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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1497.PDF
PLIGHT International, 273 23 August 1962 I BEAGLE M.218 By the Technical Editor Although the first Beagle M.2I8 should have flown by the time this issue appears, as we go to press it is still in the state seen in the photograph immediately above, in the doorway of its assembly hangar at Shoreham. The impression at the top of the page is by a Beagle artist SINCE World War II the British aircraft industry has failed to produce light aircraft for major world markets. In fact, as a study of the British Register of Civil Aircraft emphasizes, it has failed even to produce light aircraft for home consumption, so that during the past four years a flood of foreign-built machines, the majority American, have been imported by British customers. At last, Beagle Aircraft Ltd, at Shoreham Airport, Sussex, appear to be in a position to put an end to this one-way traffic. The principal product wiih which this achievement may be brought about is the leagle M.218, the first of which is now complete. In the author's opinion, the M.218 is the first British light aircraft for nearly 30 >ears which promises to be competitive with all known rivals; and ' vi a des'gn °f uncommon technical interest. /luch of this interest stems from the fact that an exceptional ^portion of the airframe is of glass-fibre construction. The extensive use of plastics in aircraft construction began to be investigated some 12 years ago by F. G. Miles Ltd. This company obtained a joint MoS/Kemsley Trust contract for an experimental wing, made largely of Durestos, which is now in Beagle's main hall at Shoreham. The wing was never flown on the Kendall sailplane for which it was designed, but during static testing at the RAE it achieved 80 per cent of the design ultimate load while having a satisfactory weight and requiring few man-hours to build. By 1960, Miles had roughed out three designs for light aircraft, intended broadly as successors to the Messenger and twin-engined Gemini, in which plastics were widely used to reduce the complexity and cost of the airframe. The Miles M.114 Mk 1 was to weigh 1,5501b and be powered by a 100 h.p. Rolls-Royce Continental O-200A; the M.l 14 Mk 2 was to weigh 2,3001b and be powered by a 145 h.p. O-300A; and the M.l 15 was to weigh 2,7501b and be
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