Jeffrey Quill - Aviation Career

Aviation Career

At the age of 18, Quill was accepted into the Royal Air Force as an Acting Pilot Officer. He learned to fly on Avro Tutor biplanes at no.3 Flying Training School at Grantham, and went solo after the remarkably short time of 5 hours 20 minutes (9 hours being regarded as the norm). He graduated on to Siskin IIIA advanced trainers, and his flying ability was assessed as exceptional. In September 1932 he joined No. 17 Squadron RAF at Upavon, where he began flying Bristol Bulldog fighters. While with 17 Squadron he took part in the Royal Air Force display at Hendon in June 1933, demonstrating low flying in a mock bombing attack. He flew as often as possible in order to familiarise himself with the aeroplane, practising aerobatics and flying in cloud. He was well aware of the dangers of flying and later wrote:

"Unless aerobatics were practised assiduously to the point where one was familiar with every conceivable combination of speed and altitude of which the aircraft was capable, one was not master of the aeroplane. Therefore a day would come when the aeroplane decided that it was in charge instead of the pilot, and that would be the last day. I never had cause to modify that view, and I kept my aerobatics well honed to the day of my last flight as a pilot."