Miles Hawk Major


The Miles Hawk Major was a 1930s British two-seat light monoplane designed by Miles Aircraft Limited.

Design and development

The Hawk Major was designed as a successor to the Miles Hawk by F.G. Miles. Main changes were a de Havilland Gipsy III engine, metal engine mount, and trousered undercarriage. The prototype was first flown in 1934 and went on to second place in the 1934 King's Cup Race at an average speed of 147.78 mph. A racing version was developed as the one-off single-seat M.2E Gipsy Six Hawk with a 200 hp de Havilland Gipsy Six engine. The production Hawk Major had the 130 hp de Havilland Gipsy Major engine. The aircraft sold well to private owners, including two that were fitted with smoke generators to allow them to be used as skywriters. An improved version with a trailing edge flap replaced the M.2F on the production line. A number of special one-off racing versions were also built. In October 1934, Squadron Leader Malcolm Charles McGregor flew a Hawk Major from RAF Mildenhall to Melbourne, Australia in 7 days, 15 hours while competing in the MacRobertson Air Race. In 1936 Miles Hawk VI, G-ADOD was entered into the Schlesinger Race from Portsmouth to Johannesburg and flown by A. E. Clouston who nearly made it all the way to Johannesburg but had to make a forced crash landing due to engine trouble 150 miles south of Salisbury.
In 1935, an improved version for training use was developed as the Miles Hawk Trainer.

Variants

;M.2E Gipsy Six Hawk
;M.2F Hawk Major
;M.2G Hawk Major
;M.2H Hawk Major
;M.2K Hawk Major
;M.2L Hawk Speed Six
;M.2M Hawk Major
;M.2P Hawk Major
;M.2R Hawk Major de Luxe
;M.2S
;M.2T
;M.2U Hawk Speed Six

Survivors