WOMAN DESIGNER

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 81, 3 October 1938, Page 14

WOMAN DESIGNER

DAUGHTER OF FAMOUS ACTOR

(By Air Mail, from "The Post's" London

Representative.)

LONDON, August 22

"Aeroplane" publishes a picture, taken at Rongotai Aerodrome, showing a number of Miles aeroplanes, which seem to be going well in New Zealand. It may be interesting for readers to learn something about Mrs. Miles, who' has worked closely with her husband for years. She is referred to by the "News Chronicle" air correspondent as one of the most remarkable women in England. The first woman to be appointed to an Air Ministry Committee, she occu- ! pied one of the five chairs at the Council Chamber when the Commissioners of the Civil Air Guard held their first meeting today. ! Mrs. Miles was the eldest daughter of the late Sir Johnston Forbes-Robert- | son. She is the one woman in Britain—and there is no record of her peer abroad —who can design an aeroplane complete with the mathematical calculations of the stresses to which the machine must stand up. Six years ago Mr. and Mrs. Miles arrived at Reading Aerodrome in a motor caravan with a big idea and little capital. They had met at Shoreham Aerodrome, where the former had been an instructor and the latter, formerly Viscountess Ratendone, had come to learn to fly. The-idea was the original Miles Hawk, the first cheap light aeroplane. Mr. C. O. Powis was then running a small flying school and dealing in second-hand aeroplanes at Reading. He saw the possibilities of the idea. Mr. Miles set to work to build the first machine, with his wife acting as general help. The Miles Hawk was an instant success, and in six years Phillips and Powis have become one of the biggest constructors of civil and military light aeroplanes in Britain. During those years Mrs. Miles has -worked with her husband. In the main office at the factory there are two drawing-boards—one for Mr. Miles and one for Mrs. Miles. In their home at Twyford, a mile from the aerodrome, are two drawingboards—one for Mr. Miles and one for Mrs. Miles. Tall, handsome, distinguished, Mrs. Miles sometimes startles pilots at flying meetings by pulling a slide ruler out of her bag and giving a pat answer to some abstruse problem. "Miles Better," as the "News Chronicle" notes in its leading column. "No one could be better fitted than Mrs. Miles to take her place with the other four Commissioners of the Civil Air Guard. Not many women could bring to a conference table the practical ability to design an aeroplane. Technical knowledge is far from being the only qualification for conference work, but it is safe to say that far more conferences have been ruined by a spate of theory than- a sound knowledge of the facts." The Civil Air Guard aims at giving the average man or woman in the street an opportunity to learn to fly. Its two objects are— Creating a body of men and women with a practical knowledge of flying; Making the average citizen airminded and fully conscious of the paramount importance of the potentialities of the air; and increasing the numbers of those who found employment in aviation as pilots, ground engineers, or in the construction of aircraft. All who have anything to do with the preparation work of the Civil Air Guard feel confident that they are starting something which is going to have a material and lasting effect on the national life. Its introduction would not have been possible but for the ready co-operation and support from the flying clubs, which had entered into the scheme in a splendid spirit. ;