Shapely Miles Masters (Rolls-Royce Kestrel XXX engine) of wood construction are now passing into service in numbers which will increase week by week for some time to come. This advanced trainer has a high performance and carries practically all the equipment which is to be found on a modern military aircraft, including a machine gun and a camera gun. The machines are seen on the assembly line at the works of Phillips and Powis Aircraft Ltd. Reading.
If it was not for training aircraft, there would be no fighters. One advanced trainer that provided a good stepping stone between primary trainers such as the DH82 Tiger Moth and front line fighters was the Miles Master.
The original company was founded by Charles Powis and Jack Phillips as Philips and Powis Aircraft after meeting Fred Miles. The company was based on Woodley Aerodrome in Woodley, near the town of Reading and in the county of Berkshire.
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’ was associated with two distinct companies that Miles was involved in and was also attached to several designs produced before there was a company trading under Miles’ name.
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.
The Miles Master wing centre-section department
The fuselage assembly section, showing the eight cantilever fuselage jigs which were arranged in four pairs.
The M.9A Master I was based on the M.9 Kestrel trainer that was first demonstrated at the Hendon Air Show in July 1937, although it never entered production. The production Master I, which first flew on 31 March 1939, used the lower-powered 715 hp Rolls-Royce Kestrel XXX engine, reducing the maximum speed. Nonetheless it remained one of the fastest and most manoeuvrable trainers of its day, and possibly one of the most asthetically pleasing! The Master entered service just before the start of the war and eventually 900 Mk. I and Mk. Ia Masters were built. This total included 26 built as the M.24 Master Fighter which were modified to a single-seat configuration, and armed with six .303 in machine guns for use as an emergency fighter, but did not see combat.
Fuselages left the fuselage assembly bay and were then fitted with instrument panels and other equipment before being passed to the main assembly lines.
Miles Master Instrument panels were among the units which were almost completely assembled on the bench.
Stage II on the main assembly line. Hydraulic lines for the undercarriage were being connected up and the machine was about to be lowered on to its own wheels
The later stage in the general assembly. The engine has been mounted in position, and the radiators, ready for attachment, may be seen lying beneath the fuselage.
When production of the Kestrel engine ceased, a new variant of the Master was designed to use the 870 hp air-cooled radial Bristol Mercury XX engine. The first M.19 Master II prototype flew on 30 October 1939 and 1,748 were eventually built. When the Lend-Lease programme began to supply engines from the United States, a third variant of the Master, the M.27 Master III was designed, powered by the American 825 hp Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp Junior two-row radial engine. A total of 602 Master IIIs were built before production of the Miles Martinet took over in 1942.
As Don Brown who worked for Miles recalls, things got rather chaotic: ‘During 1938 the Air Ministry asked us to consider the substitution of the Bristol Mercury engine for the Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine in the Master, as the latter engine was no longer in production and existing stocks were rapidly becoming depleted. The Bristol Mercury engine, on the other hand, was in large scale production for use in the Blenheim and the Ministry assured us that there would be ample stocks available. The design staff got down to the job and in 1939 the M. 19 appeared and was known as the Master II. After preliminary handling trials by our test pilots the machine went for its official service trials in November.
As was to be expected it passed them. Then the Ministry suddenly found that there were not large stocks of the Mercury engine available after all and promptly asked us to consider the installation of yet another type of engine, this time an American but unfortunately no sooner had we done so than the Ministry discovered that they had got lots of Mercury engines and so the Master II went into production after all. We can only assume that they must have temporarily mislaid them somewhere !
With Master production under way, an imposing new dope shop that was divided into bays by movable metal partitions was constructed at Woodley. In the background on the right was the wood kiln used for drying timber to the correct moisture content.
In trainer form, the Master was equipped to carry eight practice bombs, plus one .303 in Vickers machine gun mounted in the front fuselage. In 1942, all variants had their wings clipped by three feet (one metre) to reduce stress on the wings and increase manoeuvrability. All of the 3,227 Masters produced were built by Phillips and Powis Aircraft Limited at Woodley, Berkshire, the largest number produced of any Miles aircraft type.
Service use primarily revolved around (Pilot) Advanced Flying Units, while several hundred Miles Master IIs were converted, or delivered new, for the glider-towing role, with the bottom of the rudder cut away to allow fitting of a towing hook. Miles Masters were extensively used from 1942 as tugs for Hotspur gliders at Glider Training Schools. Known deployments were to 287 Squadron RAF between February and August 1942 and to 286 Squadron RAF from November 1944 to February 1945.
The two seat tandem cockpit of a Miles Master 1 - the overall layout did not vary much across of number of Miles’ designs.
A Miles Master I in flight