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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0712.PDF
39$ FLIGHT APRIL I:TH, 1945 THE MILES M.48 AND M.61 ground, a speed over the ground of 15-20 m.p.h., or the speed of a car in a built-up area! The larger wing area and the fixed undercarriage have brought down the speed somewhat as compared with the M.28 Mercury. Even so, however, a cruising speed of 115 m.p.h. should suffice for most purposes. It is coupled with a duration of five hours, or in other words a still-air range of 575 miles. The short take-off run and good angle of climb should make possible operation from quite small fields, a fact which many prospective private owners will appreciate. A Useful Series With a Cirrus Major engine the M.48 has a tare weight of 1,500 lb. The disposable load is 900 lb., so that the all-up weight is 2,400 lb. The wing span is 6ft. greater than that of the M.28, viz. 36ft. Miles Aircraft, Ltd., may have other passenger types in mind, but so far a very good beginning may be said to have been made with the Brabazon 5A, the M.28 Mercury, and the M.48. All three types should have a useful application in the post-war markets of the world. It might be mentioned that the photographs which illustrate this article show the proto- type, which has been used as a communications aircraft and has therefore been well tested. The undercarriage legs look a bit bare, but the production model will doubt- less be provided with becoming "stockings." That Miles Aircraft, Ltd., appreciate the possible need for military and civil freighter aircraft is shown by the fact that a year or two ago tentative designs were submitted to M.A.P. for two such machines, the M.61 and the M.62. They may remain what they are at present, merely pro- jects, but it is, nevertheless of interest to see how different designers attack the same problem. The M.61, of which we publish the general arrangement drawings, was in- tended to be built mainly of wood, while the M.62 was to be of all-metal construction. In a general way the basic design of the two was similar, but the larger machine was designed as a twin-engined type, while the smaller has a single engine. The most characteristic feature is a short nacelle-like fuselage from which springs a single boom carrying the tail. The M.61 was designed for easy and cheap series-produc- tion, and aerodynamic refinement was sacrificed to ease of loading. The engine chosen for the M.61 was the Wright Cyclone G.R.2600 A.5 B. of 1,600 h.p., a number of which was believed to be in storage in this country at the time, due to a change in programme. The Bristol Hercules could, however, be substituted for the Cyclone. Loading of freight was to be effected through very large hinged doors at the rear end of the nacelle. The freight •compartment had a level floor 19ft. long by about 6ft. 6in. MILES M.61 Wright Cyclone Engine A.U. Weight - 24,0001b. Wmg Area- 1,100 sq.ft. wide. The minimum height was 5ft. 6in. The platform was only 2ft. 6in. from the ground, and a road vehicle would be able to be driven straight in up a short ramp. A fixed tricycle undercarriage was chosen to ensure a level floor. The provisional design was based on a load factor of 4i at an all-up weight of 24,000 lb. At that weight a pay- load of 3.75 tons could be carried with a range of 1,000 miles. Wing span was 94ft. and gross wing area (iclud- ing stub wings) i.roo sq. ft. The tare weight was estimated at 11,290 lb. Crew and equipment accounted for 1,170 1b. and fuel and oil for another 2,800 lb. This left a cargo weight of 8,740 lb. At the full gross weight of 24,000 lb. the distance to unstick in still air was calculated to be only 450yd., and to clear a 50-ft. obstacle 680yd. With an initial wing load- ing of 21.8 lb./sq. ft. and a power loading of 15 lb./h.p., the estimated cruising speed on 50 per cent, of take-off power was 164 m.p.h. at 8,000ft. The absolute still-air range was actually more than 1,000 miles—1,100 miles, in fact. The M.62 was a twin-engined machine with two Cyclones. It was designed for a gross weight of 45,000 1b. and a pay- load of 7.6 tons. Its cruising speed was estimated at 170 m.p.h. at 8,000ft. "TO VICTORY WITH THE DORLAND HALL, Lower Regent Street, has been the sceneof a number of exhibitions dealing with various aspects of war activity, and "To Victory with the R.A.F.," which was opened by the Air Minister just before Easter, should be of especial interest now that the fruits of the R.A.F.'s ever- mounting offensive against Germany are being gathered. This particular building is not, perhaps, ideal for the most effective staging ot exhibitions of this kind, but considerable pains have patently been taken to arrange things to best advantage for the visitor and to provide him with a pretty comprehensive survey of the work and achievement of the R.A.F. from the Battle of Britain onwards—all for the modest entrance tee of sixpence which, he will have the satisfaction of knowing, will go to swell the R.A.F. Benevolent Fund. In addition to the splendid array of official photographs (including stereoscopic views of bomb damage which you may see if you have time and patience to await your turn at one of the machines) there is a wide variety of other exhibits in the form of special equipment. Notable among these latter is a 40 mm. cannon of the kind first announced on the Hurri- cane IID which did some useful tin-opening among Rommel's tanks in Africa, and a gyroscopic bomb-sight on the gyro- unit of which is the compelling instruction, "DO NOT JAR; HANDLE LIKE EGGS" in red capitals. Londoners will be particularly interested in the large-scale models of V.I, V.2, and our own 22,000 lb. bomb. These are arranged in a row with scale human figures alongside, which gives an excellent idea of their comparative size and, more important still, their relative power. The 22,000-pounder is all warhead! Then there are briefing models of enemy targets, a Leigh light (in operation), and a sort of non-stop showing of combat films taken by Beaufighters on rocket strikes against shipping and other transport. These are seen through a miniature Beau- fighter windscreen before which is tile control column complete with gun-buttons, which juvenile visitors " operate " with relish. Elsewhere, an ex-operational officer explains, with the help of a realistic model airfield and a synchrophone, how pilots come in on the beam, while from a gallery one can look down on a large model of a German industrial target on which cun- ning lighting effects illustrate with considerable realism the progress of a raid on which there is a running commentary. One sees the markers, the glow of fires breaking out in the factories, and the " explosions " of the heavy H.E. as though viewing the raid from one of the participating aircraft.
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