K5054 Prototype Supermarine Spitfire
On 5 March 1936 Jeffrey Quill flew Summers in a Vickers' Miles Falcon from Martlesham to Eastleigh Aerodrome, where he was to fly the new F.37/34 fighter, which on arrival had been changed to K5054.
Summers (then chief test pilot for Vickers (Aviation) Ltd.) took the prototype K5054 on its first flight from Eastleigh Aerodrome (later Southampton Airport). After a short eight-minute flight, Summers landed the prototype.
K5054 was fitted with a new propeller and Summers flew the aircraft again on 10 March; during this flight the undercarriage was retracted for the first time. After the fourth flight a new engine was fitted, and Summers left the test-flying to his assistants, Jeffrey Quill and George Pickering. They soon discovered that the Spitfire was a very good aircraft, but not perfect. The rudder was over-sensitive and the top speed was just 330 mph (528 km/h), a little faster than Sydney Camm's new Merlin-powered Hawker Hurricane.
A new and better-shaped wooden propeller meant the Spitfire reached 348 mph (557 km/h) in level flight in mid-May, then Summers flew the K5054 to RAF Martlesham Heath and handed the aircraft over to Squadron Leader Anderson of the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE).
Read more about this topic: Joseph Summers
Famous quotes containing the word prototype:
“The Ancient Mariner seizes the guest at the wedding feast and will not let go until he has told all his story: the prototype of the bore.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)