17 Facts About Jeffrey Quill

Jeffrey Quill was the second man to fly the Supermarine Spitfire after Vickers Aviation's chief test pilot, Joseph "Mutt" Summers.

Jeffrey Quill was born at Littlehampton, Sussex, the youngest of the five children of Arthur Maxwell Jeffrey Quill and Emily Molesworth Kindersley.

Jeffrey Quill was educated at Lancing College, which overlooked Shoreham aerodrome, at that time a small grass field with old hangars and a wooden hut for a flying club.

Jeffrey Quill played in the Cricket XI ; Football XI ; and was Sergeant in the Officers' Training Corps, Cert.

At the age of 18, Jeffrey Quill was accepted into the Royal Air Force as an acting pilot officer.

Jeffrey Quill learned to fly on Avro Tutor biplanes at No 3 Flying Training School at Grantham, and went solo after the short time of 5 hours 20 minutes.

Jeffrey Quill graduated to Siskin IIIA advanced trainers, and his flying ability was assessed as exceptional.

Jeffrey Quill flew as often as possible to familiarise himself with the aeroplane, practising aerobatics and flying in cloud.

Jeffrey Quill was well aware of the dangers of flying and later wrote:.

In January 1936 Jeffrey Quill applied for release from the RAF and joined Vickers Ltd at Brooklands, as assistant to its chief test pilot, Joseph "Mutt" Summers.

Jeffrey Quill initiated an improvement in the optical quality of the cockpit side panels.

Privately, Jeffrey Quill did not rate their chances of survival very highly.

Not long afterwards, Jeffrey Quill flew the captured German aircraft at Farnborough.

In January 1943 Jeffrey Quill was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Jeffrey Quill flew with both squadrons and was later attached to 1837 squadron, which was shore-based.

Jeffrey Quill died at his home in the village of Andreas, Isle of Man, on 20 February 1996.

Jeffrey Quill is buried in St Andrew's church yard, the church being near to the former fighter station RAF Andreas which operated Spitfires from 1941 to 1942.