The First of the Few

Leslie Howard directs and stars in this drama which portrays the life of R.J.

Mitchell (Howard), the man who designed the Spitfire.

Told in flashback by Mitchell's philandering test pilot, Jeffrey Quill (David Niven), the film follows Mitchell as he attempts to persuade Whitehall to sponsor the project and struggles to overcome the technical problems on a plane which was to become one of the Allies' most valuable assets during the Second World War.