Miles Hobby
Hobby | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Role | Experimental racer |
National origin | United Kingdom |
Manufacturer | Phillips and Powis Aircraft Ltd
|
Designer | F. G. Miles |
First flight | 4 September 1937 |
Number built | 1 |
The Miles M.13 Hobby was a small low-winged monoplane built for racing and research in the United Kingdom just before World War II. A single engined single seater, it ended its days in the wind tunnel at the R.A.E.
Design and development
The Hobby,[1][2][3] named like many other aircraft designed by F. G. Miles after a bird of prey, was a small low winged cantilever monoplane powered by an inverted, inline 145 hp (108 kW) de Havilland Gipsy Major 2 engine driving a two-blade variable-pitch propeller.[1] It was intended both as a racer and as an aerodynamic research aircraft. It was a wooden aircraft with spruce frames for both fuselage and flying surfaces with a birch plywood skin and a final cover of doped fabric.[2] It was unusual, particularly for a monoplane, in having a span less than its length.[3] The rudder alone was horn balanced. The pilot's cockpit, placed at the wing trailing edge was enclosed and neatly glazed for its day with a single piece Perspex windscreen and separate cover.[3] The Hobby was fitted with flaps and a retractable undercarriage, both hydraulically operated.[2] The main undercarriage legs were mounted almost at mid-span, giving the Hobby a wide track, and when retracted the wheels were completely enclosed by a combination of fairings on the undercarriage legs and separate fairing which filled in the remaining semicircular gap. It had a tailskid at the rear.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Hobby_threequarter.png/220px-Hobby_threequarter.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Hobby_front.png/220px-Hobby_front.png)
Specifications
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Hobby_3V.png/220px-Hobby_3V.png)
Data from Lukins & Russell 1945, pp. 48
General characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Length: 22 ft 8 in (6.91 m)
- Wingspan: 21 ft 5 in (6.53 m)
- Height: 8 ft 5 in (2.557 m)
- Wing area: 78 sq ft (7.25 m2)
- Empty weight: 1,140 lb (517 kg)
- Gross weight: 1,527 lb (693 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × de Havilland Gipsy Major 2 four cylinder inverted inline air-cooled , 145 hp (108 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 200 mph (320 km/h, 170 kn) estimated
References
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
Notes
- ^ a b c d Jackson 1960, p. 385
- ^ a b c d Lukins & Russell 1945, pp. 48–9
- ^ a b c "Miles Hobby Flight 9 September 1937".
- ^ CAA registration
Bibliography
- Jackson, A.J. (1960). British Civil Aircraft 1919-59. Vol. 2. London: Putnam Publishing.
- Lukins, A.H.; Russell, D.A. (1945). The Book of Miles aircraft. Leicester: Harborough.