IN THE LOGBOOKIN THE LOGBOOK
August 2018FLYPAST 129Dimensions
Wing span 33ft 10in (10.31m)
Length 24ft 8in (7.51m)
Height 9ft 1in (2.77m)
Wing Area 53sq ft (16.30m^2 )
Weight
Empty weight 1,257lb (570kg)
Max weight 1,863lb (845kg)
Useful load 606lb (275kg)
Performance
VNE 164kts (189mph)
Cruise 100kts (115mph)
Stall 37kts (42.5mph)
Climb rate 850ft/min
Powerplant
One de Havilland Gipsy Major 1
air-cooled, inverted inline-four,
producing 130hp at 2,450rpm driving
a de Havilland two-blade fi xed-pitch
wooden propeller.
Miles M14A
Magister I
the runway. The Maggie is nicely
speed-stable and by flying a
curved approach with just a
suggestion of power it was easy
to judge when to roll the wings
level and simultaneously close
the throttle. A brief float, then
the Magister settled gently on all
three wheels.
I must have touched down on a
particularly smooth bit of runway,
because without even a hint of a
skip the aircraft rolled sedately
to a stop. Flap lever up and then
neutral, add some power and
another click of brake, and I
taxied back towards a grinning
Peter Holloway.Underrated trainer
In light of the above (it really is
a superb aeroplane, particularly
when compared with the Tiger
Moth) you have to wonder why
production of the Maggie ceased
in 1941.
The Magister stalls at a higher
speed than the Tiger, and of
course also requires a faster
approach. However, I would say
that the Magister’s handling
is actually less demanding,
particularly on the ground. The
Tiger can be a bit ‘squirrelly’
during take-off and landing,Suitably chastened, I
accelerated to around 80kts for
a look at the stick-free stability.
This is positive in pitch and yaw,
and just barely neutral in roll.Coming home
The worst part of borrowing a nice
aeroplane for a flight test is that
sooner or later you have to give
it back. During the brief transit,
I set a comfortable 1,950rpm,
which gave just under 100kts IAS
(indicated air speed) for a fuel
flow of approximately 30 litres
per hour. At this power setting,
even a leg of some 200 nautical
miles would leave you with about
an hour’s fuel in reserve.
Sliding into the circuit at Old
Warden, I sat up a little straighter
in my seat. My experiments with
flap and sideslip had convinced
me that this was not a machine
to take liberties with on final,
so having ‘guesstimated’ where
the lever now needed to be for
differential braking, I began
decelerating towards 60kts,
waited until I was abeam the
numbers, and then selected the
flaps down.
As the airspeed tapered off,
the nose dropped, so I set the
trim fully aft and banked towardsprobably because of its higher
centre of gravity, while its
poor lateral control can make
approaches in turbulent
conditions ‘interesting’.
Furthermore, the low wing, flaps,
brakes and multiple fuel tanks
certainly made the Maggie more
representative of the type of
aircraft (such as the T-6 or Miles
Master) that students would fly
later in their training.
So why were only 1,300
Magisters built, as opposed to
over 7,000 Tigers? I can only
surmise that the ‘powers that be’
deemed it to be either too easy to
fly or too expensive to build – or
perhaps the longitudinal stability
issues made it ‘too dangerous’
for students?
Whatever the reason for its
relatively short production
life, the Maggie is a wonderful
plaything today. The War Ministry
might have turned its back on
the Magister in 1941, but I can’t
imagine many keen pilots would –
given the chance.when you select flaps up, the
aircraft seems to fall out of your
hands instantaneously and drops
about 50 feet. The bottom really
does fall out of your world, and
if you retract the flaps near the
ground, the world could fall out of
your bottom as well!
Above
Pilot and writer Dave Unwin described the
Magister as ‘a wonderful plaything’.Bottom left
Miles Magister N3788 at ‘rest’.Dimensions
Magister I
Suitably chastened, I the runway. The Maggie is nicely Above“Formation fl ying with the camera ship always reveals
any control inadequacies, and if the Maggie does have any
defi ciencies I wasn’t aware of them”