Miles Aircraft

[5] In 1947, the company entered receivership following bankruptcy proceedings instigated by Titanine Ltd., in the Chancery Division of the High Court.

[6] Mr. Justice Wynn-Parry adjourned the petition of Titanine Ltd., for the winding up of Miles Aircraft Ltd., until 19 January 1948, on the grounds that the company had showed prima facie reasons for not yet having formulated a reorganization scheme.

At this time the company had some £5 million worth of business in hand, including substantial orders for the Messenger and the Gemini.

In 1948 an application by the Board of Trade for the appointment of an inspector to investigate the affairs of Miles Aircraft Ltd. was granted by Mr. Justice Roxburgh.

They had appeared on charges of inducing people to acquire shares in the company by making a misleading forecast and dishonestly concealing a material fact in a prospectus.

The prosecution alleged that the defendants gave a misleading forecast that for 1947 the profit covering the production of aircraft would have been £75,000, whereas there was a substantial loss.

It was alleged that they recklessly made the misleading statement that the company had orders on hand which were sufficient to ensure production for the following two years, and that they dishonestly concealed the fact that a profit for the manufacture of aircraft in 1947 was unlikely."

The company's earlier aircraft include the Hawk Trainer and its military variant, the Magister, as well as the Messenger and the Gemini.

The aircraft designed by Miles were often technologically and aerodynamically advanced for their time; the M.20 emergency production fighter prototype outperformed contemporary Hawker Hurricanes, despite having fixed landing gear.

The X Minor was a flying testbed for blended wing-fuselage designs, although the large commercial transport intended to be produced from this research never entered production.

Instead, the company built a 5/8th scale version M.39B which was sold to the government for research and testing; it was scrapped after being damaged and the bomber procurement had been cancelled.

Tandem-wing designs, with a wing at both ends of an aircraft, reduce centre of gravity problems due to fuel or ammunition usage.

The M.30 'X Minor' flying aerodynamics testbed
Miles Master trainer in flight during the Second World War
M38 Miles Messenger G-AKBN photographed c. 1951