Piloting History- from the Spitfire to the electric ACCEL

11 Mar 2021

The Branch was privliged to have Phill O’Dell, who is currently the Director of Flight Operations for Rolls Royce plc.  He had flown a wide variety of aircraft varying from the Rolls Royce powered MK XIX Spitfire, via the Airbus A380, and Boeing 787 through to the iconic Vulcan, XH 588.

Rolls Royce’s Phill O’Dell shared his experience flying a World War 2 Battle of Britain legend, the Supermarine Spitfire and then bang up to date, the Rolls Royce ACCEL, the fastest electric aircraft.

Rolls was pushing the the know-how to not only pioneer the field of electric-powered, zero-emissions aviation - but to lead it. 

For the ACCEL programme to be net zero, Rolls wanted to show commitment to developing cleaner, sustainable, lower carbon power. 

Around 90 members were able to hear Phil’s story about the Accel and then compare it with the darling of World War 2 and the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire.