The Story of Reginald Mitchell

This is the story of Reginald Mitchell’s life and career - set against news stories and contemporary events. It features new digitised scans of original plans, sketches and photos and rare archive film of his greatest achievements; the seaplanes which broke world speed records and won the Schneider Trophy outright for Britain in 1931, and of course his greatest achievement - the SPITFIRE.

Apart from all the key visual archive material relating to “RJ”, as Mitchell was affectionately known, contemporary news reports, personal correspondence and diary entries are brought to life by actors to give his true “inside story”.

The documentary opens in the year 1937 - when Mitchell died quietly as the nation noisily celebrated a new Coronation and many big news events. He looks back on his life and comments both on the changing times and his own career. All the important
steps forward are illustrated with film and new scans of original visual material - sketches, plans, photos.

Actor TIM CHURCHILL gives a moving, magnificent performance as the greatest aircraft designer of all. Here, in his own words and contemporary reports, we follow how “RJ” realised his “SPITFIRE DREAM”.