Jim Schofield

Jim learned to fly in a Super Cub at Clacton, then joined the University of Wales Air Squadron.

After university he got his Commercial Pilot’s Licence and went on to join the RAF. During 20 years of service, Jim became the lead Harrier and F-35 test pilot for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Empire Test Pilot School chief instructor and finally the wing commander in charge of UK F-35 requirements.

On leaving the RAF, Jim flew for British Airways for 3 years while running an aerospace consultancy business. He left British Airways for Spitfires.com (then Boultbee Flight Academy) in 2018.

Across his career, Jim has flown over 100 types and a century of front-line fighters, including the 1917 Bristol Fighter, SE5a, Spitfire, Mustang, Viggen, Jaguar, Harrier, Tornado, Gripen, Typhoon, F-15, F-16, F/A-18 and F-35. And he was one of the first pilots to land a Lockheed-Martin F-35 on a ship at night.

Jim is a UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) instructor, a display pilot, a display pilot evaluator, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and, most importantly, a father of two.

Jim flies our Spitfires as well as all other aircraft types we operate. And he manages our Spitfire conversion courses for military and civilian pilots.