[BITList] Reginald Joseph Mitchell

[John Feltham]

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Mitchell,  Reginald Joseph  (1895-1937), aircraft designer, was born on 20 May 1895 at 115 Congleton Road, Butt Lane, near Stoke-on-Trent, the eldest of the three sons of Herbert Mitchell (1865-1933), a Yorkshireman who served as headmaster successively in three Staffordshire schools and later established a printing business in the Hanley district of Stoke. His mother was Eliza Jane Brain, the daughter of William Brain, a master cooper of Longton, to the south of Stoke. He spent his childhood in Normacot, near Longton, and attended the Queensberry Road higher elementary school before moving to Hanley high school. This was where he first became interested in aviation, designing, making, and flying model aeroplanes.

At the age of sixteen Mitchell began an apprenticeship with the locomotive engineering firm of Kerr, Stuart & Co. at Stoke. His practical training, starting in the engine workshops and progressing to the drawing office, was supplemented by evening classes at a local technical college, where he studied engineering drawing and mechanics and displayed a particular aptitude for higher mathematics. But his interest in aviation persisted, and in 1917 he joined the Supermarine Aviation Works at Woolston, Southampton, as assistant to the company's owner and designer, Hubert Scott-Paine. Within a year he had been promoted to the post of assistant to the works manager. Shortly afterwards, in 1918, he married a schoolteacher, Florence (d. 1946), the daughter of Henry James Dayson, a farmer. They had one son, Gordon (b. 1920).

In 1919, at the age of only twenty-four, Mitchell was appointed chief designer, and in the following year he was also made chief engineer. His short but illustrious career subsequently advanced along two parallel paths. It was founded, beyond all else, on the design and development of military flying boats for the Royal Air Force. From its formation in 1912 Supermarine had specialized in flying-boat manufacture, and Mitchell built on the company's tradition. Through designs such as the Sea Eagle, the Scarab, and the Swan, he progressed to an armed military flying boat called the Southampton, which first flew in 1925. Ordered not only by the RAF but also by Japan, Argentina, and Australia, the Southampton set new standards for range, reliability, and versatility, establishing Britain at the forefront of marine aviation and helping to transform Supermarine into one of the most profitable enterprises in the aircraft industry. It equipped six RAF squadrons and remained operational until 1936. The Southampton was eventually succeeded by such aircraft as the Walrus and the Stranraer, which both rendered sterling service in the Second World War.

Despite the success of Mitchell's flying boats, his name is more commonly associated with the design of high-speed aircraft for the Schneider trophy races between 1922 and 1931. The first such aircraft, a small biplane flying boat named Sea Lion II, won the 1922 race against French and Italian competition by achieving an average speed of 145.7 m.p.h. But Mitchell was profoundly influenced by the American Curtiss seaplanes, which dominated the race in 1923. He began developing a series of Supermarine float seaplanes soon afterwards and produced four beautifully streamlined racing monoplanes. The first, the S4, although unsuccessful, provided invaluable practical experience that was incorporated in its successor, the S5. In 1927 the S5 achieved an average speed of 281.7 m.p.h. in the Schneider race to recapture the trophy for Britain. The third aircraft, the S6, retained the trophy two years later (from 1928 the race was held every two years, instead of annually), while the fourth and most famous, the S6B, won the Schneider trophy outright in 1931, averaging 340 m.p.h. around the course. Soon afterwards the S6B set a new world speed record of 407.5 m.p.h.

The technical prowess of Mitchell's flying boats and seaplanes established him as the foremost aircraft designer in Britain. A ten-year contract, commencing in 1923, signified his indispensability to Supermarine, and a technical directorship followed in 1927. When Vickers acquired Supermarine in the following year, it was on the understanding that Mitchell was contractually obliged to remain with the company until 1933: he was their most valuable asset.

The aircraft for which Mitchell will always be remembered is the Spitfire single-seat fighter, designed between 1934 and 1936. In truth the Spitfire was a hybrid, the product of many diverse technical developments. Its thin, elliptical wing-the key to its exceptional performance and flying characteristics-was the brainchild of Supermarine's aerodynamicist, Beverley Shenstone, who was in turn influenced by the work of the German aircraft manufacturer, Junkers. Its deadly eight-gun armament was proposed by the Air Ministry's directorate of operational requirements. Its power source was the new Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. Its low-drag, ducted radiator, mounted under the starboard wing, drew directly on research undertaken by the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough. Configured as a cantilever monoplane, it embodied many of the latest features of American and German aircraft design, such as stressed-skin construction, a monocoque fuselage, and a retractable undercarriage. Mitchell's most direct personal contribution was an unparalleled expertise in high-speed flight, gained from the Schneider trophy racers, and a brilliant practical engineering ability, exemplified in this instance by the incorporation of vital lessons learned from Supermarine's unsuccessful type 224 fighter. Otherwise the essence of his achievement lay in the merger of all these influences into a single, outstanding design.

The Spitfire entered service in 1939 and was unquestionably better than any other interceptor fighter during the early stages of the Second World War. But it proved no less remarkable in its capacity for further development. Once it was slightly modified and equipped with more powerful engines, the Spitfire's top speed was raised from 346 m.p.h. in 1939 to 460 m.p.h. five years later. Hence it provided RAF squadrons with a fighter capable of matching the most formidable German aircraft for the duration of hostilities. Some 19,000 Spitfires were eventually built in Britain between 1939 and 1945.

Mitchell was a handsome man with striking blond hair and bright blue eyes. Quiet, reserved, and modest, he shunned fame and publicity; he was appointed CBE in 1932, but his name was not widely known beyond aviation circles during his lifetime. Although he was primarily a practical engineer and lacked any formal training in aeronautical science, he nevertheless consistently demonstrated an intuitive understanding of aerodynamic problems. An indefatigable worker, endowed with great intelligence and remarkable powers of concentration, he was often stern and irascible towards those less gifted than himself. But he was also well known for his kindness and humanity, and he commanded the unerring respect, loyalty, and affection of his staff, to whom he was utterly devoted. In 1933 he was diagnosed with cancer, and a major operation left him with a serious physical disability in the form of a permanent colostomy. Yet he steadfastly refused to contemplate retirement or the life of an invalid. It is rarely appreciated that the designer of Britain's most famous fighter aircraft was engaged in a courageous struggle against acute physical and psychological discomfort during the four most productive years of his career. The Spitfire first flew in March 1936; a production order was placed in June. But Mitchell did not live to witness the spectacular wartime achievements of his finest creation. He died at his home, Hazeldene, 2 Russell Place, Portswood, Southampton, on 11 June 1937, aged only forty-two. His ashes were interred at South Stoneham cemetery, Eastleigh, Hampshire, four days later.

Sebastian Ritchie 

Sources  G. Mitchell, ed., R. J. Mitchell, world-famous aircraft designer: schooldays to Spitfire (1986); 3rd edn (2002) + J. Quill, Birth of a legend: the Spitfire (1986) + S. Ritchie, Industry and air power: the expansion of British aircraft production, 1935-1941 (1997) + C. F. Andrews and E. B. Morgan, Supermarine aircraft since 1914 (1981) + A. Price, The Spitfire story (1982)
Archives Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon, papers | CUL, Vickers Ltd archive SOUND IWM SA, oral history interview
Likenesses  photograph, c.1930, Hult. Arch. · photograph, c.1933, Sci. Mus. [see illus.] · S. S. Miles, bust, Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon · E. Mitchell, portrait, priv. coll. · photograph, priv. coll.
Wealth at death  £33,124 13s. 10d.: probate, 6 Aug 1937, CGPLA Eng. & Wales




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