‘Tribute to Charles Powis’By the summer of 1934, Phillips & Powis Aircraft (Reading) Ltd had built fifty Miles Hawks and, in just 15 months had developed into a fully fledged aircraft manufacturer, with some 300 employees. As a result, the small airfield which Charles Powis had created just five years earlier would soon change dramatically. The Reading Aero Club, which he and his wife had started as a social club for ex-pupils of the Phillips & Powis Flying School, was reaching its peak. It was now a separate limited company and had more than 130 members. In 1934, the Club purchased its own Miles Hawk, affectionately christened ‘Ruddy Duck’ but, more importantly, given the registration letters C O P, the initials of Charles Powis. It was one of the earliest known examples of this now common practice. Later, G-ACOP also played its part in aviation history when FG Miles fitted it with experimental trailing-edge flaps. The success of this experiment led to the fitting of flaps of this type as standard to all the Miles aircraft which followed and, indeed, to most aircraft subsequently designed worldwide. Sadly, in 1935, due to a ground-handling error, G-ACOP was destroyed in an accident at Woodley, which tragically cost the life of John Lawn, the Chief Flying Instructor, as well as one of his pupils. ____________________
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Painted in oils on canvas. 1997. 500mm x 600mm. |