Jeffrey Quill

Jeffrey Kindersley Quill

OBE, AFC, FRAeS
Quill, a young man, in military dress uniform: he wears a single "pip" on his shoulder and the Air Force Cross beneath his pilot's wings on his chest.
Quill, wearing his [Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)
Born(1913-02-01)1 February 1913
Littlehampton, Sussex
Died20 February 1996(1996-02-20) (aged 83)
Andreas, Isle of Man
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branch
Years of service1931–1936
1940
1943–1944
RankLieutenant Commander
Unit
Battles/warsSecond World War
Awards
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Jeffrey Kindersley Quill, OBE, AFC, FRAeS (1 February 1913 – 20 February 1996) was a British test pilot who served on secondment with the Royal Air Force and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War. He was also 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. Quill's work on the aircraft aided its development from a promising but untried prototype to become, with the Hawker Hurricane, an instrument of the Royal Air Force's victory in the Battle of Britain. The Spitfire later played a leading role in gaining Allied air superiority over Europe.[1] Quill later wrote two books about the Spitfire.[2][3]

  1. ^ The Times, 29 February 1996
  2. ^ Jeffrey Quill (1983). Spitfire: A Test Pilot's Story. London: John Murray.
  3. ^ Jeffrey Quill; Sebastian Cox (1986). Birth of a Legend: The Spitfire. Quiller Press.