Miles Mohawk

M.12 mohawk
Type:	Small plane
Design country:	United Kingdom
Manufacturer:	Miles Aircraft
First flight:	August 22, 1936
Commissioning:	February 1, 1937
Number of pieces:	1

The Miles M.12 Mohawk was a two-seat small aircraft produced by the British manufacturer Phillips and Powis Aircraft (predecessor of Miles Aircraft ). It was built in 1936 on the order of Charles Lindbergh .

development and construction

After Charles Lindbergh moved to England in 1936 , he asked Frederick George Miles to build a fast, long-haul aircraft for him to travel between the various capital cities . The close collaboration between Lindbergh and Miles resulted in a first-class aircraft.

As Miles previous pattern Nighthawk and Hawcon is also the Mohawk a cantilever low-wing aircraft with wings of a with plywood -clad fir wood frame . While the inner sections of the wings do not have a V-position , the outer sections are angled upwards and tapered towards the tips. The hull also consists of a structure made of spruce wood, which is planked with plywood. The M.12 is equipped with a tail wheel chassis . Both legs of the main landing gear are provided with an aerodynamic fairing.

The Mohawk was powered by a Menasco Buccaneer B6S with a rated output of 200 hp (147 kW ).

use

The Miles Mohawk in the Royal Air Force Museum in London

The Mohawk received the aircraft registration G-AEKW on July 17, 1936, but did not complete its maiden flight until August 22, 1936. It received its certificate of airworthiness on January 28, 1937 and was then subjected to a series of test flights, including by Lindbergh himself. On February 1, 1937, the machine was officially handed over to Lindbergh at a ceremony in Woodley . Immediately after the ceremony, Lindbergh and his wife set off on a trip to India . In the following years, the Lindberghs flew with the machine all over Europe until Lindbergh brought the plane back to Woodley on April 4, 1939 and had it stored there before returning to the United States .

In August 1939, the Air Ministry inspected the Mohawk to check whether it could be drafted for military service. On October 31, 1941, the aircraft was requisitioned for the Royal Air Force and given the military registration HM503. On November 8th it was stationed at Turnhouse Military Airfield in Scotland . After installing a propeller from Fairey-Reed in May 1943, the machine was relocated to the RAF Andover Air Force Base in Hampshire and used by the Maintenance Command Communications Squadron. There it was seldom used due to problems with the engine and was left behind in Andover when the squadron was moved to Babdown Farm. In February 1944 it was finally brought to the fifth maintenance unit at the RAF Air Force Base Kemble in Cirencester and stored there. After that it was no longer flown by the Royal Air Force.

In May 1946 the Mohawk was acquired by Southern Aircraft, restored and put up for sale in July 1947. In August 1947, she finished second in the Folkstone Trophy Air Race with an average speed of 138.5 mph (223 km / h ). In October 1949, the new owner Bruno Pini flew the machine together with Neville Browning to North Africa to take part in the Oran International Rally. On the way back, a defect forced them to land in Spain . Although it was only a minor defect, the pilots gave up the plane and returned to England. The Mohawk has not been flown since then.

Whereabouts

In 1973 the Mohawk was discovered in a scrap yard in Seville and brought to the United States for restoration by Lew Casey, curator of the National Air and Space Museum . After many attempts with little success, Casey decided to donate the aircraft to the Royal Air Force Museum . The Mohawk was shipped to the United Kingdom in October 2002 and restored by the museum. Since August 2008 it has been part of the “Milestones of Flight” exhibition.

operator

United Kingdom United Kingdom

Royal Air Force

Technical specifications

Parameter	Data
crew	2
length	25.5 ft (7.77 m )
span	35 ft (10.67 m)
height	6.5 ft (1.98 m)
Wing area	182.75 ft² (16.98 m² )
Empty mass	1,605 lb (728 kg )
Max. Takeoff mass	2,700 lb (1,225 kg)
Cruising speed	150 kn (278 km / h )
Top speed	170 kn (315 km / h)
Engines	1 × Menasco Buccaneer B6S with 200 PS (147 kW )

literature

Peter Amos: Miles Aircraft: The Early Years . Tonbridge, Kent 2009, ISBN 978-0-85130-410-6 (English).
Peter Amos, Don Lambert Brown: Miles Aircraft Since 1925, Volume 1 . Putnam Aeronautical, London 2000, ISBN 0-85177-787-2 (English).
Andrew Scott Berg: Lindbergh . GP Putnam's Sons, New York 1998, ISBN 0-399-14449-8 (English).
Don Lambert Brown: Miles Aircraft Since 1925 . Putnam & Company Ltd., London 1970, ISBN 0-370-00127-3 (English).
AJ Jackson: British Civil Aircraft 1919-1972: Volume III . Putnam, London 1988, ISBN 0-85177-818-6 (English).
Lindbergh buys British . In: Flight International . tape 30 , no. 1454 . Reed Business Information, November 5, 1936, p. 473–475 (English, archive.org ).
AH Lukins, DA Russel: The Book of Miles Aircraft . Harborough, Leicester 1945 (English).
Leonard Mosley: Lindbergh: A Biography . Doubleday and Company, New York 1976, ISBN 978-0-385-09578-5 (English).
Julian C. Temple: Wings Over Woodley: The Story of Miles Aircraft and the Adwest Group . Aston Publications, Bourne End 1987, ISBN 0-946627-12-6 (English).

Web links

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

Individual evidence

↑ Andrew Scott Berg: Lindbergh . GP Putnam's Sons, New York 1998, ISBN 0-399-14449-8 , pp. 362 (English).
↑ AH Lukins, DA Russel: The Book of Miles Aircraft . Harborough, Leicester 1945, p. 40, 41 (English).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q Peter Amos: Miles Aircraft: The Early Years . Tonbridge, Kent 2009, ISBN 978-0-85130-410-6 , pp. 243-254 (English).

[1] Andrew Scott Berg: Lindbergh . GP Putnam's Sons, New York 1998, ISBN 0-399-14449-8 , pp. 362 (English).

[2] AH Lukins, DA Russel: The Book of Miles Aircraft . Harborough, Leicester 1945, p. 40, 41 (English).

[miles-3] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q Peter Amos: Miles Aircraft: The Early Years . Tonbridge, Kent 2009, ISBN 978-0-85130-410-6 , pp. 243-254 (English).