Jeffrey Quill

Jeffrey Quill

Jeffrey Kindersley Quill OBE AFC FRAeS (1 February 1913 – 20 February 1996) was a British Royal Air Force officer, RNVR officer and Test pilot and the second man to fly the Supermarine Spitfire after Vickers Aviation's chief test pilot, Joseph "Mutt" Summers. After succeeding Summers as Vickers' chief test pilot, Quill test-flew every mark of Spitfire, originally designed by R. J. Mitchell.

For his work as the test pilot in charge of the development of the Spitfire, Jeffrey Quill stands out in aviation history, and his name has a place alongside that of Reginald Mitchell, the aircraft's brilliant designer. It was Quill who advanced the Spitfire from a promising but untried prototype to become (with the Hurricane) the instrument of the Royal Air Force's decisive victory in the Battle of Britain. From that point the Spitfire went on to take a leading part in gaining vital air superiority over Europe.

Quill wrote two books about the Spitfire.