The Miles M.7 Nighthawk was a 1930s

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

training and communications monoplane designed by Miles Aircraft Limited.

Design and development

The M.7 Nighthawk was developed from the

Miles Falcon Six The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

intended as a training and communications aircraft. The prototype, registered ''G-ADXA'', was first flown in 1935, it was a low-wing monoplane powered by a 200 hp (149 kW)

de Havilland Gipsy Six The de Havilland Gipsy Six is a British six-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted inline piston engine developed by the de Havilland Engine Company for aircraft use in the 1930s. It was based on the cylinders of the four-cylinder Gipsy Major and w ...

piston engine. The prototype crashed during

spinning Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

trials at Woodley Aerodrome in January 1937. Four production aircraft followed. The design was modified to meet an

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

specification A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard. There are different types of technical or engineering specificati ...

and produced as the M.16 Mentor.Jackson 1988, p.341. In 1944 a Nighthawk fuselage was fitted with the wings from a

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...

and fitted with a de Havilland Gipsy Six Series II engine with a variable pitch airscrew. It was designated the M.7A Nighthawk. The last Nighthawk to remain airworthy was ''G-AGWT'' in the early 1960s. This aircraft was raced in many postwar UK air competitions, but is no longer extant.

Operational history

Two aircraft were delivered to the

Royal Romanian Air Force The Air Force branch of the Royal Romanian forces in World War II was officially named the (ARR), or the Romanian Royal Aeronautics, though it is more commonly referred to in English histories as the (Royal Romanian Air Force, FARR), or simply ( ...

in 1936 and one was delivered to the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

in May 1937 with

serial number A serial number is a unique identifier assigned incrementally or sequentially to an item, to ''uniquely'' identify it. Serial numbers need not be strictly numerical. They may contain letters and other typographical symbols, or may consist enti ...

''L6846''. It was used as a VIP transport by

No. 24 Squadron RAF No. 24 Squadron (also known as No. XXIV Squadron) of the Royal Air Force is the Air Mobility Operational Conversion Unit (AMOCU). Based at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, 24 Squadron is responsible for aircrew training on C-130J Hercules, A400 ...

.Halley 1980, p. 53.

Variants

;M.7 :Production version with a 200 hp (149 kW)

piston engine, two built. ;M.7A :Four-seat variant built for the Romanian Government, two built. ;M.7A (Hybrid) :Hybrid version with Nighthawk fuselage and wings from a Mohawk and powered by a

Series II engine, one built.

Operators

; :

; *

Specifications (M.7)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Brown, Don Lambert. ''Miles Aircraft Since 1925''. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1970. . * Halley, James J. ''The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force''. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians), 1980. . * ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985)''. Orbis Publishing. * Jackson, A.J. ''British Civil Aircraft since 1919''. London: Putnam, 1974. . * Jackson, A.J. ''British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Volume 3''. London: Putnam, 1988. .
"Learning in Luxury: The Miles Nighthawk: A Cabin Monoplane Built Primarily for Instrument- and Night-flying Training"
''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

'', 20 February 1936, Supplement, pp. c–d. {{Miles aircraft

Nighthawk The nighthawk is a nocturnal bird of the subfamily Chordeilinae, within the nightjar family, Caprimulgidae, native to the western hemisphere. The term "nighthawk", first recorded in the King James Bible of 1611, was originally a local name i ...

1930s British military trainer aircraft 1930s British civil utility aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1935