Aircraft designer Reginald Mitchell was born on 20 May 1895 near Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire. After leaving school Mitchell joined Kerr Stuart and Company, a locomotive engineering works, as an apprentice.
In 1917 Mitchell joined the Supermarine Aviation works at Southampton and within a year he was appointed its chief designer. Further promotions followed and when Vickers acquired Supermarine in 1928, one of the conditions of sale was that Mitchell would remain as designer for the next five years. Between 1920 and 1936 Mitchell was responsible for designing more than 20 aircraft from light sports aeroplanes to flying boats.
However, it was in the Schneider Trophy Races that Reginald Mitchell’s designs first made their mark. He built two aircraft and they finished first and second in the Trophy race of 1927 - the winning aircraft reached an average speed of 281.65 mph. In the 1929 race, Supermarine entered its S.6 aircraft powered by the Rolls Royce ‘R’ engine and won the race at an average speed of 328.63 mph. The same aircraft also went on to set a new world speed record of 357.7 mph.
However, Supermarine was only able to enter the 1931 race due to the generosity of Lady Houston who gave £100,000 towards the project. The resulting design, the S.6B, won the race at an average speed of 340 mph. This triumph gained the famous Schneider Trophy outright for Britain and the S.6B's innovative design paved the way for Mitchell's design for the Spitfire.
In 1932 Reginald Mitchell was awarded a CBE for his contribution to high speed flight. The Air Ministry then asked Supermarine to design a new fighter aircraft. Its Type 224 first flew on 19 February 1934 but its unsatisfactory performance led to the design being rejected by the Royal Air Force. Mitchell had already started designing another aircraft, an all-metal monoplane called the Type 300. This was originally a private venture by Supermarine, but the RAF quickly became interested and the Air Ministry financed a prototype. The Spitfire was born.
At the height of the Spitfire’s development Mitchell’s health began to deteriorate and late in 1933 he was diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment. Despite his health problems he continued to work on the Spitfire and other designs. Unusually for an aircraft designer, he took flying lessons and gained his pilots licence in July 1934.
The prototype Spitfire took-off from Eastleigh airfield on its maiden flight on the 5 March 1936. Flight testing continued and before the aircraft completed its official trials the RAF ordered 310 production aircraft.
In 1937 ill health forced Mitchell to give up
work although he was often at Eastleigh watching the Spitfire being
tested. Reginald Mitchell died on 11 June 1937 aged 42. Over 22,000
Spitfires and its derivatives were built and played a significant
role in the Second World War.
