Miles M14A Magister

As the new generation of monoplane aircraft began to enter RAF service in the 1930s, the Air Ministry recognised the need for a modern elementary trainer which related to the technical advances and operational flying requirements of their future pilots.

Based on satisfactory experience with the Miles Hawk Trainers used in the Elementary Flying Training School the Air Ministry decided, unusually when they had for some years been specifying metal construction, to adopt an all wooden airframe. Thus, the Miles M14 was developed from the civil Hawk series of low-wing cantilever monoplanes and was basically a Hawk Major with enlarged cockpits to accommodate parachutes and fitted with blind flying equipment. With a low wing, meaningful stall and split flaps it mirrored the handling characteristics of the new breed of RAF fighters.

About this aircraft

The Collection’s Magister was built in 1939 and entered service with the RAF as P6382. However, when it was acquired in 1971 it bore the bogus civil registration G-AJDR. The logbook revealed an earlier change of fuselage (to which an aeroplane’s identity is attached) to that of P6382 which had never borne a civil registration so it has now been registered G-AJRS. It was restored to flying condition by Shuttleworth apprentices using components from three other specimens.

Specification