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Spitfire Trivia
- Thread starter PRB
- Start date
lefty
SOH-CM-2023
OK, the trick presumably is that the recognised first flight by Summers, on 05/03/36 (British dating) was in the Type 300, or F7/30. The Spitfire name was not approved until 10th June, after which it was piloted by several people including Quill and Edwardes-Jones.
So I'm not really sure what the correct answer to your question really is !
So I'm not really sure what the correct answer to your question really is !
Interesting. That really would make it a trick question! I'm reading Quill's book “Spitfire, A Test Pilot's Story”, and of the first flight he writes:
“... On 6 March I flew the Falcon from Brooklands to Martlesham to take Mutt Summers from there to Eastleigh. Popular folklore has it that the first flight of the Spitfire took place on 5 March 1936, but I flew Mutt to Eastleigh for the particular purpose of making that first flight on 6 March....”
So I Googled and looked in a another Spitfire book I have and everyone seems to agree on 5 March. Except for Quill. Maybe Quill made a type-o in his diary!
“... On 6 March I flew the Falcon from Brooklands to Martlesham to take Mutt Summers from there to Eastleigh. Popular folklore has it that the first flight of the Spitfire took place on 5 March 1936, but I flew Mutt to Eastleigh for the particular purpose of making that first flight on 6 March....”
So I Googled and looked in a another Spitfire book I have and everyone seems to agree on 5 March. Except for Quill. Maybe Quill made a type-o in his diary!