Frederick George Miles (1903-1976) was an English aircraft designer and manufacturer who designed numerous light civil and military aircraft and a range of prototypes. The name "Miles" is associated with two distinct companies that Miles was involved in and is also attached to many non aviation products such as the biro pen, photocopiers and book binding machinery. Throughout his life, he was known as "Miles" and never by his first name, even to his own family. Miles died on 15 August 1976 in Worthing, Sussex.
Early life
Miles was born on 22 March 1903 in Worthing Sussex the oldest of four sons of Frederick, a laundry proprietor (Star Laundry Portslade), and his wife Esther. He left school early in 1916 and started a motorcycle rental business. Miles soon became interested in aircraft and in 1922 he designed then built with some friends and his brother George a small biplane called the Gnat at the back of his father's laundry in Portslade. The aircraft was not flown but proved an interesting and inspiring project for the young Miles and his brother.
Miles was taught to fly by local pilot Cecil Pashley at Shoreham Airport and after gaining his licence, he persuaded Pashley to enter into a partnership and start a flying school and joyriding business known as the Gnat Aeroplane Co.. The company was formally incorporated in May 1927 as the Gnat Aero Company, Ltd., with a share capital of £1,500, in £1 shares. The first directors were F.G. Miles (managing director), C.L. Pashley and F. Gaston Miles[1]. The company soon expanded into aircraft repairs and then split into two separate operations; the Southern Aero Club and Southern Aircraft. One of the aircraft Miles acquired was an Avro Baby which he modified to turn it into an aerobatic sports aircraft which he called the Southern Martlet. Miles was later joined as a director in both companies by Magnus Herman Volk, the eldest son of Magnus Volk (of Volk’s Railway fame), who from an early age had a keen interest in aviation.
Personal Life
In 1930, Miles intended to emigrate to South Africa to remove himself from a difficult situation when he fell in love with one of his pupils, but he returned after a year and then married the former pupil, Maxine Freeman-Thomas.
Blossom, as Maxine was known, was daughter of the actor Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson. Blossom had married Inigo Brassey Freeman-Thomas, 2nd Marquess of Willingdon on 8 October 1924, they divorced in 1932. Amongst many attributes, Blossom Miles was not only a pilot but a designer, draughtswoman, aerodynamicist and stress engineer, and a director of a manufacturing company which at one time employed over seven thousand people in addition to overseeing the development of the Miles Technical School.[2]
Of the many homes that Miles and Blossom shared Cudlow House, Rustington is one of the more interesting in that it was the home of the Llewelyn Davies family. The home inspired J. M. Barrie to write the Peter Pan story.[3]
1930s
Together F.G. and Blossom designed a single-seat biplane in 1932 (the Miles M1 Satyr), which was built for them by George Parnall & Co of Yate, Gloucestershire.
In 1932, Miles met Charles Powis a motor engineer and owner of an aircraft business Phillips & Powis based at Woodley Aerodrome, Woodley near Reading. Miles agreed to design a cheap but modern light monoplane which he called the Miles Hawk; it was built by Phillips and Powis at Woodley. The Hawk sold well and Miles joined the company as technical director and chief designer. His brother, George followed him as a test pilot and manager of the engine section. Other successful designs followed including one special commissioned from Miles by Charles Lindbergh and known as the Miles Mohawk.[4]
In 1935, the Phillips and Powis became a public company with Rolls-Royce Limited becoming a major shareholder. Miles became chairman and managing director and his brother George became technical director and chief designer. With the expansion of the Royal Air Force the company won a contract worth £2 million pounds for the Miles Magister basic trainer.[5]
Miles Aircraft Limited
Rolls-Royce lost interest in the company and in 1941 Miles bought financial control of the company which he renamed Miles Aircraft Limited in 1943. Miles and his wife also started the Miles Aeronautical School to train apprentice technicians and draughtsman. The apprentice's developed a test bed airframe known as the Miles Venture.
In 1943, Miles was shown a prototype ballpoint pen made by László Bíró and offered to produce them for the Royal Air Force. The ministry were concerned that it would distract from aircraft production but Miles eventually persuaded government officials to let him use 17 unskilled girls to produce the pen which was called the biro after the inventor. When the war finished the Reading biro factory which would employ 700 people became the Miles Martin Pen Company and the biro was sold to the general public. [6]
With his brother, now Chief Designer for the aircraft, Miles concentrated on a design for a supersonic aircraft (the M.52) powered by the then secret Whittle jet engine. The government contract and the programme was cancelled in 1946. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA - later to become NASA) was also at work on supersonic aircraft designs. Reminiscent of the M.52, the Bell X-1 was the first manned aircraft to break the sound barrier in 1947. Problems with the return to civil production led to the collapse of Miles Aircraft in 1948.[7]
F.G. Miles Engineering Limited
Undeterred Miles started a new company F.G. Miles Engineering and moved back to Shoreham in 1949. In 1961 the company became part of the new Beagle Group and Miles became the deputy chairman and his brother was chief designer. The Beagle group collapsed in 1969, Miles subsequently, went on to form other engineering companies involved with flight simulators, aircraft structures and other aviation projects.
References
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Amos, Peter. Miles Aircraft – The Early Years: The Story of F G Miles and his Aeroplanes, 1925–1939. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, 2009. ISBN 978-0-85130-410-6.
- Brown, Don Lambert. Miles Aircraft Since 1925. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1970. ISBN 0-37000-127-3.
- Buttler, Tony. Secret Projects: British Fighters and Bombers 1935 -1950 (British Secret Projects 3). Leicester, UK: Midland Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-85780-179-2.
- Jackson, A.J. British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Volume 2. London: Putnam, 1973. ISBN 0-370-10107-X.
- 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
- British Aircraft Directory
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- Gnat Aeroplane Company
- obituary in Flight
- ↑ http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1927/1927%20-%200378.html
- ↑ "Miles Technical School." Flight, 18 April 1946, p. 398. Retrieved: 25 April 2012.
- ↑ "House that inspired Pete Pan for sale." theargus.co, 22 October 2004. Retrieved: 25 April 2012.
- ↑ "Miles M 12 Mohawk performance and specifications." pilotfriend.com. Retrieved: 25 April 2012.
- ↑ Jackson 1974, p. 69.
- ↑ "The Biro Story." comcast.net. Retrieved: 25 April 2012.
- ↑ Hallion, Richard, P. "Chapter 10: The NACA, NASA, and the Supersonic-Hypersonic Frontier." NASA’s First 50 Years. (NASA), 7 September 2011, p. 231.