Miles M.100 Student

I’ve just opened a thread called Strathallan Airshow 1976 video which includes some footage of the Student performing at the show.

[quote]By: David Legg – 17th October 2010 at 18:32 – Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

The Century/Centurion mock-up was burnt before Miles moved out of Ford and to the old BEAGLE production hangar at Shoreham[/unquote]

Do you know when the Century mock-up was burned and whether this was intentional or accidental?

To fill in a bit of its history, in the 1980’s the dismantled, damaged, airframe was stored at Cranfield in Sandy Topen’s hangar with many other “projects”.

BTW, Anyone have a current picture of the restoration status? Love the looks of this aircraft 🙂

miles student

I know this is resurrecting an old thread, but hopefully somebody may be interested.

I was at the Museum of Berkshire Aviation an hour ago and thought you may like to see the Student as it is today. It’s quite a dull day here so apologies that the photos aren’t great, but they should give an idea of the progress made by the team at Woodley.

Hi
I was wondering if you have any other pics of the student
I am building a 1/4 scale model & any close ups of the exhaust where
it meets the rear fuse – close ups of where the perspex is joined to the
fuse – where the side windows fit the doors

I had a visit to the museum about 4 years ago then the student was
in bits & these areas were not visable

I hope to re- visit the museum this September

I live in n ireland & it is rather expensive trip

thank you Loudon Blair

Hi David. The mock up was as you describe and was built in the hangar at Shoreham largely by some excellent woodworkers from the toolroom of F.G.Miles Ltd. Derek.

Interesting reference to the Centurion in the cutting above. Don L Brown in his Putnam book Miles Aircraft since 1925 refers to it as the Century Project. Whatever it was, a full size wooden mock up was built consisting of the forward fuselage only ending, if my memory serves, at a point level with the engine exhaust outlets. I’m not sure where it was built but by the start of 1968, and probably before that, it was stored at the back of the Miles Aviation & Research (R&D) Ltd hangar at Ford in Sussex. It was in the same blue and white colours as used on the Student in the 1960s. It could be accessed from a door in the rear and I recall that the cockpit instruments were peeling black and white photographic reproductions stuck onto the dummy instrument panel and that the rudder pedals were rather vintage items with ‘Miles’ on the foot plates, quite possibly taken from a Gemini or similar!

At this time, the Student was stored in a large wooden packing case in the same hangar. The Century/Centurion mock-up was burnt before Miles moved out of Ford and to the old BEAGLE production hangar at Shoreham but the Student went on to fly again as related earlier in this topic.

George had projected several developments of the Student including a 4 seater with a more powerful engine and also a twin engined version with podded engines a la Citation.

From Jane’s Aircraft ~1963:

Way back in April 2009 Mike Corrill asked whether I would be prepared to get a further run of my little book “My Life in the Aircraft Industry”. I am having a further batch printed and as the printer still has the details the price is much more reasonable than the original run. I shall shortly have the 42 page booklet available at £2.25 to include postage. The book is printed on good quality paper but I must stress again that it is not some attempt to write the history of any aircraft or aircraft company, just my happy memories of a very interesting period in the industry.

[email]derek.emsley@btinternet.com[/email]

I was there in September when the talk was of finishing the fuselage then painting it. What a fantastic job that crew are making of the restoration. I suppose all that you can say is congratulations on the progress to date! I suppose as someone who knew the aircraft so well in it’s early flying days, and indeed flew in it on many occasions I should have liked to have see it with the registration it flew with for most of the time G-APLK but it is a small point and I perfectly understand the significance of the current one. So now it’s on to the wings, one of which is going to be quite difficult. I’m sure we all wish the museum well in it’s endevour to complete the job.

Derek Emsley.

I know this is resurrecting an old thread, but hopefully somebody may be interested.

I was at the Museum of Berkshire Aviation an hour ago and thought you may like to see the Student as it is today. It’s quite a dull day here so apologies that the photos aren’t great, but they should give an idea of the progress made by the team at Woodley.

Dremar

Way back in the 1950s there were various options for an aircraft design with the same concepts as the Student as a 4 seat civilian aircraft. A further development would have followed with 8 plus seats, but alas there was no money available for these designs. I agree that with modern materials something as good as the Student with its attractive lines would be good! However the present credit crunch probably means that aircraft “nuts” of the future will have to be satisfied to gaze upon the static display Student at Woodley and wonder what could have been!

I’ve always thought the Student was a great looking aircarft.
I really like its clean NACA duct inlet.

I wonder if it’s time for a revival?
With the interest in SE light jets, we have the Piper Jet with its DC-10-like engine on the tail, and the Cirrus Jet with a jet pod, like a He-162.

How about a 4-6 seat Student with a longer forward fuselage?
Composite materials, new avionics, a modern jet, the basic design could be a winner.

I visited the museum on Wednesday 24th June to see the wonderful progress that has been made to rebuild the Student to static display standard. When Alan Jerome and Tom Jones started what looked like an impossible task some ten years ago without even any drawings, you had to wonder whether their efforts would be rewarded. Now there is a recognisable aircraft standing on it’s undercarriage which is a tribute to Alan, Tom and the other volunteers who now work on the project who have done so much to achieve this. The museum is well worth a visit whille there are many interesting artefacts it is a real working museum with three rebuilds going on at present which you can watch as part of the exhibition.
Well done the Museum of Berkshire Aviation you deserve to succeed.

Dremar

You have my e-mail address above. If you or anybody else would like a copy there are a few still available. The book contains 42 pages of my pleasant memories and pictures of a number of aircraft. I have of late been asking £5 to cover my printing expenses (it has been professionally printed on good quality paper) and first class postage. Sure if enough people wanted copies I would get a further batch. I must however stress this is not some attempt to write the history of any aircraft or manufacturer, it merely is about the good times in the aircraft industry, and as such is probably has some value of social history of those days when work could be a pleasure. I left the industry in 1971 having been a fitter, a chargehand, a planning engineer and a works superintendent almost the whole time on experimental work. The writing was the result of one of my soms wanting to record family history, rather than just family tree. There you are, now you know.

It was good to see so many postings about this wonderful aircraft. I am Derek Emsley mentioned in the posting by DAILEE1 on 21/03/09. It is true that I have written a “little book” “My Life in the Aircraft Industry” in which the Student figures to a large extent. This work I should stress is not any attempt to write the history of any aircraft, or indeed any company! One of my sons urged me to put in writing for family history some of my working memories and this part of my life was very interesting to say the least.
In reply to Filton Flyer posted on 21/03/09 yes the aircraft did fly at Glasgow and I flew with Duncan MacIntosh there in August 1976. Duncan flew it from Shoreham after the jet pipe trials at Hatfield to Glasgow on a care basis in the Loganair Hangar and flew it from time to time.
In reply to Hillifree posted on 21/03/09 the aircraft was contracted to Hatfield for noise trials, Various jet pipes were fitted and the noise measured. I know very little of those trials as I had left Miles Aviation and Transport by then.
In reply to DAILEE1 posting of 23/03/09 the South African project was for the Mark 2 armed version to be used as a counter insurgency aircraft and I was responsible for the conversion on the shop floor to this standard, and other than Duncan was the only other person to fire those two Brownings. I had all the jabs necessary for going to South Africa, the aircraft had been crated when the government decided that it could not be exported for that purpose and the trip was cancelled.
My little book is not on general sale but I do have a few copies of the hundred I had printed, 11 copies are with West Sussex County County Council Library Department for Local Study etc references, and I understand one copy is in the Tangmere Aircraft Museim Library. Should anyone wish to contact me they are welcome to by e-mail [email]derek.emsley@btinternet.com[/email]

If enough people were interested could you possibly be tempted to commission another run of a similar number of copies? I’m sure some of us on here would be interested in a copy. The marketing handled by you price per copy worked out so that even if you made no profit you at least managed to break even. That’s a strange concept in aircraft production these days I think

Interest in the Student

This thread interested me originally in that what I thought was a long forgotten aeroplane could still attract such interest. On reflection it is the interest taken by people like David Legg who manage to enthuse other people to get interested. I also remember showing David the inside of that crate and his memory is quite right, the door jettison pins had been pulled so that entry was possible between the fuselage and crate. The ex Hunter control handles were then still in place with the gun firing controls still intact. These controls must have reverted to the original when the Student was prepared for the noise tests at Hatfield. I have no idea how the aircraft was moved from Ford to Shoreham David, but from what I saw at Shoreham when it was being prepared for flight it must have travelled by road. It was a little too far to move it by the same method we used to move it from Shoreham Airport to the Miles factory in Shoreham at Riverside Works to make the modifications to Mark 2 standard! We set off at 5am and two of us pulled it through the streets minus wings and empanage.

Back in the late 1960s, I was a very regular schoolboy visitor to Miles Aviation & Transport (R&D) Ltd, a small firm set up by George Miles and based at the old FAA station at Ford near Arundel in Sussex. Derek Emsley, who has been posting on this thread over the last few days, was works manager there and did a great deal to foster and encourage my aviation interests so, along with a small number of other individuals in the industry and services, deserves my grateful thanks. After a gap of something like 39 years (!) I have recently re-established contact with him (connected with the death a while back of Neville Duke but that is another story).

Anyway, the point of this message is that c1969, Derek took me to one side one afternoon at Ford and asked me if I knew what was in the very large wooden packing case that was a ‘fixture’ in the corner of Miles’ hangar there. I didn’t know so he produced a ladder and we climbed into the open topped box and there to my amazement was the dismantled Student! My recollection was that the hinges on the car-type doors had been removed and so we were able to sit inside the cockpit complete with its firing buttons on the control column. So, it is a little known fact that the Student was hidden away at Ford for some time between c1967 and 1970 before going to Shoreham and the various trials mentioned further up. What I do not know – but would be interested to find out – is how the Student was moved from Ford to Shoreham. Did it fly or was it by truck?

Dremar

Hi Dai I meant no offence, I suppose had the Student remained a side by side trainer then there would have been no export problem, I doubt anyone would have objected. The problem was we had already done the work to prove the concept of a very handy counter insurgency aircraft and that was not politically acceptable.

M100 Student

Thanks Derek for elaborating on the little knowledge that I have of this aircraft

Dai