Miles M.3 "Falcon"

Test Bed

Engine: 1x de Havilland

Gipsy Six six cylinder in line air cooled inverted engines making 224 hp

Wing Span: 35'

Length: 25'

Weight: Empty 1,550 Ib / 2,650 Ib

Maximum Speed: 180 mph

Range: 560 miles

Crew: 1

Armament: None

History:

With an enclosed cabin seating four in side-by-side pairs, the M.3 was in most other respects similar to the M.2 Hawk Major, and initially used the same 130 hp Gipsy Major I. First flown on September 23,1934, basic M.3A Falcon Major was joined in 1935 by the Falcon Six with 200 hp DH Gipsy Six engine. Some 35 Falcons of all types built by 1937. Five assorted Falcons impressed 1940-41 for the RAF and one for the FAA Communications Unit at Lee-on-Solent, No 781 Sqn. Several others flew for most of the war retaining their British civil registrations. Two Falcon Majors and a Falcon Six impressed for the RAAF served in Communications Units. In April 1936, RAE took delivery at Farnborough of Falcon Six K5924, with three sets of wings to investigate laminar flow; this remained in use at Farnborough until 1944.A second Falcon Six, the M.3E L9705, reached Farnborough in April 1938, testing highly-tapered wings of three different aerofoil sections and three sets of low-tapered wings with three different aerofoil biconvex tip sections.

Returned to Miles in 1943, L9705 became the 'Gillette Falcon', first flown August 11, 1944, to test features of very thin wing projected for Miles M.52 supersonic research aircraft. A third Falcon Six, ex-civil, reached the RAE in November 1939 as R4071 for research into spoilers, and survived the war there.

The Miles " Falcon Six"