Spitfire cockpit flight simulator designed by university students and apprentice technicians

Led by associate professor Dr Mark Jabbal from Nottingham’s Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, the ‘Operation Spitfire’ project saw over 100 students and around 10 apprentice technicians contribute to the development of the Spitfire simulator.

Undergraduate aerospace engineering students voluntarily assisted on the project between 2019 and 2023 as an extracurricular activity, working in teams of four or five at a time before the finished simulator went to the Spitfire Gallery at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent – the birthplace of R.J. Mitchell CBE, aircraft designer who led the team that designed the Spitfire aircraft.

Despite delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic, students from across Nottingham’s engineering faculty were able to get involved with the construction of the simulator. This included a number of individual and group projects supervised by Dr Jabbal, as well as apprentice technicians responsible for developing specific components in the simulator.