Description:Reginald Mitchell was born at 115 Congleton Road, Butt Lane, Kidsgrove in 1895 and was educated at Hanley High School. At sixteen, he gained an apprenticeship at Kerr Stuart & Co of Fenton.
After studying at night school at the Wedgwood Technical School in Burslem and completing his apprenticeship, he gained a post at the newly formed Supermarine Aviation Works in Southampton.
His design skills earned him rapid promotion within the company and during the 1920s he developed the company’s successful Schneider Trophy aircraft.
His flying boat designs attracted the interest of the RAF but their success was eclipsed by the Spitfire. The prototype, Type 300, undertook test flights in March 1936 by which time Mitchell was terminally ill with cancer.
He did not live to see his aircraft enter into full service with the RAF, dying at his home on 11 June 1937.