Miles Messenger
| Messenger | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Miles M.38 Messenger 2A | |
| Role | Liaison and private owner aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Miles Aircraft |
| First flight | 12 September 1942 |
| Status | examples still flying |
| Primary users |
Royal Air Force Private owner pilots |
| Produced | 1942-1948 |
| Number built | 93 |
| Developed from | Miles M.28 Mercury |
The Miles M.38 Messenger is a British four-seat liaison and private owner aircraft built by Miles Aircraft.
The Messenger was designed to meet a British Army requirement for a robust, slow speed, low maintenance air observation post and liaison aircraft.
The aircraft designed was a cantilever low-wing monoplane with a fixed tailwheel, powered by the de Havilland Gipsy Major 1D inline engine.
Fitted with retractable auxiliary wing flaps enabling a wing loading of around 12.5 lb per square foot, the Messenger featured triple fins and rudders in order to maintain sufficient controllability down to the exceptionally low stalling speed of 25 mph.
The prototype was converted from a Miles M.28 Mercury and first flew at Woodley on 12 September 1942, some three months after an approach by army officers. When informally test flown by an Aerial Observation Post Squadron it was declared a success, meeting all the army's requirements, however the Ministry of Aircraft Production, having not been consulted, reprimanded George Miles for failing to seek the ministry's permission before rebuilding the aircraft and no orders for the Miles M.38 were placed for the aerial observation post role, AOP units using light, fixed-wing aircraft, notably various marks of Auster.
During the war George Miles continued to experiment with the prototype and suggested the aircraft (known as the M.38A) could be operated in the anti-submarine role using a small 60 foot (18.29 metre) deck aboard small merchant ships, landing using a simple arrester wire system. This was tried at Woodley using a simulated deck (with passengers simulating the weight of depth charges). Perhaps predictably, no official interest was expressed in this scheme.
However a year later a small order against Specification 17/43 was placed on behalf of the British Royal Air Force for the Messenger I to be employed in the VIP transport passenger transport role.
Wartime users of the type included Marshal of the Royal Air Force 1st Baron Tedder and Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery. (The Messenger shown at the beginning of this article - - attended the 60th D-Day commemorations at the Imperial War Museum Duxford in 2004.)
...
Wikipedia