BIRTH OF A LEGEND ~ The Spitfire

Signed on the title page by

Jeffrey Quill

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Handwritten letter dated 22/3/86 from Quill to Paddy Barthropp referencing the attendance
at the book launch of his ‘distinguished layabouts’!

Quiller Press 1986 First edition, first impression. 160 pages including numerous photographs and colour plates.

Fine condition book in blue boards with gilt titles and a Fine condition unclipped dustjacket. Besides the letter, the book also comes with a flyer for a RAeS lecture given by Quill for the 50th Anniversary of the Spitfire

Published for the Spitfire’s 50th anniversary, Jeffrey Quill recounts the events leading up to its dramatic and triumphant birth and of the precarious first few years of its development.

As Supermarine Chief Test Pilot, the author’s life was centred on the Spitfire and nobody was better qualified to write this book. Quill was the second pilot to fly the Spitfire and took it from its experimental prototype stage in 1936, when he worked with its great designer RJ Mitchell, through some 52 variants to the end of its production life in 1948.  To gain first-hand knowledge of combat conditions the author fought with 65 Squadron at the height of the Battle of Britain.  He later served in aircraft-carriers as an RNVR officer to increase his understanding of the problems of naval aviation and completed some 75 deck landings.

A brilliant Spitfire book!