Ray Haas

Growing up in southern California, Ray Haas and his family attended numerous air shows. A special event was the annual air show at Edwards Air Force Base, where Ray fell in love with airplanes and flying. Seeing the likes of Bob Hoover, Art Scholl, Bob Herendeen, Mira Slovak and others performing their incredible aerobatic routines left a lifelong impression. Ray was also captivated by all the different aircraft flying and on static display, such as the XB-70, AV-8 Harrier, F-104 Starfighter, SR-71 Blackbird, etc.

Ray Haas got his professional start in 1974 as a U.S. Navy electronics technician. In 1976 Ray started working with computers, managing the Navy’s first shipboard non-tactical computer system. Ray also got his first email account on the ARPANET (predecessor to today’s Internet) in 1977. Out of the Navy in late 1979, Ray went on to a career working with computers, a career that continues to the present.

In 1977, while still in the Navy, Ray started flying gliders at Otay Lakes near San Diego. This led to a Private Pilot License, Glider (aero-tow). Flying Citabrias and then his own Piper Warrior, Ray obtained his SEL and IFR ratings. Ray has been a member of the SSA, AOPA, EAA, NAHF, Spitfire Society, as well as numerous EAA chapters.

In the early nineties, Ray started a second career as a writer and a filmmaker, gathering education and experience where and when he could. An interest in writing a book and making a movie about the Battle of Britain led Ray to get more information about the sonnet High Flight and John Gillespie Magee, Jr. The more Ray learned about the life and times of John Magee and the creation of High Flight, the more fascinated he became. The BofB project went on the back-burner, and since around 1990 Ray has been working continuously on the story of John Magee & High Flight.