Vicker’s chief test pilot “Mutt” Summers makes the first flight of the Supermarine Type 300 from Eastleigh Airport in Hampshire, England. The brainchild of designer R.J. Mitchell, this prototype is the first of 18,298 Merlin-powered Spitfires of all marks to be built by 1945.
The KC-Z4, a blended wing body tanker concept being developed by startup JetZero, could fuel larger groups of aircraft at longer range to hold more targets at risk, company officials say.