Joseph Summers - Second World War and Battle of Britain

Second World War and Battle of Britain

Shortly before the Second World War, Summers was succeeded by Jeffrey Quill, his assistant and protégé, who took over testing single-seater prototypes during the war.

During this period of the war, all leading test pilots of the main aircraft manufacturers were ordered by RAF Command to support Groups No. 10, 11, 12 and 13. Most test pilots came from Brooklands where the central manufacture and testing of military aircraft took place. Summers became a supervising RAF fighter tester specifically for No. 11 Group RAF, commanded by Air Vice Marshal Keith Park, during the Battle of Britain. Being a test pilot in this capacity and a former RAF officer, Summers' duty was as a home guard non-combatant position.

During the summer of 1940 Summers was to fly between all No. 11 Group's airfields in south east England to test fighter aircraft and ensure all they were safe to be used by 11 Group pilots after each battle. Any problems were reported to each airfield's maintenance crews. Also pilots were issued requisition tickets for a new aircraft if Summers found an aircraft to be unserviceable.

Prop failure 1940

During mid-1940, Jeffrey Quill informed Summers about a problem with propeller fatigue on early versions of the Mk1 Hurricane and Spitfire. The problem could lead to the propeller detaching itself during flight - something Quill had experienced himself.

Early in the Battle of Britain during an attack over south east England, pilot James Harry "Ginger" Lacey of 501 Squadron from RAF Middle Wallop, complained he had a problem with his Hurricane's engine, and felt it was too dangerous to accelerate any faster than he was.

After Lacey landed the Hurricane, Summers took it up on a five-minute test flight. At 1500 ft Summers noticed a problem with the engine when accelerating to a certain speed. Whilst at full throttle, the propeller sheared off the aircraft. The prop ripped off the cowling and as Summers had no parachute with him it was necessaruy to glide the plane back to the air field.

Dambusters

In preparation for the Dambusters Raid in May 1943, Summers was test pilot for the experimental bouncing bomb dropped from a Vickers Wellington near Portland, Dorset, a job given to him by close friend Barnes Wallis. He was depicted by Patrick Barr in the film made of the events.