Miles m-52 could have been before bell x-1. Robert Jackson "The Encyclopedia of Aircraft", 2004ġ x 907kg Power Jets W.2/700 turbojet engine Meanwhile, only a year after the M.52's cancellation was made public, Major Charles Yeager, US Air Force, had made history's first supersonic flight in the rocket-powered Bell X-1 research aircraft. The irony was that most of the models were based on the design of the M.52, and the double irony was that, in the light of current knowledge, the full-size M.52 would almost certainly have been a success. In each failure (apart from the first attempted launch when the Mosquito launch aircraft got out of control in cloud and the model broke away) it was the rocket motor that failed, not the airframe. Between May 1947 and October 1948 eight rocket-powered models were launched, only three of which were successful. The department responsible was headed by Dr Barnes Wallis, designer of the special mines which had breached the Ruhr dams in 1943. The stated reason behind the decision to cancel the M.52 was that it had already been decided, early in 1946, to carry out a supersonic research programme with the aid of unmanned models developed by Vickers Ltd. Secrecy surrounded the cancellation of the M.52, just as it had surrounded its design, and it was not until September 1946 that the British public were made aware that their aircraft industry had been within sight of flying the world's first supersonic aircraft, only to have the chance snatched away. On the M.52 project was to cease at once. Then, in February 1946, quite without warning, F.G.Miles received word from the Director General of Scientific Research at the Ministry of Aircraft Production, Sir Ben Lockspeiser, that all work No snags were envisaged in construction, and it was expected that the first M.52 would fly within six to eight months. The undercarriage's position presented some headaches the very thin wing section meant that the wheels had to be positioned to retract into the fuselage, a narrow-track arrangement which might cause landing problems.ĭetailed design work on the M.52 was 90 per cent complete by the beginning of 1946, and the jigs were ready for the assembly of three planned prototypes. TheĪddition of rudimentary afterburners in the form of combustion cans situated at the rear of the engine duct was calculated to produce much greater thrust at supersonic speed. Split flaps were fitted, together with an all-moving tailplane. As design work progressed, various refinements were incorporated. A full-scale wooden mock-up of this unique high-speed wing design was built and tested on a Miles Falcon light aircraft in 1944. The M.52 was fitted with biconvex section wings, mounted at mid-point on the fuselage. The whole cockpit cone, in which the pilot sat semi-reclined, could be detached in an emergency by firing small cordite charges the pilot would then bale out normally when the capsule reached a lower altitude. The powerplant, a Power Jets W.2/700, was centrally mounted and fed by an annular air intake, the cockpit forming a centre cone. The design that gradually evolved featured a bullet-like fuselage of circular section, 1.5m in diameter, constructed of high-tensile steel with an alloy covering. As the project was masked in secrecy, Miles set up its own foundry for the production of the necessary metal components and also built a high-speed wind tunnel. The Miles company began work on the M.52 in 1943, at a time when knowledge of high-speed aerodynamics was strictly limited. It was a decision which may well rank as one of the major tragedies of British aviation. The Miles E.24/43, or M.52, was an extremely advanced project on which Miles Aircraft Ltd worked for three years until a high-level decision suspended further work. Virtual Aircraft Museum / United Kingdom / Miles
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