Miles Aircraft
A husband-and-wife design team at Reading trained a generation of RAF pilots, then came within a whisker of building a 1,000 mph jet in 1946 before the company collapsed into receivership.
Miles Aircraft: the company and the aircraft that made its name
Fred, Blossom and the trainers
Miles was really a family. Frederick George Miles designed the aircraft with his wife Maxine “Blossom” Miles, an aviator and draughtswoman, and his brother George. Their partner was Phillips & Powis, founded at Reading in 1928, which opened Woodley Aerodrome in 1929 and built Miles designs under its own name; Rolls-Royce bought in in 1936, and only in 1943 did the firm become Miles Aircraft Ltd. By then it had made the Magister, the first monoplane designed as an RAF trainer, with 1,293 built, and more than 3,000 Master advanced trainers across three marks.
The aeroplane meant to beat sound
Miles also thought big. In October 1943 the Air Ministry gave it a secret contract for the M.52, a jet meant to fly at 1,000 mph, more than twice the speed record of the day. Design was said to be 90 per cent complete in 1944. In February 1946 the new Labour government cancelled it. Miles’s chief aerodynamicist Dennis Bancroft later said Bell Aircraft had been given the M.52 drawings under an exchange agreement that the US never honoured. In October 1948 an unmanned rocket model of the design reached Mach 1.38 in level flight.
Receivership and the Old Bailey
Peace was cruel. Despite some £5 million of orders for the Messenger and Gemini, Miles Aircraft went into receivership in 1947 after a creditor’s petition, and the new board stopped aircraft work. Fred Miles and Sir William Mount stood trial at the Old Bailey in 1950 over the company’s prospectus; the jury stopped the case and both were discharged. Handley Page took the aviation assets and built the Miles Marathon airliner. Fred Miles carried on as F. G. Miles Ltd at Redhill and Shoreham until its aircraft interests went to Beagle in 1961.
Miles Aircraft in numbers
The company
- In short
- Founded 1928
- Founded as Phillips & Powis Aircraft (Reading) Ltd
- Opened Woodley Aerodrome in 1929
- Rolls-Royce shareholding from 1936
- Renamed Miles Aircraft Ltd in 1943
- Receivership in 1947
Production
- Best known for
- Magister and Master
- Magister: 1,293 built
- Master I, II and III: 3,201 built
- Martinet target tug: 1,724 built
- Gemini: 170 built
- M.52 supersonic jet cancelled in 1946
Today
- Now
- Defunct
- Aviation assets went to Handley Page in 1947
- F. G. Miles Ltd aircraft interests went to Beagle in 1961
- Miles Aircraft Collection founded in 1993 to preserve survivors
The numbers
- Magister built
- 1,293
- Master built (I, II and III)
- 3,201
- Martinet built
- 1,724
- Orders in hand at receivership
- about £5 million1947
- Reported loss
- £630,0001947
Every notable Miles Aircraft aircraft
| Aircraft | Role | First flight | Built | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miles M.2 Hawk | Two-seat light monoplane | 1933 | 55 | Retired | |
| Miles M.2F Hawk Major | Light monoplane | 1934 | 64 | Retired | |
| Miles M.3 Falcon | Cabin monoplane | 1934 | 36 | Retired | 19 Falcon Major and 17 Falcon Six |
| Miles M.11 Whitney Straight | Two-seat light aircraft | 1936 | 50 | Retired | |
| Miles M.14 Magister | Basic military trainer | 1937 | 1,293 | Retired | First monoplane designed as an RAF trainer |
| Miles Master I, II and III | Advanced trainer | 1939 | 3,201 | Retired | 900 Mk I, 1,699 Mk II, 602 Mk III |
| Miles M.20 | Emergency fighter prototype | 1940 | 2 | Retired | Built for a low-cost fighter requirement; not ordered |
| Miles M.25 Martinet | Target tug | 1943 | 1,724 | Retired | |
| Miles M.50 Queen Martinet | Radio-controlled target drone | 1944 | 65 | Retired | |
| Miles M.38 Messenger | Liaison and private aircraft | 1942 | 80 | Retired | |
| Miles M.33 Monitor | Twin-engine target tug | 1944 | 22 | Retired | |
| Miles M.52 | Supersonic research aircraft | Retired | Cancelled in February 1946 before completion | ||
| Miles M.57 Aerovan | Short take-off transport | 1945 | 48 | Retired | |
| Miles M.60 Marathon | Feederliner | 1945 | 42 | Retired | Built by Handley Page as the H.P.R.1 after 1947 |
| Miles M.65 Gemini | Light twin | 1945 | 170 | Retired | |
| Miles M.100 Student | Jet trainer prototype | 1957 | 1 | Retired | F. G. Miles Ltd |
Miles Aircraft aircraft in the world’s air forces
1 air forces in the Order of Battle fly or flew Miles Aircraft types. 0 of them still have one in service.
| Air force | In service | Formerly flown |
|---|---|---|
| Irish Air Corps | Miles M.14A Magister and M.19 Master II |
Where Miles Aircraft built, who led it, what it achieved
Factories
- Woodley works · Woodley Aerodrome, Reading, Berkshire — Main plant; aerodrome opened 1929
- Banbridge and Long Kesh · County Down and RAF Long Kesh, Northern Ireland — Messenger components and assembly; moved to Newtownards in 1946
- F. G. Miles Ltd · Redhill and Shoreham aerodromes — Post-1948 company
People
- Frederick George Miles · designer and managing figure
- Maxine “Blossom” Miles · aviator, draughtswoman, director of the Miles Aeronautical Technical School
- George Herbert Miles · designer; later chief designer of Beagle-Miles
- Dennis Bancroft · chief aerodynamicist on the M.52
Records and firsts
- Magister: first monoplane designed as a trainer for the RAF
- M.52 scale rocket model reached Mach 1.38 in stable level flight, 10 October 1948
Miles Aircraft, year by year
Phillips & Powis Aircraft (Reading) Ltd founded
Woodley Aerodrome opened
Rolls-Royce buys into the company
Magister first flight
Master I advanced trainer enters production
Rolls-Royce bought out; company becomes Miles Aircraft Ltd; M.52 contract in October
M.52 cancelled by the Attlee government
Receivership; aircraft work ended
Handley Page acquires the aviation assets; F. G. Miles Ltd founded
M.52-based rocket model reaches Mach 1.38
Old Bailey prospectus trial; case against F. G. Miles stopped by the jury
F. G. Miles aviation interests sold to Beagle
Everything people ask about Miles Aircraft
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Verified 2026-10-03.