Spitfire Dream

The Story of Reginald Mitchell

This dramatised documentary looks at the career of Reginald Mitchell, from schooldays in the Potteries and apprenticeship at the Kerr Stewart Locomotive Works in Stoke, through his meteoric career at Supermarine in Southampton to his design for the amazing seaplanes which won outright the Schneider Trophy for Britain in 1931 – then on to his greatest achievement; the Spitfire.

The documentary is set in 1937 as Mitchell looks back on his life – where each episode is set against popular music of the day. Archive films courtesy of Wessex Film Archive and new scans of period photographs from Solent Sky and Dr. Gordon Mitchell – and original sketches and plans drawn by RJ himself – bring this fascinating story to life.

You will see the thrilling Schneider Trophy Race of 1931, the magical first flight of the Spitfire in 1936, and the plane in production by the time of Mitchell’s death in 1937 – a busy year of Coronation, the Lambeth Walk, the jet engine, the Hindenberg disaster, a royal marriage and the looming threat of war.

The story is told by Mitchell himself – with actor Tim Churchill re-creating his acclaimed stage role – from RJ’s personal journals, letters and contemporary news accounts. This all brings to life in an entertaining way Reginald Mitchell’s “Spitfire Dream”.