They must have realised even then what a massive leap it would be from Gladiators, Furies, Bulldogs etc, and wondered how pilots would cope with making the transition.
From memory – a critical part of the service acceptance trials for the Spitfire (& Hurricane) was the assesement on its sutability to be flown safely by ‘an average service pilot’ of the time. Humphrey Edwardes-Jones was the man who was tasked with making the reccomendation in respect of the Spitfire and he decided that it could be safely placed in the hands of the ‘average’ pilot with only a pre-flight brief. At the time that ‘average’ pilot might well have no experience of monoplane, retractable gear high performance aircraft but nontheless E-J made the right decision.
Sign In
