con-pilot - Sound familiar
Project Cancelled
Within a few weeks of the American's visit, the Air Ministry Director of Scientific Research, Sir Ben Lockspeiser, cancelled the British supersonic project, saying:
...in view of the unknown hazards near the speed of sound ... [it is] considered unwise to proceed with the full-scale experiments.
Despite 90% of the design work being completed and half of the construction finished, the project fell, apparently due to a Treasury savings measure.
The Air Ministry ordered Miles to break up all jigs6 and to send all their design data to Bell Aviation. As it seems likely that the M.52 would have been flying by the summer of 1946, and since it would most likely have achieved its specified performance, it is hard not to believe the British government was pressured by the Americans to cancel the M.52 project.
This allowed the US become the first 'through the barrier', in October 1947, using the rocket-powered M.52 lookalike, the Bell XS-1. As an added bonus, the Americans' first jet engine, the General Electric Type 1, drew heavily on the designs of the British jet.