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| Miles was a prolific designer, and a mass of projects passed through the drawing office, though many of these came to nothing. One unusual looking design which did make the grade was the Miles M.57 Aerovan, a twin-engine light freighter which flew first in January 1945. In appearance the wings and tail unit were similar to those of the Messenger, but somewhat larger, while the fuselage was of pod and boom layout.
A number of UK and overseas orders were placed and the Aerovan entered production with a longer pod than the prototype, which was designated Aerovan Mk I, and the second prototype the Aerovan Mk II. The first Aerovan Mk III production model was similar to the Mk II, and seven were built with 112kW Blackburn Cirrus Major III
engines, the standard Aerovan powerplant. The next version, the Aerovan Mk IV, differed in detail and 40 were built. One Aerovan Mk V with 108kW de Havilland Gipsy Major 10 engines and two Aerovan Mk VI aircraft with 145kW Avco Lycoming O-435-4A engines were built; one of the latter was fitted with an experimental Hurel-Dubois high aspect ratio wing in 1957 when it became known as the HDM.105. The last known surviving Aerovan was the first Mk VI, operating in Italy in 1968, although a pair of uncompleted airframes were around for some years.
At very low cost, Aerovans carried loads up to the size and weight of a family car.
 | A three-view drawing (800 x 759) |
| Barry, 15.08.2016 16:49 Aerovan Mks 2,3 & 4
Power plant 2 x 150 hp Blackburn Cirrus Major IIA in line air cooled piston engines
Span 50'0" Length 36'0" Height 13'6" Wing area 390 sq ft
Empty weight 3,000 lb Loaded weight 5,800 lb
Max speed 127 mph Cruising speed 112 mph Range 400 miles
Service ceiling 13,250 ft reply | | alan king, e-mail, 17.10.2011 00:34 I am currently completing a 1 /5 scale aerovan which i got almost completely built from a fellow modeler, apparently the plane has been in build for years, it is really well built and is extremely lightweight, most of the fuselage is thin ply, i have just completed scale u /c and am now building stabilisers, am going to fit two 26cc petrol motors, full onboard starter system and brake system so am looking at a winter completion for next year summer flying. reply | | Tom Chytil, e-mail, 08.12.2010 23:54 A colleague who worked at Miles told me the following amusing story.
On one occasion a new pilot was doing take-offs and landings on the Aerovan prior to demo'ing the aircraft at an air show.
Apparently the pilot made a heavy landing and the tail boom snapped at the main fuselage so that the horizontal tail was dragging along the ground. The pilot was taxiing back to make another take off when the Tower radio'd that he should check the back end before commencing his next take-off. reply | | Tom Chytil, e-mail, 08.12.2010 23:42 The aircraft shown with the rig on the side did night advertising by spelling out the product using light bulbs.
The aircraft flew over our village in Essex one night and made several low passes with the illuminations on. That was in the mid 50's. reply | |
| | dick stamm, e-mail, 07.08.2010 23:28 in process of building a 60" RC version, my plans from 3" 3 vu, shown in World Encyclopedia of Cival Aircraft, pg 324 and 359, fuselage and tail pc's structure complete. 1 /4" sticks @ 8 1 /2 oz. wing drawing started. no photo's right now, camera and computor not talking to each other. reply | | Lanse, e-mail, 26.12.2009 12:53 I'm interested in plans, info. also. Design may lend itself well to plastics grp construction. Was there a proposal for an amphibious version? reply | | Frank Byford, e-mail, 22.12.2009 18:15 The Air Ads Aircraft shown in the photo was owned by Ladislav Marmol who died in 2000. He owned 3 of them and in the early fifties used to fly lobsters from Newcastle (UK) to Paris for the Paris restaurants. He would fly from Newcastle to Southend, put the lobsters in one of the local salt water creeks to revive overnight and fly them from Southend to Paris the next day. He also used to fly myself and other motocross riders with our bikes over to europe for weekend race meetings. reply | | Clive, e-mail, 17.05.2009 13:56 For those interested in a model of this aircraft Tony Nihjus renowned designer is due to release a plan in the UK magazine RCM&E, possibly as a free plan soon.
Check his site www.tonynijhuisdesigns.co.uk /index.htm reply | | Graham duHeaume, e-mail, 26.02.2009 17:52 Hello there,
I am also trying to find working drawings for the Aerovan for a colleague of mine in the States. He wants to build a full sized flying replica of the Aerovan. Please forgive my intrusion, but I was wondering if yuo have had any luck in finding these drawings. I work as a volunteer at Shoreham Airport Archive Centre and am working through a mass of Miles paperwork. Athought we have plenty of pictures etc, I doubt if we have any detailed construction plans for the Aerovan.
Regards Graham duHeaume reply | | Terry piercey, e-mail, 13.02.2007 17:59 I would like very much to obtain plans of the aerovan in order to build a flying model.
My interest in this design stems from the fact that my father worked on the proto type and further models when he was at woodley in the 40,s
Any idea where I could get the plans ? reply |
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