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Concept
Miles Kestrel
Summary
The Miles M.9 Kestrel was a 1930s British single-engined tandem seat monoplane, intended as an advanced trainer. Only one Kestrel was built but it was developed into the Miles Master for the RAF and produced in large numbers at the start of the Second World War.
The Kestrel was Miles' first high powered aircraft and was an aerodynamically clean monoplane with cantilever wings and tailplane. It is not recorded whether it was named after a bird of prey, like many aircraft designed by F. G. Miles, or after its Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine.
The Kestrel had thick wings, perhaps influenced by the experiments with the Miles Hawcon, with a root thickness to chord ratio of about 23%. They had inverted gull form, with anhedral inboard, giving way to dihedral on the outer part. The wings carried ailerons immediately outboard of Miles split trailing edge flaps in two sections on each wing. The main undercarriage was attached at the lowest point of the wing, keeping the legs short; they retracted backwards, with the wheels rotating into the plane of the wings. A tail wheel was fitted. Both rudder and elevators were horn balanced and fitted with trim tabs. The aircraft was wooden throughout, with spruce frames covered in beech ply and a doped fabric sheath. Instructor and pupil sat in tandem under a simple perspex canopy, with the minimum of framing and with extra clear panels in the fuselage sides behind the rear seat. The forward seat was positioned at about mid-chord. The 745 hp (556 kW) Kestrel engine drove a three-bladed propeller and had a chin radiator under the nose.
The sole Kestrel (G-AEOC) was built as a private venture, and first flew in May
1937. On 26 June 1937, it appeared at the RAF Hendon display. Its performance was remarkable for a trainer; it reached 295 mph (475 km/h) at 14,000 ft (4,270 m), only 15 mph slower than the contemporary single-seat Hawker Hurricane with its much more powerful engine. The Kestrel did not carry the same military load, though there was provision for a single 0.303 in (7.
Official source
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