Member of Parliament Test Flew the Spitfire and Hurricane

Many of you probably are aware of this, I wasn’t. The MP Harold Balfour, test flew the Hawker Hurricane and then the Supermarine Spitfire in 1938. This is from the New Zealand Herald, 20th of September 1938.

MINISTER AS PILOT

NEW MACHINE TESTED

OVER 300 MILES AN HOUR

” NICE FOR OLD GENTLEMAN”

[From Our Own Correspondent] LONDON, Sept. 1

Twenty minutes’ flying at more than 300 miles an hour has acquainted Captain H. H. Balfour, Under-Secretary of State for Air, with the outstanding qualities of the Spitfire monoplane, which is now in course of delivery to fighter squadrons. The Minister’s flight has shown clearly that the aeroplane, in spite of its great speed, is, easy to handle.

Although he flew-fighters during the War, Captain Balfour now holds only the ordinary amateur pilot’s “A” licence and most of his flying is done in light aeroplanes. Taking off from the Royal Air Force station at Duxford, he flew at heights ranging up to about 3000 ft. He said afterward that he had flown at considerably more than 300 m.p.h., but that at his highest speed the engine was not “anything like all out.” The Merlin engine is supercharged to give its full output of 1050 horsepower at a height of 16,000 ft., where the Spitfire achieves its maximum level speed of approximately six miles a minute.

Machine Free from “Vices”
The aeroplane was not specially prepared for Captain Balfour, who ascended easily and confidently after a few minutes’ chat with a service pilot. His subsequent opinion that the Spitfire is “a very nice aeroplane for an old gentleman” like himself who spent most of his time at an office desk, speaks eloquently for the admirable flying qualities of the aircraft.

A few weeks ago Captain Balfour tried the Hawker Hurricane and found it equally free from “vices.” Evidently, the young pilot may graduate quickly and without trouble to the control of these magnificent and heavily armed fighters — an important factor in assessing the strength of the Royal Air Force. 

Captain Balfour’s last squadron during the War was equipped with Camel’ biplanes, capable of a top speed of little more than 100 miles an hour, and although they were swift and aggressive in manoeuvre, they had awkward habits which made them dangerous in the hands of an unaccustomed pilot. Their modern equivalent, reaching speeds more than three times as great, is docile and safe.

Battery of Machine-guns
The Spitfire is a long-wing monoplane. It has a fully retractable undercarriage and flaps to assist landing. The Rolls-Royce Merlin engine is neatly housed in a smooth streamlined cowling, and, is cooled by liquid flowing through a ducted radiator which was specially designed for minimum head resistance. A battery of machine-guns is carried in the wings, arranged to direct a tornado of bullets on enemy aircraft at critical range.

Spitfires are emerging in numbers from the Supermarine works at Southampton. Lord Nuffield’s airframe factory at Birmingham has been awarded an initial contract for a thousand Spitfires.