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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0359.PDF
FEBRUARY 9, 1939 FLIGHT. static valve, designed to prevent cooling below 75 deg. C. Each production Spitfire makes at least three landings and take-offs. Apart from these, if there is any sign of a sticky oleo, the pilot taxies on a rough part of the aero drome or deliberately drops the machine during a landing. Any time remaining out of the allotted forty minutes is killed most enjoyably for the pilot (and for denizens of the tarmac and roadside) with aerobatics. One gathered that the Spitfire's controls are happiest for rolls, etc., at speeds in the neighbourhood of 200 m.p.h. Handing-over F/O. Quill, actually, is one of the finest demonstration pilots in the country. His handling of the stubby little Vickers Venom monoplane fighter during the S.B.A.C. dis play at Hatfield in 1936 will not readily be forgotten; nor will his performance on a Spitfire at last year's Brooklands Garden Party. Having done a good deal of test flying on the Wellesley, he also has a distinctive way with that sub stantial bomber. The actual handing over of a Spitfire to the Service is superintended by Mr. A. H. Mitchell, the chief A.I.D. inspector, who requires each Service pilot to present a letter from his CO., stating that the bearer is in uniform. The pilot is then handed a form (No. 1090), authorising the machine to be delivered to His Majesty's Service, together with an inventory of its equipment. H. F K. ' , • ••• .•• •• • ;rr>mimmsm w^* TVSlr-a* • >-*r .."^. jm^i kiSii _'..'- •in J«- *•—^S§l!/l'z. -in 1 • '—^ j^ia| ;—r=i_~- "T--" '• • mn^ ""^^1 1 mm* Some further impressions captured by Flight's photographer at Eastleigh. In the centre picture a Spitfire is seen on the revolving com pass base. The lower view shows Mr. A. H. Mitchell, chief A.I.D. inspector, handing over a Spitfire—with its "credentials"—to a Service pilot who has come to collect it for his Squadron.
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