Miles Aircraft Ltd.

A company was founded in 1928 by Charles Powis and Jack Phillips under the name Phillips Powis Aircraft (Reading) Ltd. In 1929, they opened Woodley Airfield, near the Berkshire town of Reading.

In 1936, Rolls-Royce bought the company. Although the aircraft were produced under the Miles name, it was not until 1943 that the company became Miles Aircraft Limited, when Rolls-Royce's interests were bought out.

The company needed to increase production of the Miles Messenger and, to do this, it took over an old flax mill at Banbridge, County Down, Northern Ireland, for the production of components for the aircraft. An RAF Long Kesh hangar was used to assemble the aircraft and flight tests were carried out at the airfield. After the end of the war, in 1946, the company moved to Newtownards.

In 1943, the company opened the Miles Aeronautical Technical School under the direction of Maxine (Blossom) Miles. The school had a ‘headmaster’, Walter Evans.

In 1947, the company went into receivership following bankruptcy proceedings brought by Titanine Ltd. in the Chancery Division of the High Court. Titanine supplied Miles with aerospace coatings used in the production of the Miles Gemini aircraft, and at the time had an order book worth £5 million, including major orders for the Messenger and Gemini.

In 1948 the Board of Trade requested the appointment of an inspector to investigate the affairs of Miles Aircraft Ltd. and this request was granted by Mr Justice Roxburgh. The B.O.T. took the view that when a prospectus had been published in March 1947 (before the 1946 accounts had been published), the directors ought reasonably to have known that all was not well with the company and that when in August 1947 a dividend of 7% and a bonus of 24% had been recommended, they ought reasonably to have known that the company was making a heavy loss.

The aeronautical assets were purchased by Handley Page under the name Handley Page Reading Ltd. Handley Page produced the Miles-designed M.60 Marathon under the name H.P.R.1 Marathon. Miles' technical aeronautical school was taken over by Reading Technical College. Other products in which Miles had an interest included photocopiers; this company became Copycat Ltd, which was bought by the Nashua Corporation in 1963. The Philidas lock nut unit became an independent company. Bookbinding machines and actuator production were taken over by a purpose-built company, Western Manufacturing Estate Ltd, the name ‘Western’ referring to its location on Woodley Airfield. This company later merged with Adamant Engineering Company Ltd to form the Adwest Group. Miles also manufactures ballpoint pens designed by László Bíró through an associated company, Miles Martin Pen Co. Ltd.
F. G. Miles Limited.

In 1948, F.G. Miles founded F. G. Miles Limited, which continued to produce aircraft under the Miles brand. The company was based at two sites, Redhill Aerodrome and Shoreham Aerodrome. In 1961, the aeronautical interests were acquired (along with Auster Aircraft Limited) by British Executive and General Aviation Limited (Beagle Aircraft), initially as Beagle-Miles Ltd, with George Herbert Miles as Chief Designer and Technical Director.

The company adopts a group structure with the following subsidiaries: Meridian Airmaps Ltd (whose collection of aerial photographs forms part of the English Heritage Archive), Miles Development Products Ltd, Miles Electronics Ltd, Miles Marine & Structural Plastics Ltd and Jet Tanks Ltd. The group was initially based in Redhill, but moved to Shoreham in 1953.

Miles Electronics manufactured flight simulators; this division merged with the UK arm of flight simulator company Link Trainer and was subsequently acquired by Singer Corporation. In 1975, Hunting Associated Industries acquired a majority stake in F. G. Miles Engineering and all its subsidiaries. The company was renamed Hunting Hivolt and Jeremy Miles, the son of Fred Miles (the company's founder), became a non-executive director on the board [18]. Other companies included Miles HiVolt Ltd and Miles-Dufon Ltd (which went into administration on 15 April 1980).

Design work between F. G. Miles Ltd and the French company Hurel-Dubois resulted in the HDM.105 - a standard Aerovan Miles fitted with a high aspect ratio Hurel-Dubois wing. This work gave rise to the Hurel-Dubois HD.34 and the Short Skyvan series of aircraft.

The company's early aircraft included the Hawk Trainer and its military variant, the Magister, as well as the Messenger and Gemini. During the Second World War, it produced the Master advanced trainer aircraft, as well as the Martinet and Monitor target tugs.

Aircraft designed by Miles were often technologically and aerodynamically advanced for their time; the prototype M.20 emergency production fighter outperformed contemporary Hawker Hurricanes, despite its fixed landing gear. The X Minor served as a flying testbed for mixed wing and fuselage designs, although the large commercial transport aircraft that was to emerge from this research never went into production. The gigantic Miles X airliner was to seat 55 people, be equipped with eight engines buried in the wings, driving four sets of counter-rotating propellers and have a range of 3,450 miles.

The Miles Libellula (named after dragonflies) are experimental aircraft with tandem wings. A prototype M.35 fighter, designed to give the pilot a better landing view and to fit onto aircraft carriers without the need to fold the wings, was financed and built by the company (using wood) in just six weeks, but was rejected by the Ministry of Aircraft Production. A bomber version was designed, then a prototype was ordered to meet a need for a ‘high-speed bomber’, but this prototype was never built. Instead, the company built a 5/8th scale M.39B version that was sold to the government for research and testing; it was scrapped after being damaged and the acquisition of the bomber was cancelled. The tandem design, with a wing at either end of the aircraft, reduced centre of gravity problems associated with the use of fuel or ammunition.

The Miles M.52 was a supersonic turbojet research aircraft project that was cancelled before completion.

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