In 1983 Jeffrey Quill, one of the original test pilots, decided that the
contribution given to British military aviation by the designer, R J Mitchell, had never
been properly recognised and he considered that the only way of providing a lasting
tribute would be to construct an exact, non-flying facsimile of the prototype which would
be placed on permanent public display.
The Spitfire Society set up a new fund and early donations from the
membership placed the project on a sound financial footing. In addition, Jim Mitchell, a
cousin of Dr Gordon Mitchell, the designers son, had painted a picture "First
Flight" which depicted the prototype taking off from Eastleigh on 5 March 1936 and
copies of this in a multi-signed limited edition were sold to gain further funding for the
project.
Copyright J W Mitchell - First Flight of the Spitfire
Jeffrey then set about recruiting a team of former Supermarine
professionals, including Jack Davies, 'Mac' McDonald, Alex Henshaw, Gerry Gingell and Wilf
Bunting together with Aerofab Restorations who by sheer coincidence were restoring a Mk V
(BL628) to flying condition. Parts for the K5054 project were copied and fabricated using
the Mk V as a template in addition to which reference was made to some of the original
drawings of early Spitfires.
By May 1992 the project was nearing completion, the only thing left was
to finish it off in the original colour scheme, it was critical to the whole project that
the facsimile had the correct colour paint. By chance it transpired that Gordon Mitchell
had a desktop model of K5054 which had been presented to his Father in 1936 and which had
been painted using the original paint that had been applied to the prototype.
On 24 April 1993 the finished facsimile was unveiled to the public by
Jeffrey Quill at the RAF Museum. Jeffrey's 10 year old ambition had been realised thanks
to the dedication, generosity and perseverance of so many who had contributed to the
project.
Cockpit of K5054 - note Jeffery Quill's signature on the panel
(Courtesy of Harry Cordle)
The facsimile is now on permanent display in the Aviation museum at
Tangmere
(Courtesy Harry Cordle)
The K5054 facsimile - Reproduced with the permission of Peter Evans
See the Spitfire links page for details of his site - Spitfire Corner
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