Painted in oils on canvas. 1998. 400mm x 500mm.

‘Just 65 days’

When the Battle of Britain began it was feared that the RAF would lose Spitfires and Hurricanes faster than the aircraft industry could replace them and that was when FG Miles conceived the idea of a ‘utility fighter’ constructed of wood, which could be built quickly, both in Britain and in Canada.

Permission was given by the Ministry of Aircraft Production to build a prototype and the Miles M 20 was designed, built and flown – in just 65 days.

However, by then, against the odds, the RAF were poised to defeat the Luftwaffe and the M 20 was never ordered into full production. Nevertheless, had it taken its place alongside Spitfires and Hurricanes in combat, it would not have been outclassed by its now legendary companions.

One obvious feature of the M 20 was its ‘bubble’ canopy  - the first fighter in the world to be designed with this later commonly used type, giving the pilot an unequalled field of vision.             

 Its other obvious feature was a fixed undercarriage, which meant that hydraulics were not required and considerably more space was available in the wings. As a result the M 20 could have twelve machine guns fitted, compared with eight in the contemporary Spitfire and Hurricane, while its ammunition and fuel load was approximately twice that of the other two fighters, giving it a greater range and allowing it to stay in combat longer. Despite its fixed undercarriage, the M 20 was faster than the Hurricane, but not quite as fast as the Spitfire.

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