Funny windscreen
Hi ATB,
Are you sure you weren't looking at the back window of Lord M's Ford Anglebox??!!
The Falcon design was penned by Blossom Miles.
At the risk of getting shot down in flames(!) I reckon she cribbed the screen design from the American Stinson (?).
The theory - I believe - was that the forward-sloped screen gave a smoother airflow over the tail, a double teardrop effectively. This resulted in the design having a small - and thus less draggy - tailplane and tiny vertical surfaces.
I am a little sceptical about the '5mph increase in speed over an aircraft fitted a conventional screen'. I think it was just a fashion statement.
What it does do is a great job of leaving the raindrops on the screen - they don't blow off.
The screen is also narrow - a bit like looking out of a letterbox - and you also get some annoying reflections when you least want them, especially during a display or when formation flying.The 'glazing bars' (sounds more accurate than canopy frame!) are a pain in formation .
Check out which window the pilot (lucky me!) is peering on the latest FlyPast air to airs. The tiny one at the top!
The usual quip when I arrive anywhere in it is - 'love the leaded lights, wheres the stained glass??'
The tiny fin and rudder really requires ballet pumps as opposed to flying boots (and no - I don't wear a tutu...). It can be a box of frogs on the ground.
Mind you - I reckon the sloped- forward screen, raked tail and trousered undercarriage makes the Falcon one of the most gorgeous looking aircraft ever. A treasured posession that only wild horses (or a wild bank manager) could prize away from me.
Am I biased or do others think the same? So many old planes of the same 1936 era (I won't name them) just don't have the elegance and beauty of the Miles designs.
Regrettably though, many DH - types (oops!) are quite common yet the survival rate of Miles machines is appalling.
I implore you guys in the know out there to bang on Dr. Dalziels and Bob Mitchells (Witney Straight and Monarch in store at Cosford) doors and say - 'Come on geezer - there's no way you are going to do anything with them. You have had your enjoyment. Why not pass them on to somebody who will restore them to pristine, fly them and allow the nation , not just mice and spiders. to see them.'
I shudder when I hear of the conditions under which some surviving Miles aircraft - or viable projects - are being stored under.
I also had an annoying exchange with some Tw@t called B@b who wanted 'a million quid' for his Maggie fuz. Sheer profiteering and thus working against the preservation of old planes - a completely non-cost effective nonsense anyway that takes a nutter like me to get involved in.
Must go - my soapbox is creaking, I need to step off it before I break it through over-use.!!
HP