Miles Merlin

M.4A Merlin
Type:	Small plane
Design country:	United Kingdom
Manufacturer:	Miles Aircraft
First flight:	May 11, 1935
Number of pieces:	4th

The Miles M.4A Merlin was a five - seat low- wing aircraft produced by the British manufacturer Miles Aircraft .

development and construction

The M.4 Merlin was developed by Frederick George Miles at Phillips and Powis in collaboration with Birkett Air Service and the Indian company Tata Airlines . A five-seat aircraft with a cruising speed of 224 km / h was required. Miles thought it was possible to achieve the specifications with a 200 hp de Havilland Gipsy Six and the use of a controllable pitch propeller .

The Merlin was based on the three- and four-seat versions of the M.3 Falcon , but had a wider fuselage and a correspondingly larger wingspan . The cabin dimensions were 2.01 m × 1.25 m (length × width). The aircraft was a low wing aircraft with a rigid, disguised tail wheel landing gear . It was mainly made of wood. The airframe was made of spruce frames , which were clad with three-ply birch plywood . The wings had hydraulically driven expansion flaps that took up 10% of the wing depth and thus enabled a landing speed of less than 80 km / h. As engine a de Havilland Gipsy Six came with a rated power of 200  hp (147  kW for use). The original designation of the aircraft was M.4 Merlin, but all four copies built were completed as M.4A Merlin with a fixed pitch propeller instead of the planned variable pitch propeller.

use

On May 11, 1935, the prototype with the temporary registration number U-8 (later G-ADFE) completed its maiden flight from Woodley Airfield with Frederick Miles at the controls . A few weeks later, the first Merlin was handed over to Birkett Air Service. There she was stationed as an air taxi and for charter traffic at the Heston Aerodrome . Two machines were delivered to Tata Airlines by Tata Sons for their route from Karachi to Madras . The fourth Merlin was bought by E. Chaseling of Victorian and Interstate Airways in Australia for the Melbourne - Hay route . In 1940 this machine was requisitioned for military service by the Royal Australian Air Force .

operator

 Australia

• Victoria and Interstate Airways
• Royal Australian Air Force

 India

• Tata Airlines

 United Kingdom

• Birkett Air Services

Technical specifications

Three-sided view

Parameter	Data
crew	1
Passengers	4th
length	25.83  ft (7.87  m )
span	37 ft (11.28 m)
height	9.58 ft (2.92 m)
Wing area	196  ft² (18.21  m² )
Wing extension	7.0
Empty mass	1,700  lb (771  kg )
Max. Takeoff mass	3,000 lb (1,361 kg)
Cruising speed	145  mph (233  km / h )
Top speed	155 mph (249 km / h)
Service ceiling	18,000 ft (5,486 m)
Range	700  mi (1,127  km )
Engines	1 × de Havilland Gipsy Six with 200  PS (147  kW )

See also

• List of aircraft types

literature

• Peter Amos, Don Lambert Brown: Miles Aircraft Since 1925, Volume 1 . Putnam, London 2000, ISBN 0-85177-787-2 (English).
• Don Lambert Brown: Miles Aircraft Since 1925 . Putnam, London 1970, ISBN 0-370-00127-3 (English).
• AJ Jackson: British Civil Aircraft since 1919 . Putnam, London 1974, ISBN 0-370-10014-X (English).
• AJ Jackson: British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Volume 3 . Putnam, London 1988, ISBN 0-85177-818-6 (English).
• AH Lukins, DA Russel: The book of Miles aircraft . Harborough, 1945 (English).
• Arthur WJG Ord-Hume: British Light Airplanes - Their Evolution, Development and Perfection 1920-1940 . GMS Enterprises, Peterborough 2000, ISBN 1-870384-76-8 (English).

Web links

Commons : Miles Merlin  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ord-Hume, 2000, p. 419
2. ^ ^{A b} Don Lambert Brown: Miles Aircraft Since 1925 . Putnam, London 1970, ISBN 0-370-00127-3 , pp. 87, 88 (English).
3. ↑ ^{a b} A. J. Jackson: British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Volume 3 . Putnam, London 1988, ISBN 0-85177-818-6 , pp. 57, 58 (English).
4. ↑ The Miles Merlin . In: Flight International . Reed Business Information , April 4, 1935, p. 351, 352 (English, archive.org ).