Belgium-registered Miles M65 Gemini 1A, built in 1947

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 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Frederick George Miles (1903-1976 was an English Aircraft designer and manufacturer A military is an Organization authorized by its Nation to use force usually including use of Weapons in defending its Country (or by attacking 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.

History

Miles Aircraft Limited

The M. 30 'X Minor' flying aerodynamics testbed

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. Woodley is a Town in the English county of Berkshire. It forms part of the urban area of Reading, although not part of the Borough of Reading Reading (ˈrɛdɪŋ as Redding) is a town in England, located at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, midway between 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. For the present day company see Rolls-Royce plc. For other uses see Rolls-Royce (disambiguation. In 1947 the company went bankrupt and the assets were purchased by Handley Page as Handley Page Reading. Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their Creditors Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against Handley Page Limited was founded by Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick in 1909 as the United Kingdom 's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing Handley Page produced the Miles designed M. 60 Marathon as the H.P.R.1 Marathon. The Handley Page (Reading HPR1 Marathon was a British civil 20-passenger light transport produced by Handley Page (Reading Limited of Woodley Aerodrome

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 . For the Roman god of the south wind see Anemoi. For the American writer see Paul Auster or Lawrence Auster.

Aircraft designs

Miles Master trainer in flight during World War II. A trainer is an Aircraft used to develop piloting navigational or war-fighting skills in flight crew

M38 Miles Messenger G-AKBN photographed in around 1951

Their aircraft include the Hawk Trainer and its military variant, the Magister, as well as the Messenger and the Gemini. The Miles Hawk Trainer was a 1930s British two-seat training monoplane designed by Miles Aircraft Limited. The Miles M14 Magister was a British two-seat Monoplane basic Trainer aircraft built by the Miles Aircraft for the Royal Air WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout During the Second World War they produced the Master advanced trainer, as well as the Martinet and Monitor target tugs. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The Miles M9 Master was a British 2-seat Monoplane advanced trainer built by Miles Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The Miles M33 Monitor was a twin engined British Target tug aircraft designed and built by Miles Aircraft towards the end of the Second World War. A target tug is an Aircraft which tows a drone or otherwise unmanned target, for the purposes of Gun or Missile target practice

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. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout 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 M30 X Minor was an Experimental aircraft, designed by Miles Aircraft to evaluate the characteristics of blended Fuselage and Wing

The Miles Libellula designs were tandem-winged; a small wing at the nose of the aircraft and the main one at the rear. The M35 and M39 Libellula (from Libellulidae, the Taxonomic name for dragonflies) were a pair of Tandem wing aircraft built A tandem wing aircraft usually involves two full-sized Wings both of which are full Airfoils.

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), 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. The Miles M57 Aerovan was a British short range low cost transport designed and built by Miles Aircraft. For other uses see Supersonic. The term supersonic is used to define a speed that is over the Speed of sound ( Mach 1 WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout 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. Handley Page Limited was founded by Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick in 1909 as the United Kingdom 's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing Short Brothers plc is a British Aerospace company usually referred to simply as Shorts, that is now based in Belfast, Northern Ireland The Skyvan is a 19-seater twin Turboprop aircraft manufactured by Short Brothers, at the time Short Brothers & Harland Ltd, and used mainly for short-haul WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout

Aircraft

The following table lists the company number, name, year of first flight and number produced of all Miles aircraft.

Missiles

• Miles Hoop-la - Surface-to-surface missile project of the 1940s. The Miles M57 Aerovan was a British short range low cost transport designed and built by Miles Aircraft.

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.

External links

• Miles Aircraft
• British Aircraft Directory