Joseph Summers - Career

Career

Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers received his nickname "Mutt" during his early days in the RAF from his habit of urinating before take off on the small rear wheel or skid of the aircraft he was testing. This led to his being accused of christening his aircraft like a dog marking its territory. He did this because he was aware during some crashes a full bladder could prove fatal.

Summers was granted a short-service commission in the RAF at the age of 21, and learned to fly on Avro 504s and Sopwith Snipes at No. 2 F.T.S. (Flying Training School). He passed out from RAF Digby in 1924 and was posted to No. 29 Fighter Squadron, equipped with Snipes and later with Gloster Grebes.

After six months he was transferred to the single-seater flight at Martlesham Heath, where he helped to test, among other types, the Gloster Gamecock, Bristol Bulldog, Hawker Hornbill and Avro Avenger. He flew for five years at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Martlesham Heath, including periods on loan to Blackburn Aircraft and Avro. He left his post at Martlesham in May, 1929, and the following month joined Vickers Aviation Ltd, as their chief test pilot. A year later he became chief test pilot to the Supermarine Aviation Works and in that capacity flew the first Supermarine Spitfire in 1936.

Summers tested numerous fighters and bombers through the 1930s. He flew the prototype of Barnes Wallis' geodetic aircraft the Vickers Wellesley bomber in June 1935. He was landing this aircraft on 23 July when the port undercarriage collapsed, resulting in several months in the workshops to repair the serious damage to the wing.

He flew the protoytpe Wellington Bomber, K4049, with Wallis and Westbrook (factory manager) aboard, at Brooklands on 15 June 1936. It was to have been called the Crecy, but the change to Wellington (to commemorate the Iron Duke), started the practice of using the initial letter W for Vickers aircraft that employed Barnes Wallis geodetic structures.

Through the late 1930s and into the 1940s Summers continued to test numerous aircraft and iron out issues with existing airframes.

Postwar career

Summer's flew Britain’s first postwar airliner the Vickers VC.1 Viking, adapted from the Wellington bomber, on 22 June 1945. This was followed by the military troop transport the Vickers Valetta, which Summers flew on 30 June 1947 at Brooklands.

The prototype of the turboprop civil transport Vickers Viscount was flown from Wisley Airfield by Summers and Jock Bryce for 10 minutes on 16 July 1948.

The very last prototype to have Summers at the controls on its maiden flight was the Vickers Valiant, once again with Jock Bryce as co-pilot, flown from Wisley Airfield on 18 May 1951.

Accidents

Summers experienced a number of accidents and crashes during his career. During a test flight on the first dual Gloster Grebe, the aircraft spun flat to within 150 ft of the ground, coming out completely stalled with full engine. In a terminal velocity dive on the Hawfinch a fuselage bay collapsed at about t.v. speed; the anchorage for the Sutton harness was in the tail and this pulled him back and nearly broke his neck. While testing the first Bulldog he spun down from 10,000 ft to 2,000 ft, having tried to abandon the machine at 4,000 ft. He had released his harness and was on the centre section when the machine stopped rotating and went into a dive, enabling him to regain control by pushing the stick with his foot. Thereupon he climbed back into the cockpit and landed.

His most dramatic escape was in 1945, when structural failure in a Vickers Warwick applied full rudder at 3,000 ft over Weybridge, Surrey. Summers had no alternative but to crash land the aircraft into an avenue of trees, with a ploughed field at the end. When the aircraft had come to rest flames emerged from both engine air intakes. Fortunately, some farm labourers had time to get into the fuselage and extricate Summers and his flight engineer before a major fire started.