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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0868.PDF
870 FLIGHT. AUGUST 23, 1934. NEW CABIN MONOPLANE The " Falcon" Designed by F. G. Miles, to Carry Three or Four Persons REAL comfort ior three or four persons, high cruisingspeed, easy flying characteristics, and unusualrobustness of construction, are the chief features ofthe new Miles '' Falcon.'' One of these machines has been entered for the England- Australia air race by Mr. H. L. Brook, so the perform- ance of the first model, which will be flying very shortly, is awaited with particular interest. The "Falcon" is a logical development of the "Hawk Major," in which par- ticular attention has been paid to providing really com- fortable seating for the passengers and to flying quahties of the kind which will make it possible for relatively in- experienced pilots to fly in and out of confined spaces. The "Falcon" will not have a landing speed appreciably greater than the 40 m.p.h. of the standard " Hawk," which is particularly easy to land. Mr. Miles, as in his other machines, has, despite the cleanliness of the whole machine with its consequent high cruising speed, managed to retain steep and slow gliding characteristics, so that it will be possible to bring the " Falcon " down over high objects without necessitating side slipping or any other aerobatic means of losing height just before landing. Furthermore, this machine will later be available with a new form of wing flap, which Mr. Miles has developed, and this will have the effect of decreasing the gliding speed by some 15 m.p.h., so that when landing with the flaps down, and by using the wheel brakes, the landing run need not exceed 70 yards. Generally, the construction of the " Falcon " is similar to both the standard "Hawk," and the "Hawk Major." The wing is extremely rigid, and has a plywood covering enclosing box-section, spruce and plywood, spars. The ribs are normal girder construction, of spruce with ply- wood " biscuits " at the joints. The plywood wing cover- ing is glued to these ribs, and obviates the use of any other bracing between the spars. It will be remembered that when the "Hawk" first came out, Phillips and Powis, in their factory at Reading aerodrome, made good use of factory methods calculated to assist economical produc- tion. For instance, the way they achieved this glueing- on of the plywood was with a simple form of office stapling machine, which clamps the plywood to the ribs, and, for that matter, to the longerons and struts in the case of the This cantileverundercarriage has 9J in. travel. Theoil tank forms the inner portion ofthe leading edge of the wing centresection. The fuel tanks are placedeach side between the spars
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