Any info on "Mutt" Summers

Ah yes -the 1950’s.
When test pilots were our heroes rather than football players. :rolleyes:
Mark

Indeed, but test pilots WERE heroes, footballers ARE not.

Interesting this has come up as I have jus re-strated my own little written project on British test pilots, a subject that really deserves a new major book or article about.

Shouldn’t have favourites, but Maj. Cordes is mine!

While searching for some info on Mutt Summers I found this article which may be of some interest: http://www.daventrytoday.co.uk/CustomPages/CustomPage.aspx?PageID=18465

I recently read “Sigh For a Merlin” by Alex Henshaw, who was chief test pilot at Supermarine’s Castle Bromwich plant. Lots of mentions of Mutt Summers if I recall correctly.

Mike R

When I was an apprentice around 1980 we had a new apprentice a couple of years younger and we became good friends ,I remember we were always short of money but on his 18 th or 21st birthday he was given a large sum of money that had been put in trust for him, of course we all asked who left it for him and he explained it was from his grandfather Mutt Summers although as I gathered my mates parents were adopted by Mutt. At the time I had no interest in aviation so asked him who Mutt was and he replied “oh something to do with testing the bouncing bomb “

Mutt Summers

I might be able to shed a great deal of light on the life of Joseph “Mutt” Summers as, over 15 years ago whilst still living in the Uk I began to research his life in great detail in preparation for a biography. I contacted and interviewed many of his former colleagues, family members, pilots, etc., (sadly, many of whom are now deceased) each of whom provided glowing and often spectacular accounts of this remarkable yet very controversial figure. On one occasion I met up with his Son, Patrick, who retains the locking pin given to Mutt following the dam’s raid, which was used to trigger the rotation of the bomb by Gibson’s bomb aimer on their approach to the Mohne Dam. I was privileged to hold this piece of timeless history (have a photo of that too!). What became apparent during my ongoing research was the reluctance for anyone to discuss Mutt’s personal life outside of his achievements in aviation which, it seemed, was dotted with more than a few indiscretions and anomalies and led into numerous blind alleys. This made the job of assembling a book about him all the more difficult and by the time I emigrated to Australia in 1996, I had all but given up the ghost, realising that it would be an impossible task to complete the job from downunder. Mutt was born on 10th March 1904 and passed away during a procedure related to his colon, on 16th March 1954, just 6 days after his 50th birthday. He looked considerably older from most of his photos. I still have in my archives an enormous collection of material gathered during my research; log book copies, MoD extracts, correspondence, aircraft flown, interview notes, photos, even school reports, should anyone be interested in picking up where I left off. As an aside, it was not until I found Mutt’s grave at the Catholic Church in Weybridge that I discovered his truth date of death. Nearby lies his wife, Dulcie, who passed away on 15th January 1989 at the grand age of 93. Regretably I never met her. Upon finding Mutt’s grave I felt a chill run down my spine – the date I had by sheer coincidence chose to search for his grave was 16th March 1994 – 50 years to the day after his passing.

While looking for something else, I’ve just found a bit more on Mutt, which confirms some and elaborates on others.

Another man in a similar mould to Cordes was Joseph ‘Mutt’ Summers, a heavy, thick-set fellow who completed five years at Martlesham Heath before resigning his commission in 1929 to become chief test pilot at Vickers Supermarine. A flamboyant individualist, he basked in the glamour and publicity of a maiden flight, before which, in a formal salute to superstition, it was his habit to wet the tailwheel. His practical excuse was the memory of colleagues who, he claimed, had crashed with minor injuries but dies through bursting their bladders. His first impressions of prototypes, often based on hunches, proved uncannily accurate.

pp212-3 in ‘Biplane to Monoplane, Putnam’s History of Aircraft’, Essay ‘Research & Test Flying’ by Ralph Barker.

Incidentally, there’s at least on test and display pilot keeping the tradition of a tail-leak alive in the current UK scene… 😉

HTH

Duly ordered – Abe Books has several copies available, at reasonable prices – unfortunately the Swedish Post Office is not the quickest in the world when it comes to ordering stuff from outside the country!
I hope it arrives while the weather is still scorching so I can sit in the sun and read it!

I have now identified that 1950s book on test pilots – it is titled ‘British Test Pilots’, author was Geoffrey Dorman, AFRAeS, and it was published by Forbes Robertson Ltd of London. I do not know the year of publication and guess it was pre-ISBN numbering but although I suspect it to be quite a rare book, there should be a few copies around. Does anyone else have a copy?

As stated earlier, it gives the best account I know of J ‘Mutt’ Summers’ career – and also covers many others such as Moore-Brabazon, ‘Bee’ Beamont, Brooke-Smith, Cunningham, Derry, Gunn, Hazleden, Lithgow, Lowdell, Orrell, Penrose, Porteous, Twiss and Wade. Reccommended reading indeed.

Certainly Summers’ first name was Joseph, most texts I have list him as M. J. Summers so perhaps “Mutt” derived from a Christian name he did not use? Trubshaw was E. Brian Trubshaw or ‘EBT’ as he often signed things!

Interestingly Flt Lt (later Air Marshall) E. H. “Mouse” Fielden seems to be a link between both above mentioned test pilots as he was the pilot of the first aircraft Trubshaw ever saw as a boy. Later he would interview Trubshaw and become his CO in the RAF.

In Trubshaw’s book “test pilot” he seems to express admiration for Summers and says that when he joined Vickers, Mutt had been a test pilot for over 25 years and flown over 40 prototypes so that would add up reasonably well with the information already posted.

Trubshaw suggests however that by 1951, technological advancements were starting to get ahead of him, as Mutt wished to take the Valiant up for its first flight without the use of the powered controls, in manual reversion 😮

Obviously I’ve never flown a V-bomber 😀 but I can only imagine this would be like trying to drive a car thats supposed to have power assisted steering when the PAS has failed, rather than like a car that wasnt supposed to have it in the first place.

Yup, not a shot, just a clarification. 😉

GWR Nicholl’s book says it’s Joseph ‘Mutt’ Summers, and has ‘Joseph Summers’ in the index.

Depends what people are looking for. I’ve seen a film in the Australian War Memorial collection of Vickers new prototypes, including the Wellesley, Wellington and ‘Jockey’ prototypes, and there’s a bit of footage of the Wellesley’s pilot’s dog waiting for him to get out – chances are high that could be Mutt.

http://cas.awm.gov.au

ID Number: F02271
Title: Vickers aircraft
Date made: 1936
Physical description:
(/Colour/Sound ) 35mm/b&w/silent
Measurements: 13 min
Summary: Six new types in production for the Royal Air Force: Venom, Spitfire 1, Wellesley, Walrus, Wellington and Stranraer.
Copyright: Copyright unknown
Related subject: Aircraft production; Supermarine Spitfire; Supermarine Walrus; Vickers Wellesley; Vickers Wellington
Related conflict: Period 1930-1939

JDK – I cobbled this together very quickly and drastically reduced its length, to the detriment perhaps of such details as you mention. However, the aim was to fill in at least some of the blanks.
Charlielima5, you may well be right about “Joseph” instead of “John” but for some reason all my sources are very reticent about his name, and in fact there is only one reference, which is “John”. All the rest use “Mutt”.
I think he must have been a very quiet and modest hero!

Ah yes -the 1950’s.

When test pilots were our heroes rather than football players. :rolleyes:

Mark

Minor typo error crept in – the Prince of Wales Pilot was Fielden not Fiekden.

“Mouse” Fielden I believe.

Thanks for these detailed notes JDK and Papa Lima.

I can only add that I believe Summers’ Christian name was Joseph (not John) and that the test pilots book I am trying to identify was not by Don Middleton but came out in the 1950s. It gives fascinating biographical details on the likes of Jock Bryce, Mike Lithgow and many more. I shall try and confirm the author/title/publisher in the next few days.

One first flight that Mutt certainly carried out was of the Prototype Supermarine Seagull V N-1, the type later to enter service with the RAAF as the Seagull V, and essentially the same design with the RN FAA, RAF etc as the Supermarine Walrus.

There’s a delightful account written in the 1960s by ex-Walrus pilot GWR Nicholl in his book ‘The Supermarine Walrus’ published by Foulis, and highly recommended:

It is not now possible to know what missing features may have been
cloaked within the enveloping hull, certainly there was no time for
fitting such external trimmings as navigational lights and other minor
refinements when, on that 21 June, only five days before she made her
important debut before a public containing highly critical experts and
potential customers,[*] the first Seagull V was taxied down the slipway
at Woolston by Joseph (Mutt) Summers, the Chief Test Pilot. That
the maiden flight showed promise must have been obvious; that rapid
adjustments were revealed as necessary as a result of the initial handling
trials on the water, in the air and on Eastleigh airfield must likewise
have been obvious although, remembering the time factor, they could
only have been of a minor nature. Nevertheless, it was a close run
thing, which makes the eventual performance put up by Summers on
the 26th even more remarkable. No doubt he made discreet inquiries
of the stress technicians beforehand, for it is no part of a good test
pilot’s job to take undue risks by ‘showing off’ in the adverse sense of
that phrase. Yet, be that as it may, his flying demonstration made it
quite clear that he, perhaps even more than Mitchell himself or his
design team, had supreme confidence in their new product.

After a disastrously wet Saturday for the R.A.F. Display, following
so many previously fine conditions, the 26th was bright and sunny
when Summers flew N.I, the number allocated to the first of this new
line, to Hendon and taxied it into the S.B.A.C. ‘New Aircraft’ Park.
In the afternoon, when new and experimental aircraft were demon-
strated, the Aeroplane included the following light-veined commentary
on N-1’s performance, its tenor, a kind of amused wonder that so
strange a creature could perform the feats she did, setting the general
tone of almost all subsequent accounts describing the exploits, however,
dramatic, of this unusual aircraft:

“For pure lighthearted cavorting, the new Supermarine Seagull V
boat-amphibian, with a Bristol Pegasus engine operating as a pusher,
provided a turn which must have astonished many. This boat made
its maiden flight on 21 June, five days before its first public appear-
ance, but Mr Summers proved its qualities by throwing it about in
a most carefree manner. Of its performance little is known but there
can be little doubt about its maniability [sic] and general handiness
in the air and on the ground. One must be prepared to see all sorts
of aeroplanes looping and rolling with abandon nowadays, but
somehow one has, up to now, looked to the flying-boat to preserve
that Victorian dignity which one associates with crinolines, side
whiskers, bell-bottom trousers and metal hulls. The Seagull V
destroyed all one’s illusions.”

Henry Knowler, Chief Designer of Saunders Roe (who were to
take over the production of the Walrus during the war) watched the
display in the company of Mitchell and he has remarked on the latter’s
nervous but understandable anxiety as Summers looped the five-day
old prototype at low altitude. The little amphibian had certainly made
her bow with effect.

I have heard that Mitchell’s reaction when Mutt looped the Seagull V was “What the ***** does he think he’s doing?” the asterisks being a choice epithet, but that’s not confirmed…

[* The second exhibition of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors at Hendon on Monday, 26 June, 1933 which was to follow the R.A.F. Display of the preceding Saturday.]

Interesting, and I agree about the danger of focussing on a few at the expense of the many. Summers and Joe Smith are just two main Spitfire characters overshadowed by the spot-lit contributions of Quill and Mitchell.

Among the first aircraft he tested were the Gamecock, Bulldog, Hornbill and Avenger. The prototype Bulldog was so unstable he almost had to make his first parachute jump. It got into a spin that he could not stop, but when he started to get out he found that the airflow disturbance caused by his body had started to bring the aircraft out of the spin. He returned to his seat and landed – the fuselage was then extended by 18 inches and no further problems occurred with the Bulldog.

If we are talking about the Bristol Bulldog, I think that’s a bit disingenuous – as a rectification Bristol first tried enlarging the tail surfaces, with the result that the aircraft ‘swung dramatically on cross wind landings’ and did not solve the problem. Only then did Bristols try the fuselage extension that solved the spin problem.

However, the Bulldog was not subsiquently trouble-free as implied. Later in service an RAAF pilot had his Bulldog’s upper wing fail while attempting an outside loop, with the loss of the aircraft. Investigation showed that this happened to an RAF pilot as well, five days after the Australian accident. The temporary fix was a ban on outside loops and bunts in the RAF and RAAF. Hardly ‘no further problems’!

And it ought to be clarified that Summers, at this stage, was an RAF pilot testing the aircraft for potential entry to service, not a company test pilot taking the aircraft up for the very first time. Captain F Unwin test flew the Bulldog for Bristol before it was delivered to Martlesham Heath for service testing where Mutt would’ve first flown it.

(Ref: Bristol Bulldog & Gloster Gauntlet by Alex Crawford, pub MMP Books.)

Some aircraft flown by John ”Mutt” Summers, Vickers chief test pilot

I have compiled the following from a variety of sources to give an idea of the wide variety of work done by this great test pilot.

Joseph Summers, affectionately known for some reason as “Mutt”, was granted a short service commission in the RAF at the age of 21 and learned to fly Avro 504s and Sopwith Snipes at Duxford. He passed out at Digby in 1924 and was posted to 24 Sqn flying Sopwith Snipes, which were soon replaced by Gloster Grebes. He must have had exceptional talent, because after only 6 months he was posted to Martlesham Heath as a test pilot, a signal honour for a short-service officer.

Among the first aircraft he tested were the Gamecock, Bulldog, Hornbill and Avenger. The prototype Bulldog was so unstable he almost had to make his first parachute jump. It got into a spin that he could not stop, but when he started to get out he found that the airflow disturbance caused by his body had started to bring the aircraft out of the spin. He returned to his seat and landed – the fuselage was then extended by 18 inches and no further problems occurred with the Bulldog.

During a terminal velocity test in a Hawker Hawfinch the upper decking of the fuselage collapsed, with the side effect of overtightening the Sutton harness and jamming Mutt so tightly in his seat he could hardly breathe. He decided never to use shoulder straps again, which undoubtedly saved his life on another occasion.

One of the Martlesham pilots to test the Vickers 141 single-seat Scout in January 1928 was F/O John Summers, soon to become a Flight Lieutenant and Vickers’ chief test pilot.

The Vickers biplane bomber proposal to meet Spec. B.19/27 flew for the first time for 10 minutes in the hands of Mutt, on 30 November 1929. This competitor to the Heyford, eventually called the Vanox, was extensively modified, being flown many times by Mutt, but was eventually unsuccessful in being adopted by the Air Ministry. Instead it was used for testing, including at the RAE as a flight refuelling tanker, and was last seen at a public display in 1937, refuelling an Overstrand.

The prototype Vixen I, registered G-EBEC and designed as a private venture day bomber proposal, after several metamorphoses including major airframe changes, was fitted in 1924 with a developed version of the 650 hp Rolls-Royce Condor III direct-drive engine. Although undergoing trials at Martlesham in connection with the 1927 general-purpose competition, it was not selected. However in Mutt’s hands it had one claim to fame: on 26 August 1929, as on that date Mutt, along with Col Russell of the Irish Air Corps, flew the first airborne Irish mail, in G-EBEC from Galway to London.

Private venture single-seat shipboard aircraft Type 177 was flown by Mutt at Brooklands on 26 November 1929 and was the final development of the Vickers single-seat tractor biplanes.

The last aircraft to be built by Vickers at the Vickers Crayford Works was the Vellore Mk III, which was registered G-AASW and first flown by Mutt at Brooklands on 24 June, 1930.

The Vickers Type 160 Viastra commercial monoplane fuselage was built at the Crayford Works, but then work was transferred to Woolston, Southampton, which had just been acquired by Vickers. On completion at Woolston, the Viastra I was towed down the Itchen river and round to Hamble aerodrome on a lighter. Registered G-AAUB, it was then flown at Hamble by Mutt on 1 October, 1930.

In 1930, Barnes Wallis attempted to save weight in the structure of the Vickers proposal to meet the M.1/30 specification, given the serial S1641. Unfortunately he overdid the weight-saving, and after a couple of dozen test flights the aircraft disintegrated with pilot Mutt and flight test observer J. Radcliffe on board. Both landed safely by parachute, but the entry for this flight in Mutt’s log book was very laconic! This was on 23 November, 1933, in a high speed dive with full load, when the whole fuselage detached from the wings and Mutt was thrown out, his parachute opening immediately. Radcliffe’s safety belt was released or broken, and he found himself suspended by his parachute back-strap from the machine-gun on the starboard side of his cockpit. After some seconds he became detached and then released his parachute.

Vickers tried to interest the Air Ministry in a new tactical concept with their Type 163 Battleplane, with huge 37 mm COW guns at the nose and tail and another firing downward beneath the fuselage. Powered by a combination tractor/pusher propeller arrangement, Mutt flew it for the first time on 12 January 1931 as a bomber, but it completed only 40 hours of test flying and was broken up in the early summer of 1934.

On 4th November 1932 Mutt, by then chief test pilot for Vickers, received a letter from an officer of 216 (Bomber Transport) Squadron requesting that the Victoria (originally designed to meet the Troop Carrying Aeroplane (B) D of R Type 12 specification) should be re-engined with Bristol Pegasus engines and provided with wheel brakes and a tail wheel to replace the skid. Vickers had, probably unknown to this officer, already investigated the possibility of installing the Pegasus in the Victoria V airframe, and K2340 was selected for the initial conversion. This eventually became the Valentia.

A special twin-engined Viastra, Type 259, was built for the use of the Prince of Wales on official flights. It even included parachutes for the crew and passengers. Registered G-ACCC on 19 December 1932, in the name of Flt Lt E. H. Fielden, AFC, the Prince of Wales’ pilot and later Captain of the King’s Flight, it was first flown by Mutt Summers at Hamble in April 1933.

A development of the Vellore, the Vellox, claimed to have optimum (short landing and take-off) airfield performance, first flew as G-ABKY on 23 January, 1934 at Brooklands, piloted by Mutt Summers. On a second flight on the same day it carried its full design load.

The first of Barnes Wallis’ geodetic aircraft was the Wellesley bomber, Mutt flying the prototype for the first time on 19 June, 1935. He was landing this aircraft on 23 July when the port undercarriage collapsed, resulting in several months in the workshops to repair the serious damage to the wing.

The Wellington was designed to meet Spec. B.9/32 and the first flight of the prototype, K4049, was made by Mutt, accompanied by Messrs. Wallis and Westbrook, designer and factory manager respectively, at Brooklands on 15 June, 1936. It was to have been called the Crecy, but the change to Wellington (to commemorate the Iron Duke), started the practice of using the initial letter W for Vickers aircraft that employed Barnes Wallis geodetic structures. Of course the first Wellington Mk I L4212 was also first flown by Mutt, on 23 December, 1937, as was the first Mk III, L4251, on 19 May, 1939.

On 5 March, 1936 Jeffrey Quill flew Mutt Summers in Vickers’ new Miles Falcon from Martlesham to Eastleigh, where Mutt was to fly the new F.37/34 fighter, later known as the Spitfire, of course!

The Vickers F.5/34 embodied many new features, including 90 degree trailing edge flaps and actually flew on its first test with its full battery of eight Browning machine guns in wing mountings.It also had electrical undercarriage. Mutt Summers flew this aircraft, now called the Venom, on 17 June, 1936 at Brooklands, nearly 3 months after he had flown the prototype Spitfire at Eastleigh.

Although the F.7/41 twin-engined fighter proposal DZ217 was first flown by Vickers test pilot Tommy Lucke, on 24 December 1942, a flight by Mutt Summers confirmed that the handling characteristics were not all that could be desired. The second prototype was never completed and the programme was officially stopped at the end of 1943, although DZ217 continued to fly until the end of 1944, being known by some as “the tin Mossie” due to its resemblance to the Mosquito.

There were 3 accidents with the Warwick within the space of a few days early in 1945, and Mutt, with his flight observer Jimmy Green, was involved in the one concerning HG364, from which they escaped without serious injury. Mutt’s brother Maurice (also a test pilot) was involved in another Warwick accident, PN777, in which his flight observer, G. F. Hemsley, broke his leg. The cause was found to be rudder aerodynamic overbalance, corrected by the addition of a dorsal fin.

Windsor DW506 was first flown from Farnborough by Mutt Summers on 23 October, 1943, having been assembled there in a specially built hangar later used by the ETPS. This was the first prototype Windsor, which is renowned for having gun barbettes at the rear of the two outboard engine nacelles. However, only 3 Windsors ever flew, the last without the barbettes. The second prototype was flown by Wg Cdr Maurice Summers, Mutt’s brother.

Britain’s first postwar airliner to fly was the Vickers VC1, adapted from the Wellington and Warwick designs, registered G-AGOK and flown by Mutt from Wisley on 22 June 1945. # prototypes were ordered by the Ministry of Aircraft Production, and this project became the Viking. This was followed by the military troop transport Valetta, the prototype being first flown by Mutt on 30 June, 1947 at Brooklands. Another later development was the Varsity for Flying Training Command, the first of which was VX828 flown by Mutt from Wisley on 17 July, 1949 with Jock Bryce as co-pilot.

The Viscount needs no introduction and the prototype of this tremendously successful turboprop civil transport (originally the VC2) was flown from Wisley by Mutt and Jock Bryce for 10 minutes on 16 July, 1948.

Jock Bryce recounts that on his first flight with Mutt in the prototype Viscount 630 he was astonished to see Mutt beginning his pre-flight checks by relieving himself alongside the main wheels. “Never fly with a full bladder,” was his advice, “I know people who crashed with one and it killed them!”

The very last prototype to have Mutt at the controls on its first flight was the Type 600 serial WB210, in June given the name Valiant, once again with Jock Bryce as co-pilot, from the grass at Wisley on 18 May, 1951. Only 3 more Valiant flights were made from Wisley before flight trials were transferred to Hurn, while a paved runway was being constructed at Wisley.

After 3 flights with Jock, he was checked out as first pilot and took over as chief test pilot when Mutt retired shortly afterwards. Sadly, his retirement was brief. He died after an operation 2 years later.

I am compiling a brief (but very long!) set of notes on his career, including material from “Test Pilots” by Don Middleton, which I think is the book you mean, Charlielima5.
If Forum members don’t mind, I will post it here, but so far it amounts to over 1500 words and could well reach 2000!
He died after an operation in 1953 or 1954.
I’ve given up trying to count how many types he flew!

Another line of contact is Julian Temple, Director of the Brooklands Museum.

I agree that Summers is a much neglected test pilot – my own rough notes about him end with conflicting figures for the number of different types he tested (& different again from Papa Lima’s):-

“27/7/51 – Retired as CTP with one last routine test flight of a Varsity and began new ‘Liaison Officer’(?) job with Vickers. Note: he had been CTP at Vickers for 22 years during which time he tested 30 different types.

1954? – Died – having test flown 54 types in a 25 year career as a test pilot”

Not sure where I got my facts from but one of the best accounts of his carrer that I’ve seen is a chapter in a 1950s book on British test pilots – the title and author of which unfortunately escapes me at present. Clearly more research on this distinguished person is needed.