
Birth of a Legend
Spitfire
Quiller Publishing Ltd
Published on 15. February 1987
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-0-907621-86-7 (ISBN)
Description
Originally published in hardback to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Spitfire's first flight, Birth of a Legend has become the definitive behind-the-scenes account of this aircraft's dramatic and triumphant birth and of its first years of survival and growth.
Using much information unavailable except from MOD records, the aeroplane's chief test pilot, Jeffrey Quill, tells of the almost miraculous efforts made by British engineering to get Mitchells' masterpiece into the air, and keep it there in sufficient quantities from the first to the last days of war.
No other aircraft has ever enjoyed the same charisma nor engendered the same sense of excitement that the Spitfire still evokes in both young and old. How fitting that Jeffrey Quill should tell of the fragile background against which our fighter pilots achieved their legendary triumph.
Using much information unavailable except from MOD records, the aeroplane's chief test pilot, Jeffrey Quill, tells of the almost miraculous efforts made by British engineering to get Mitchells' masterpiece into the air, and keep it there in sufficient quantities from the first to the last days of war.
No other aircraft has ever enjoyed the same charisma nor engendered the same sense of excitement that the Spitfire still evokes in both young and old. How fitting that Jeffrey Quill should tell of the fragile background against which our fighter pilots achieved their legendary triumph.
More details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 250 mm
Width: 190 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-907621-86-7 (9780907621867)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Jeffrey Quill, OBE, AFC, FRAeS, was born in Sussex just before the First World War. He was commissioned in the Royal Air Force in 1931 and, after training, served in a Fighter Squadron and later in a specialised unit, the Meteorological Flight. He has now retired and lives in the Isle of Man. Sebastian Cox, BA, MA, was a full time member of the staff of the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon and is now on the staff of the Air Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence, London. He is an aviation writer of growing repute.