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How Duxford became the first operational home of the Spitfire
During the Inter-War period Duxford Airfield was notably home to 19 Squadron. A prestigious squadron chosen by the RAF to showcase the latest and most advanced fighters of the time. On the 4th of August 1938 the squadron secured a place in aviation history with the arrival of the newest and most aerodynamically advanced fighter ever seen. . . the Supermarine Spitfire!
Before the arrival of the Spitfire, 19 Squadron were flying the Gloster Gauntlet, a silver winged biplane that was very much outdated. Henry Cozens, CO of 19 Squadron, knew that with war on the horizon the Gauntlet would be hopeless against what they were likely to face.
At this time there was a buzz around the first production Spitfire’s being delivered to squadrons. Cozens seized the opportunity to ensure Duxford would receive these new fighters. He suggested to Fighter Command HQ that due to the Air Ministry interest around the aircraft, Duxford would be the most suitable airfield due to its position relative to London. Cozens was also a Cambridge graduate in engineering which may have carried some weight from an aircraft evaluation point of view.
A few weeks later Jeffrey Quill the chief test pilot of Supermarine delivered Spitfire K9789 making Duxford the first operational home of the Spitfire.
Cozens made his first flight in K9789 on the 11th August . “At that time there were no pilots notes on the Spitfire, no conversion course, no dual control aircraft. I was shown round the cockpit, given a cheerful reminder to remember to extend the undercarriage before landed, wished ‘Good Luck’ and off I went.” It was like no other aeroplane he had flown before as there really had been nothing like it before – the Spitfire was a true thoroughbred. An all metal monoplane fighter with its sleek elliptical wing powered by a Rolls Royce V12 Merlin engine capable of 350mph.
He was very impressed with the speed range and handling of the new fighter, “it was like flying a lorry at low levels and low speeds but once you had reached 10,000ft the true characteristics became apparent, and it was a delight to fly.”
On the 16th August Cozens collected the second Spitfire, K9792, for 66 Squadron also based at Duxford. Now equipped with two production Spitfires the pilots of 19 and 66 Squadron were to carry out intensive flying trials. Their instructions were to put 400 hours on each aircraft and report their findings. Naturally the pilots were eager to take to the skies in these new fighters, flying from dawn to dusk.
Flying Officer Frank Brinsden recalls his experiences flying these early production Spitfire’s: “The Spitfire was a delightful aeroplane to fly and I can recall only two idiosyncrasies. The first was that the torque of the original two bladed fixed pitch propellor was such that the relatively small fin and rudder could not stop the aeroplane swinging through about 45 degrees if the throttle was opened to viscously for take off. The second was the approach at night when the original pattern exhausts, which stuck out like platforms, glowed red and almost blanked out forward vision. . . These and a host of other recommendations for improvement cropped up during this service evaluation process.”
The pilots had put 200 hours on each aircraft when Cozens asked James Fuller-Good, the CO of 66 Squadron, “what do we not know now at 200 hours that we will know at 400?” He
replied “Nothing.” On this they submitted their reports and the Spitfires were returned to Supermarine for stripping down and examination.
A few obvious defects were dealt with straight away by Supermarine. One being the undercarriage hand pump. This was located to the right hand hide of the cockpit and pilots would rasp their knuckles against the side of the cockpit when pumping the lever. This painful complaint was quickly dubbed “Spitfire Knuckle.” This was later replaced with a hydraulic retraction system. There was a further problem for taller pilots who would hit their heads on the inside of the low canopy, this was replaced for a bulged top version in the later mk.i Spitfires.
During this time Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding visited Duxford to see how the trials were progressing. He had two questions for Cozens. Firstly, could an average pilot fly the Spitfire? Secondly, could it take on the BF109? Cozens answered yes on both accounts. He was convinced the Spitfire could take on the 109 and any other fighter then in existence.
19 squadron received roughly one Spitfire per week and were at full strength with sixteen aircraft by the end of 1938. To show this off an air to air photoshoot was arranged where Cozens lead six Spitfires with the photographer shooting from a Bristol Blenheim – the squadron number was displayed on the tails for the occasion.
In January 1940 Cozens was posted to Harrogate where he was appointed Assistant Director of Research and Development.
