The fate of modern combat aviation could
have been very different, with wild Tandem-wing seaborne aircraft that resemble
dragonflies taking the place of the sleek, streamlined, and low-wing monoplane
configurations we are accustomed to. Aircraft design almost steered
in that direction when naval aeronautical engineers faced a
seemingly insurmountable problem: how to make seaborne warplanes land safely
and reliably on aircraft carriers when their downward view was almost entirely
obstructed by the engines and the wings. Even so, designer George Herbert Miles had a crazy
idea that might just have worked. It consisted of pushing the main wings to the rear and mounting
another set of smaller wings in the front, above the cockpit, clearing the view for pilots
to land safely even on the narrowest flight decks. This idea produced one of the most bizarre
yet fascinating aircraft prototypes, the Miles M.35 Libellula, an
incredible warplane that almost became the blueprint for carrier-based
combat warplanes of the 20th century… A Daring Bet It was the height of World War 2, and a small and
ambitious aircraft design company was looking to eliminate one of the most frustrating
issues seaborne warplane pilots faced: their limited eyesight when
landing on aircraft carriers. Frederick George Miles, his wife Maxine
“Blossom” Miles, and his brother George Herbert Miles had managed to establish
a civilian aircraft design firm in 1928. After several promising designs, they gained
the attention of Rolls-Royce in 1936, and the company invested in the family business as they
sought to venture into combat aircraft design. The Phillips and Powis company was awarded a
contract worth over two million dollars for the design and development of a basic
trainer. Work continued diligently, but the ambitious family had their sight fixed
on a bigger game, and they wanted to leave their mark in the combat aviation industry with
more than a conventional trainer design. By the turn of the decade, Rolls-Royce had lost
interest in the Miles’ company, and Frederick used the opportunity to buy all the stock and rename
the venture Miles Aircraft. With complete control of their company, the entrepreneurs could dedicate
their efforts to their far-fetched ambitions. After witnessing the Westland-Delanne tandem-wing
Lysander in a demonstration, Herbert Miles came up with a wild idea which he pitched to his
brother Frederik. He proposed designing tandem-wing carrier-based fighters to make landing
on carrier decks easier for pilots by removing the visual obstruction of the forward-mounted engine
and the vast wing structure of most warplanes. The new design sought to lessen the
perils by adopting the tandem-wing layout, which was eventually implemented in several
of the company’s conceptions during the war. Miles Aircraft developed a wide array of warplane
designs that used the tandem wing configuration; nevertheless, with an increasingly strained
financial situation, they were unable to create full-sized prototypes for most of them; instead,
they built a primary technology demonstrator, which was named the M-35 Libellula after
the dragonfly’s taxonomic family name. The project was presented to the world as a
private venture undertaken by Miles Aircraft, but in reality, the brothers were desperately
trying to revolutionize aircraft design and sell their breakthrough technology to the
biggest warplane manufacturers in the world. No One Will Fly It The M-35 Libellula was a relatively makeshift
plane designed to test the tandem-wing technology on a cheap and scaled-down version of what would
eventually be the authentic full-fledged aircraft. Nevertheless, the impromptu nature of the
demonstrator craft immediately became a headache for Frederick Miles when his
test pilot refused to test the aircraft, as he believed it was unsafe to fly. Frustrated and fueled by his ambition,
Miles decided to get inside the cockpit and fly the tandem aircraft for its maiden
test. The flight went awry quickly when the aircraft designer was unable to make
his creation take off the ground. Miles would have to think on his feet and force
close the throttle at high speeds in order to push the little plane off the ground and take
flight. The first test was a disaster, with the aircraft flying erratically and uncontrollably
due to the misaligned center of gravity. The brave man barely survived the dangerous
flight, but it allowed him to make significant changes to the design, align the center of
gravity and ballast the entire airframe. After that, the test flights were more
successful, demonstrating that the tandem weight configuration could be a safe and reliable
solution to many seaborne aircraft’s problems. Once the prototype was up and running, its design
showcased a wide array of promising features, such as a shorter fuselage and more enclosed
wingspan for onboard carrier storage, as well as more sturdy and resistant wings and less space
needed in the carrier for wing folding devices. The aircraft also demonstrated formidable control due to the doubling of control
surfaces along the wing lines. It was now a stable and reliable aircraft with
a wingspan of 20 feet at the main funnel plane and 20.5 feet at the rear central plane.
In addition, it was powered by a single de Havilland Gipsy major air-cooled
inline engine with 130 horsepower. The Cogs of Bureaucracy Miles was eager to show the world what new
aircraft configuration could accomplish and, simultaneously, emerge from the financial
distress Miles Aircraft was slowly sinking into. As such, he hastily presented his M-35 Libellula
design to the Admiralty while considering the numerous benefits they would attain from a
tandem-wing configuration seaborne aircraft. The response was not what Miles
had envisioned; his company was immediately scolded by the Ministry of
Aircraft Production and the Admiralty, which immediately rejected his idea because
it was developed without official approval. But with the bills piling up and all his
chips on the table, Miles was undeterred, and he switched gears and began to adapt
his design into a bomber in July of 1942. The new aircraft adhered to the recently
published requirement of specification B 1141; thus, the design could not
be rejected like before. The new venture was named the M 39 and was
envisioned to have a maximum weight of 2,000 pounds and an overall length of 20.3 feet.
The cockpit was located at the head of the fuselage and provided good visibility, while the
set of wings in the front was shoulder-mounted and straight. Moreover, the plane in the rear was
low-mounted and featured a swept-back design. The engine was mounted in a way as
to interfere as little as possible with the pilot’s field of view, and a
tricycle undercarriage was installed with a fourth leg on the far back to
protect the aircraft’s aft section. Even so, the new bomber was plagued with issues,
especially regarding engine stability and output. After several modifications caused
by the poor testing performance, Miles presented a new version of his bomber named
M 39 B, which was narrowed down to a 5/8 scale. The single-seat prototype would be powered by a
pair of 130-horsepower air-cooled inline engines. The central frontal plane was now positioned
low against the cockpit sidewalls; from nose to tail wing, the airframe
was given a highly curved design, and a tricycle undercarriage was installed
for landing purposes. Its proportions were enlarged accordingly, and the wingspans grew
to 25 feet in front and 37.5 feet at the back. Taking to the Skies In the final months of 1943, Miles was offered
an official development contract by the British Air Ministry. Soon, Miles Aircraft made a bid
to attract the attention of the US military. On July 22, the M 30 bomber model with a wingspan
of 58 feet took its first flight and was found to be aerodynamically stable. It was 35.8 feet
long and had a maximum weight of 26,750 pounds, while its proposed crew speed was 360 miles
per hour with 220-millimeter cannons in the wings and the capacity to carry up to 6,000
pounds of bombs in the fuselage center. The M-39 High-Speed bomber was initially
ordered but later canceled in November due to a contract issue and a shift in
the Royal Air Force’s bomber demands. And the M 39 B data gathering prototype only
lasted until 1948, when it was dismantled. The M 63 was a final proposal
inspired by the M.35 Libellula. It was designed to have three cluster jet engines
in the rear fuselage and a central dorsal fin, offering a more streamlined design with the
same capabilities as the M-39 High-Speed bomber. At the end of the day, Frederick Miles threw
everything he had at the ambitious Tandem-wing aircraft concept, as he was convinced it would
be the future of Seaborne combat aircraft. For a moment, the British
military seemed to agree, and they suddenly shifted their attention,
leaving Miles’s design in the air. However, the M.35 and its subsequent
designs proved to be a fascinating experiment depicting how easily the entire
world of combat aviation could have taken a drastically different direction during the
hectic World War 2 aircraft design races. Miles Aircraft continued to produce
conventional aircraft for almost a decade, but the financial issues plaguing the
enterprise eventually enveloped the family, who were forced to file for bankruptcy. As such, the Miles legacy was over, along with
their vision of a Tandem-wing seaborne aircraft. Thank you for watching Dark Skies! Don’t
hesitate to click on your screen to discover more sensational wartime technology and
delve into the blistering battles where it was used. And subscribe to all
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