Miles M.30

Begun in 1938, the X series of designs was Miles designation M.26, covering a wide range of aircraft designs from small feeder-liners to very large 8-engined transatlantic transports.

To investigate the design philosophy of the blended wing/body Miles was given a contract to design and build a sub-scale flying model of the X.9 design, which emerged as the M.30 X-Minor. The small size of the X Minor made it impossible to follow the buried engine design exactly; the engines were too large and had to be mounted externally, resulting in an aircraft similar in layout but differing in aerodynamics. The X Minor first flew in February 1942, providing Miles with useful data for several years. A larger scale prototype of the X transport was planned but never built.

Data from Miles aircraft since 1925 ^[1]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Length: 26 ft 3 in (8.00 m)
• Wingspan: 33 ft (10 m) 38 ft 6 in (11.73 m) when extended later
• Height: 9 ft (2.7 m)
• Wing area: 200 sq ft (19 m²)
• Aspect ratio: 5.4
• Empty weight: 2,710 lb (1,229 kg)
• Gross weight: 4,240 lb (1,923 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × de Havilland Gipsy Major 4-cyl inverted in-line air-cooled piston engine, 130 hp (97 kW) each
• Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propellers

Performance

• Wing loading: 21.2 lb/sq ft (104 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.0613 hp/lb

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Westland Dreadnought

Related lists

• List of aircraft of the Royal Air Force
• List of experimental aircraft