,
Or need for engine change.
Thank God that now her flight can be
To heights her eyes had scanned,
Where she can race with comets,
And buzz the rainbow's span.

 For she is universal
Like courage, love and hope,
And all free, sweet emotions
Of vast and godly scope.

 And understand a pilot's Fate
Is not the thing she fears,
But rather sadness left behind,
Your heartbreak and your tears.

 So all you loved ones, dry your eyes,
Yes, it is wrong that you should grieve,
For she would love your courage more,
And she would want you to believe
She is not dead.
You should have known
That she is only flying higher,
Higher than she's ever flown.

Elizabeth MacKethan Magid 
In memory of her fellow WASP
Marie Michele Robertson

U.S. Air Force Honor Guardsmen Airmen First Class Keith Wilkinson carries 
the golden urn with the remains of World War II veteran Elizabeth Magid 
during standard Air Force Honors service at Arlington National Cemetery
May 26, 2004. Magid, 86, ferried planes during World War II as a pilot with the 
WASPS, the Women Airforce Service Pilots.

U.S. Air Force Honor Guardsmen carry a flag and the golden urn with the remains of 
World War II veteran Elizabeth Magid during a standard Air Force honors service at 
Arlington National Cemetery, May 26, 2004.

A standard Air Force honors service for U.S. World War II veteran Elizabeth Magid 
is held at Arlington National Cemetery, May 26, 2004.