Miles M.20/2 (oz1278)

About this Plan

Miles M.20/2. Scale RC model of the prototype British WWII fighter.

Quote: "In 1940, the year of the Battle of Britain, England had a plane that was faster, with better visibility, and more heavily armed than the Hurricane and nearly equal in speed and agility to the Spitfire, which it also outgunned. While its more famous sisters were primarily interceptors for striking invading aircraft over England the Miles M-20/2 was a long range fighter capable of attacking the Luftwaffe over Europe just as the Mustang and Jug did so effectively three to five years later.

If such a plane existed why had I never heard of it? One of the nice things about this hobby are the pleasant surprises that happen from time to time. The M-20/2 came to my attention by one such experience. My wife, an avid reader, brought me a book from the local library and while leafing through it saw a most attractive, in fact eyecatching, but unfamiliar plane. I was immediately struck with its potential for a sport scale R/C model even though I had about decided that I did not want to design another military plane. Obviously I changed my mind.

The M 20/2 is one of many forgotten fighters in the history of air warfare, but like so many experimental aircraft it paved the way for improvements in other, later planes. In this case the superior pilot visibility due to the one piece Perspex bubble canopy was seen and praised by test pilots three years before it appeared on the P-51.

This is a medium sized model by today's standards, but still a .60 size nevertheless. Wingspan is 58in, area 680, legth 47-1/2in, and weight 8-3/4 pounds dry. Although powered initially with a standard .60 it now uses an HF-60F and I would recommend either an SR or PDP .60 be used. The thick wing makes for very realistic flight speeds and very stable flight. It certainly is no pattern plane, but it was not intended to be.

While construction is not unique, there may be some things that are not evident on the plans. I'll try to avoid too much detail..."

Update 27/04/2014: Resized this plan to correct scale at 58in wingspan, thanks to mdcoffin.

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