Miles Aircraft
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Miles was the name used to market the aircraft of British engineer Frederick George Miles, who designed numerous light civil and military aircraft and a range of curious prototypes. The name "Miles" is associated with two distinct companies that Miles was involved in and is also attached to several designs produced before there was a company trading under Miles' name.
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[edit] History
[edit] Miles Aircraft Limited
The original company was founded by Charles Powis and Jack Phillips as Philips and Powis Aircraft at Woodley airfield in Reading, Berkshire, after meeting Fred Miles. In 1936 Rolls-Royce bought into the company and although aircraft were produced under the Miles name, it was not until 1943 that the firm became Miles Aircraft Limited when Rolls-Royce's interests were bought out. In 1947 the company went bankrupt and the assets were purchased by Handley Page as Handley Page Reading. Handley Page produced the Miles designed M.60 Marathon as the H.P.R.1 Marathon.
[edit] F. G. Miles Limited
In 1948, Frederick Miles founded F. G. Miles Limited who continued to produce aircraft under the Miles name. The latter Miles company was later merged with Auster Aircraft Limited into Beagle Aircraft .
[edit] Aircraft designs
Their aircraft include the Hawk Trainer and its military variant, the Magister, as well as the Messenger and the Gemini. During the Second World War they produced the Master advanced trainer, as well as the Martinet and Monitor target tugs.
The aircraft designed by Miles were often technologically and aerodynamically advanced for their time; the M.20 emergency production fighter prototype outperformed contemporary Hawker Hurricanes and Spitfires, despite having fixed landing gear. The X Minor was a flying testbed for blended wing-fuselage designs, though the large commercial transport intended to be produced from this research never entered production.
The Miles Libellula designs were tandem-winged; a small wing at the nose of the aircraft and the main one at the rear.
Despite producing a revolutionary transport – the Aerovan – and nearly completing the world's first supersonic jet aircraft (the Miles M.52, which influenced the design of the Bell X-1[citation needed]), a recent documentary by the BBC on the history of supersonic flight had an interview with an ex Miles employee who told the story of how the CIA stole the designs of the the Miles M.52, the company went into receivership in 1947. Its aircraft interests were bought up by Handley Page Aircraft, though the Aerovan concept was further developed by Short Brothers into the Skyvan, the Shorts 330 and later the Shorts 360.
[edit] Aircraft
The following table lists the company number, name, year of first flight and number produced of all Miles aircraft.
| Cmpany number | Name | Year | Produced | Type of aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Martlet | 1929 | 6 | ||
| Metal Martlet | 1930 | 1 | ||
| M.1 | Satyr | 1932 | 1 | |
| M.2 | Hawk | 1933 | 55 | two seat light monoplane |
| M.2F-T | Hawk Major | 1934 | 64 | Hawk successor with de Havilland Gipsy Major engine |
| M.2E,L,U | Hawk Speed Six | 1934 | 3 | racing version of Hawk Major with de Havilland Gipsy Six engine |
| M.2W,X,Y | Hawk Trainer | 25 | ||
| M.3A | Falcon Major | 1934 | 19 | |
| M.3B | Falcon Six | 1935 | 17 | |
| M.4 | Merlin | 1935 | 4 | |
| M.5 | Sparrowhawk | 1935 | 5 | |
| M.6 | Hawcon | 1935 | 1 | |
| M.7 | Nighthawk | 1935 | 6 | |
| M.8 | Peregrine | 1936 | 2 | |
| M.9 | Kestrel | 1937 | 1 | |
| M.9A | Master I | 1939 | 900 | advanced trainer |
| M.11 | Whitney Straight | 1936 | 50 | |
| M.11C | M.11C | 1 | ||
| M.12 | Mohawk | 1937 | 1 | |
| M.13 | Hobby | 1937 | 1 | |
| M.14 | Magister | 1937 | 1,293 | basic military trainer |
| M.14 | Hawk Trainer III | 1937 | 52 | Magister for civil and export sales |
| M.15 | T.1/37 | 1939 | 2 | |
| M.16 | Mentor | 1938 | 45 | three-seat training and communications monoplane |
| M.17 | Monarch | 1938 | 11 | |
| M.18 | M.18 | 1938 | 4 | |
| M.19 | Master II | 1939 | 1,699 | |
| M.20 | M20/2 | 1940 | 2 | prototype low-cost fighter |
| M.24 | Master Fighter | 1940 | 26 | emergency conversion of trainer design to fighter, retrospectively numbered M.24[1] |
| M.25 | Martinet | 1943 | 1,724 | target tug |
| M.26 | "X" | 0 | planned large airliner | |
| M.27 | Master III | 1940 | 602 | |
| M.28 | Mercury | 1941 | 6 | training or communications |
| M.30 | X Minor | 1942 | 1 | small scale prototype for Miles X design |
| M.33 | Monitor | 1944 | 22 | twin-engined target tug |
| M.35 | Libellula | 1942 | 1 | tandem-wing design fighter |
| M.37 | Martinet Trainer | 1946 | 2 | two seat trainer |
| M.28 | Messenger | 1942 | 80 | |
| M.33 | Monitor | 1944 | 80 | |
| M.39B | Libellula | 1943 | 1 | scale tandem-wing bomber design |
| M.48 | Messenger Development | 1945 | 1 | |
| M.52 | M.52 | 0 | supersonic research aircraft design | |
| M.50 | Queen Martinet | 1944 | 65 | unmanned target drone version of Martinet |
| M.57 | Aerovan | 1945 | 48 | STOL transport |
| M.60 | Marathon I | 1945 | 42 | civil airliner design - would become Handley Page Marathon |
| M.64 | L.R.5 | 1945 | 1 | |
| M.65 | Gemini | 1945 | 170 | private small aircraft |
| M.68 | Boxcar | 1947 | 1 | transport with detachable cargo container |
| M.69 | Marathon II | 1949 | 1 | Mamba turboprop powered project |
| M.71 | Merchantman | 1947 | 1 | 4-engined development of Aerovan layout |
| M.75 | Aries | 1951 | 2 | development of Gemini with more powrful engines |
| M.77 | Sparrowjet | 1953 | 1 | |
| M.100 | Student | 1957 | 1 | |
| M.105 | H.D.M.105 | 1957 | 1 | aerovan conversion with Hurel Dubois wing |
[edit] Missiles
- Miles Hoop-la - Surface-to-surface missile project of the 1940s.
[edit] References
- Temple, Julian C. Wings Over Woodley - The Story of Miles Aircraft and the Adwest Group. Bourne End, Bucks, UK: Aston Publications, 1987. ISBN 0-946627-12-6.
[edit] External links
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