Early life Joseph Smith was educated at the
Yardley Secondary School and
Birmingham Municipal Technical School. After leaving school he gained an apprenticeship with the
Austin Motor Company at Longbridge, Birmingham in 1914. Over the following years Smith took on more responsibility leading to in 1926 Frank Holroyd being formally designated as Assistant Chief Engineer, and Smith was designated as Chief Draughtsman. From then on Smith was involved in all of the Supermarine designs during the late 1920s and 1930s. Working under chief designer
R. J. Mitchell, Smith was heavily involved with the early design of the Spitfire. Following the death of Mitchell in June 1937 his deputy Harold J. Payn was appointed chief designer. Following the placement of government orders for the Spitfire Smith was heavily involved in the design of the airframe's structure and preparation of production drawings.
Chief Designer As war clouds gathered a security check in September 1939 identified that Payn had a German-born wife. Concerns about the risk this posed to a major war programme saw Payn dismissed. Smith was appointed acting manager of the design department and finally appointed chief designer in 1941 following approval from the Ministry of Aircraft Production. Smith was confident that the Spitfire had great development potential and was unwilling to consider developing a replacement aircraft until the maximum capability had been obtained from the Spitfire. As a result he oversaw the development of the Spitfire and its naval version the Seafire through numerous variants, including introduction of the
Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined series, all of which ensured that it remained a front-line fighter until superseded by jet fighters. The final development of the Spitfire was the
Supermarine Spiteful and its naval version the
Supermarine Seafang which retained a Spitfire-like fuselage, married to a new straight-tapered laminar flow wing, which gave Smith the opportunity to fit a wide-track inward-retracting undercarriage. Following the Attacker he oversaw the design of the Type 510 a swept-wing jet fighter which was developed into the
Supermarine Swift. Following the Swift came the
Supermarine 525 and
Supermarine Scimitar. While he was mainly involved in the development of fighter aircraft in the post-war era he was also the chief designer of the
Seagull, an amphibian flying boat. Smith was appointed as a special director of Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd in 1948 and served as chairman of the Technical Board and Technical Executive Committee of the
Society of British Aircraft Constructors from 1948 to 1951. He also served as Chairman of the Aircraft Industries Standards Committee, and as a member of the Engineering Divisional Council of the British Standards Institute. He died of cancer at
Chandler's Ford on 20 February 1956. ==Honours==