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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1132.PDF
58o FLIGHT JUNE 6TH, 1946 Britain's Test Pilots No. 10 JEFFREY K. QUILL, O.B.E., A.F.C, CHIEF TEST PILOT OF SUPERMARINE DIVISION OF VICKERS-ARMSTRONG, LTD. 1EFFREY QUILL'S name is synonymous with thedevelopment of the Spitfire, to which he has devotedmost of his waking hours for the past eight years. Hecan quote in everlasting and intricate detail mark num- bers and slight differences in the beloved "Spit," as it has continually improved during the war years and kept one jump ahead of the Luftwaffe. In this respect some of his figures are interesting. The Spitfire prototype had a maximum speed of 349 m.p.h., and the Mark 24 does 452 tn.p.h. Service ceiling has risen by nearly 10,000 ft and the rate of climb just doubled from 2,500 ft per min. In all-up weight the Spit. 24 is the equivalent of the original prototype carrying 31 passengers, each of 170 lb—a greater load than the Viking carries—and, thanks to Rolls-Royce, the power has also increased by 100 per cent. Quill took a short service commission in the R.A.F. in 1931 and learnt to fly on Avro Tutors at No. 3 F.T.S. at Grantham. In the service flight of the school he flew Siddeley Siskins and was graded as '' exceptional'' on passing-out in August, 1932. For a while he was posted to No. 17 Fighter Squadron at Upavon, which was one of the first squadrons to be equipped with the then famous Bristol Bulldog—a fighter "Flight" photograph which was later to be adopted by over 10 countries. Whilewith No. 17 in 1933 he was one of the team to demonstrate the converging bombing attack at tlieHR-rArF-rTJisplay ofthat year—the only R.A.F. Display ever held in really bad weather. With the "Met." Flight Posted to Duxford in December, 1933, Quill spent the' next two years doing a wonderful flying job in the Met. Flight. With Ken, Stoddard and Dick Reynell (later a test pilot in the Hawker Group and unfortunately killed while back with his old squadron for a while during the Battle of Britain), he tried to complete a whole year's meteoro- logical flights without missing a day. He succeeded. This did not include Sundays. Apparently Sunday weather did not matter in those days, as no flights were scheduled to take place. Siskins and Gauntlets were mostly used, although the Westland Wallace and Hawker Fury took some part. At 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. each day, whatever the weather, fog or sunshine, an aircraft climbed to approximately 30,000 ft, taking meteorological readings all the way up. Oxygen was carried but, of course, there was no artificial horizon 111 ^» 'Jin W)0 S.W 760 700 BOO ft*) 5* $£• 4;V) n«r .id ».«•( mb n.b nib ml) mh >i>b mb /% mh ml. rr 4 no fas /pfd * S70 >7O 7 -944 I'OWS t 'I . '.',. i yy ... . f. sr ^ HMA ... I A • t .4 p Ft B H C.KM / C owe wo mi:' A' ,'l.ZI. ««> mli Noftf* an l(»rmari«n of Rime an tttnptine while ifi clouds, liul Jimx- form • ' • " - "Flight " photograph WEATHER OR NOT: A Gloster Gauntlet (Bristol 6oo h.p. Mercury engine) ofthe type used by the Meteorological Flight. Although wh_eel spats wereiitted by 'the manufacturers it was usual to remove them because of Trouble with mud.On the left is one of Jeffrey Quill's own climb reports from January, 1934. It will be seen that the climb is registered in millibars. The highest point reached—520 m.b.—equals about 30,000 ft.
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