The Phoenix was a single-engined high-wing monoplane, with a wood monocoque fuselage and wood-framed wing with plywood and fabric covering.

It was powered by a 200 hp (149 kW) de Havilland Gipsy VI engine, and had a retractable main undercarriage in stub-wings plus a faired tailwheel.

The prototype Phoenix, registered G-ADAD, first flew at Heston Aerodrome on 18 August 1935, piloted by Edmund G. Hordern.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, three surviving aircraft in the UK were impressed into service by the Royal Air Force.

[1] Phoenix II G-AESV survived military service to be sold for renewed civilian use in 1946 and was used for joyriding and charter flights until it crashed in the French Alps in April 1952.