VP441 – She flies

Thanks Mark, for the clarification!

I just thought that mentioning Jeffrey Quills name but not Joseph “Mutt” Summers’ name, might leave those who don´t already know, believing that JQ actually made the first flight.

Christer

Christer,

Jeffrey Quill, at that time the junior test pilot, was by his recollection the ferry pilot for the days in question and referred to his log entry for flying the company Miles Hawk down to Eastliegh as his reference.

Apart from a ‘margin note’ on a works document, an accounts invoice or similar, there was no record of the first flight date within the Vickers records until the recent emergence of these documents that were saved from the skip at the Vickers Hursley Park HQ when it was shut and cleared out.

Of course Mutt Summers, the chief test pilot, made the first flight, but he was of a breed, and accumulation of flying hours, where secretaries filled in log books or they were done in block form once a week. His log, I understand, does not give the day, just the block flying for the week.

Mark

… I am convinced by Jeffrey Quill’s own account that it was on 6 March, not as popularly stated 5 March …

It is possible that Jeffrey Quill did fly that day, to have entries in his log but he didn´t fly K5054, it was Joseph “Mutt” Summers, Chief Test Pilot at Vickers.

Christer

All Mustangs are ‘D’ in the dark?

I know of one Mustang which is currently in the dark, but in about an hour I will take a wander up and unlock the hanger and turn the lights on 😎

Thanks Steve, I find it amazing we have so many people in so many places that we can get pictures and news so quickly. Thank you for taking the time to take these pictures and to post them, that we have seen air to air (probably the only air to air so far) of this great plane makes me feel hounoured to be part of this forum.

I concour with Leaning Slowly’s comments here. Many thanks for sharing these great pictures with us.

First Flight of the Spitfire

I believe that Jeffrey Quill based the first flight date on his own log book entry for a flight in the Miles Hawk company hack – 6th March 1936.

It is only in very recent years that documentation, held at the Southampton, has finally confirmed the date as 5th March.

Mark

Didn’t they finally pin it down to the 5th of March eventually?

Could be wrong!

Bait taken, JDK, I am convinced by Jeffrey Quill’s own account that it was on 6 March, not as popularly stated 5 March, as he relates in “Spitfire – A Test Pilot’s Story” on page 71 of my copy. I am sure he took that date from his logbook.

Yeah…

I’m told (but I don’t believe) that there are other models of Mustang too, than the ubiqutous ‘D’ model…

All Mustangs are ‘D’ in the dark?

You mean there are differences between the different marks of Spitfire?

😀 You mean there are different marks of Spitfire, 😀

You mean there are differences between the different marks of Spitfire?

Could not have put it better myself JDK! Chill out Mark, all opinions and persuasions are welcome 🙂

Hi Corsair,
Take it easy – I don’t think MarkV was implying you didn’t know the difference, just that we are VERY excited because it’s a unique machine quite unlike the other Spitfires we have flying; it’s very uniqueness as a Seafire and as a Contraprop and the late series Griffon setup and folding wings etc… Well, I’ve got to lie down for a bit!

The comparason is a fair one IMHO, but you’ve got to give MarkV some slack. Word is he can smell the difference between a MkII and Mk.IIa from 250 yards – so he can be a little unforgiving of us mere mortals who can’t even remember the date of the first flight of the prototype…

That’s a hook with bait on BTW anyone…

Cheers

You’re right, Mark V, just my opinion…so just let me have my opinion, OK? To me she looks ‘remarkably clean like a Mk. 16’…can’t you just let me have that? I never said the WHOLE PLANE looked like a Mk. 16, I’m not an aviation MORON, my friend…I DO know the difference between the two…

Mark

You lucky buggers yanks 🙂

She looks bloody gorgeous

…she looks amazingly clean, almost like a Mk. 16 model!

What Mark, like a Spitfire Mk XVI you mean? The entire appeal of this aeroplane is it looks nothing like anything we have seen flying in the Spitfire family in the last fifty years. Each to their own opinion but its missing the point a bit IMHO to compare it to a Spitfire XVI, wonderful machines though they are.

I may get ahold of this guy and try to get a copy of that video! I have known about the quality of Nelson’s and his staff’s work for years, they have a great and very underrated shop going down there at Breckenridge,,,I remember seeing the Lone Star Corsair as a bare fuselage with bumps on the side from where rocks had been thrown into it to keep it on the ground in south america…they managed to get rid of all the bumps in the metal and the Corsair looks great today…can’t wait to hopefully run across this Seafire at a show somewhere and see it for myself…she looks amazingly clean, almost like a Mk. 16 model! God, how I miss the old Breckenridge shows!

Mark

Great pic John,
Thanks for sharing.
Cheers

VP441 Airborne

I’m John Boyle a reporter at KTXS TV in Abilene, Texas.
I’ve done a pair of feature stories on Nelson Ezell and his staff over the past two years showing VP441 iundergoing restoration. Yesterday (May 4) I got a call from Nelso and he invited me up to Breckenridge to see the Seafire fly.
He didn’t have to ask twice!
We got some great shots! My favorite is where Nelson flew down the taxiway cennterline and passed over the camera. To say he was low would be an understatement. I ducked as the counter-rotating props passed overhead.
The story airs tonight on our newscast…you can see a still photo (taken from the video) and a short text version of the story on our website at www.ktxs.com
I plan on putting the story on tape and give a copy to the Ezells.

What’s a Spitfire? Ain’t they some kinda car?

Yup, for hairdressers…….. 😉 :p