Miles M.77

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Miles M.77
Miles m-77.jpg
Miles M.77
Type: Racing plane
Design country:

United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom

Manufacturer:

Miles Aircraft

First flight:

December 14, 1953

Commissioning:

1954

Production time:

1953

Number of pieces:

1

The Miles M.77 Sparrowjet was a British racing aircraft manufactured by Miles Aircraft .

history

The prototype G-ADNL of the Miles M.5 Sparrowhawk , which first flown in August 1935, was purchased by Fred Dunkerley in 1950 and given to the Miles plant in Redhill for conversion into a jet-powered racing aircraft . There the aircraft was heavily modified with a new front and rear fuselage. The pilot was now sitting under a full-view hood in the bow to compensate for the weight of the missing engine. The fuselage was 2.10 m longer, so it was necessary to install additional small end plates on the tail unit to compensate for the increased fuselage area in front of the center of gravity. At the Miles plant in Shoreham , the wing roots of the M.5 were then modified so that two Turboméca Palas jet engines with 1.5 kN thrust each could be installed.

The first flight of the M.77 Sparrowjet took place on December 14, 1953. It reached over 320 km / h, but took a relatively long time to reach top speed due to the low engine thrust. But even with only one engine running, the aircraft still achieved a rate of climb of 2.47 m / s.

The aircraft won the King's Cup Race in 1957 with Fred Dunkerley with a top speed of 367 km / h. Along with the PZL M-15, it is one of the few jet-powered aircraft with a rigid landing gear.

construction

The Sparrowjet is a low-wing aircraft with trapezoidal wings of great aspect. The horizontal fins have elliptical end caps. The engines are built into the wing roots. The rigid landing gear has a star wheel, the main landing gear is aerodynamically clad.

Whereabouts

The aircraft was damaged in a fire in a hangar in Upavon, Wiltshire , in July 1964. The reconstruction started in 2004 and is still ongoing.

Technical specifications

Parameter Data
crew 1
length 9.45 m
span 8.73 m
height 2.20 m
Wing area 14.50 m²
Max. Takeoff mass 1,090 kg
Top speed 367 km / h
Engine 2 jet turbines Turbomeca Palas with 150 kp static thrust each

See also

literature

  • Karl-Heinz Eyermann : beam trainer. German Military Publishing House, Berlin 1971, p. 138 f.
  • Don L. Brown: Miles Aircraft since 1925. Putnam & Co., London 1970, ISBN 0-370-00127-3 , p. 346 ff.

Web links