Joseph Summers
Joseph "Mutt" Summers | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | Mutt |
Born | Captain | 10 March 1904
Unit | No. 29 Fighter Squadron |
Awards | CBE |
Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers, .
During his career, Summers flew many first flights on prototype aircraft, (a record of 54 by a test pilot), from the
Career
Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers received his nickname "Mutt" during his early days in the
Summers was granted a short-service commission in the RAF at the age of 21, and learned to fly on Avro 504s and Sopwith Snipes at No. 2 F.T.S. (Flying Training School). He passed out from RAF Digby in 1924 and was posted to No. 29 Fighter Squadron, equipped with Snipes and later with Gloster Grebes.
After six months he was transferred to the single-seater flight at
Summers tested numerous fighters and bombers through the 1930s. He flew the prototype of Barnes Wallis's geodetic aircraft the Vickers Wellesley bomber in June 1935. He was landing this aircraft on 23 July when the port undercarriage collapsed, resulting in several months in the workshops to repair serious damage to the wing.
He flew the prototype
Through the late 1930s and into the 1940s Summers continued to test numerous aircraft and iron out issues with existing airframes.
K5054 prototype Supermarine Spitfire
On 5 March 1936
Summers (then chief test pilot for Vickers (Aviation) Ltd.) took the prototype K5054 on its first flight from Eastleigh Aerodrome (later Southampton Airport). After an eight-minute flight, Summers landed the prototype.
K5054 was fitted with a new propeller and Summers flew the aircraft again on 10 March; during this flight the undercarriage was retracted for the first time. After the fourth flight a new engine was fitted, and Summers left the test-flying to his assistants, Jeffrey Quill and George Pickering. They soon discovered that the Spitfire was a very good aircraft, but not perfect. The rudder was over-sensitive and the top speed was just 330 miles per hour (530 km/h), a little faster than Sydney Camm's new Merlin-powered Hawker Hurricane.
A new and better-shaped wooden propeller meant the Spitfire reached 348 miles per hour (560 km/h) in level flight in mid-May, then Summers flew the K5054 to RAF Martlesham Heath and handed the aircraft over to Squadron Leader Anderson of the
Second World War
Shortly before the Second World War, Summers was succeeded by
During this period of the war, all leading test pilots of the main aircraft manufacturers were ordered by RAF Command to support Groups No. 10, 11, 12 and 13. Most test pilots came from Brooklands where the central manufacture and testing of military aircraft took place. Summers became a supervising RAF fighter tester specifically for No. 11 Group RAF, commanded by Air Vice Marshal Keith Park, during the Battle of Britain. Being a test pilot in this capacity and a former RAF officer, Summers' duty was as a home guard non-combatant position.
During the summer of 1940 Summers was to fly between all No. 11 Group's airfields in south east England to test fighter aircraft and ensure all they were safe to be used by 11 Group pilots after each battle. Any problems were reported to each airfield's maintenance crews. Also pilots were issued requisition tickets for a new aircraft if Summers found an aircraft to be unserviceable.
Propeller failures
During mid-1940, Jeffrey Quill informed Summers about a problem with propeller fatigue on early versions of the Mk1 Hurricane and Spitfire. The problem could lead to the propeller detaching itself during flight—something Quill had experienced himself.
Early in the
After Lacey landed the Hurricane, Summers took it up on a five-minute test flight. At 1,500 feet (460 m) Summers noticed a problem with the engine when accelerating to a certain speed. Whilst at full throttle, the propeller sheared off the aircraft. The prop ripped off the cowling and as Summers had no parachute with him it was necessary to glide the plane back to the air field.
The Bouncing Bomb
In preparation for the Dambusters Raid in May 1943, Summers was test pilot for the experimental bouncing bomb dropped from a Vickers Wellington near Portland, Dorset, a job given to him by close friend Barnes Wallis. He was depicted by Patrick Barr in the film made of the events.
Postwar career
Summers flew Britain's first postwar airliner the Vickers VC.1 Viking, adapted from the Wellington bomber, on 22 June 1945. This was followed by the military troop transport the Vickers Valetta, which Summers flew on 30 June 1947 at Brooklands.
The prototype of the turboprop civil transport Vickers Viscount was flown from Wisley Airfield by Summers and Jock Bryce for 10 minutes on 16 July 1948.
The very last prototype to have Summers at the controls on its maiden flight was the Vickers Valiant, once again with Jock Bryce as co-pilot, flown from Wisley Airfield on 18 May 1951.
Accidents
Summers experienced a number of accidents and crashes during his career. During a test flight on the first dual Gloster Grebe, the aircraft spun flat to within 150 feet (46 m) of the ground, coming out completely stalled with full engine. In a full-power dive in the Hawker Hawfinch, a fuselage bay collapsed at about terminal-velocity speed; the anchorage for the Sutton harness was in the tail and this pulled him back and nearly broke his neck. While testing the first Bulldog, Summers spun down from 10,000 to 2,000 feet (3,050 to 610 m), having tried to abandon the machine at 4,000 feet (1,200 m). He had released his harness and was on the centre section when the machine stopped rotating and went into a dive, enabling him to regain control by pushing the stick with his foot. Thereupon he climbed back into the cockpit and landed.
His most dramatic escape was in 1945, when structural failure in a Vickers Warwick caused full rudder to be involuntarily applied at 3,000 feet (910 m) over Weybridge, Surrey. Summers had no alternative but to crash-land the aircraft into an avenue of trees, with a ploughed field at the end. When the aircraft had come to rest, flames emerged from both engine air intakes. Fortunately, some farm labourers had time to get into the fuselage and extricate Summers and his flight engineer before a major fire started.
Records
What made him the best at what he was, and why he was predominantly chosen above other test pilots, was his unique ability to identify issues with any aircraft just by sitting in the cockpit and listening to the sound the aircraft made in flight.
In his career, he clocked up over 5,600 flying hours, which is the equivalent of taking off in an aircraft on 1 January and landing at the end of October. By 1946 he had tested 310 different aircraft.[3]
Summers numbered among his firsts the first flight of a pure jet civil aircraft (the Nene-Viking, a Vickers Viking airframe fitted with Nene jet engines) on 6 April 1948, the first flight of civil turboprop airliner (the Vickers Viscount) on 16 July 1948 and the initial flight of Britain's first four-jet bomber (Vickers Valiant) on 18 May 1951.
By the time he retired, he had achieved 366 general types, second only to the
Personal life
Summers married Dulcie Jeanette Belcher in 1922 in
Honours and awards
- 9 January 1946 - Commander of the Order of the British Empire to Joseph Summers, Esq., Chief Test Pilot, Vickers Armstrongs Ltd.[4]
Portrayal in Film
In the 1955 film, The Dam Busters, Summers was portrayed by the actor Patrick Barr.
Quotes
Don't touch a single thing.
— "Mutt" Summers's comment from the cockpit of the prototype Spitfire K5054 after maiden flight, 6 March 1936.
Notes
- ^ "electronics research | test pilot | engine research | 1954 | 0801 | Flight Archive". www.flightglobal.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012.
- ^ Barker, R Biplane to Monoplane, Putnam's History of Aircraft: Research & Test Flying pp 212-3
- ^ Flight 16 May 1946 pp494-495
- ^ "No. 37412". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 January 1946. p. 285.
References
- http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1946/1946%20-%200964.html
- http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1954/1954%20-%200801.html