Page 34 - Cranwell Photographs
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Cranwell
THE 1940s
Below: The Miles Master was developed from a private venture design for a high speed monoplane trainer, the Miles Kestrel. The Master I began to be introduced into service in May 1939 fitted with a Rolls Royce Kestrel engine, followed in November 1939 by the Mk.II powered by a Bristol Mercury radial engine. The final version, the Master Ill pictured here, was fitted with a
Pratt and Whitney Wasp Junior engine and first flew in 1940. The Master was used in quantity at Cranwell throughout the war years.
Left: The first-ever jet-propelled flight in Britain was made from Cranwell's runway on the evening of 15th May 1941. The little Gloster E28/39, powered by a single Whittle W-1 turbojet engine of only 860lb thrust, took off at 7.15pm for a flight that lasted 17 minutes. Fifteen more flights, with a total of 1 O hours flying time, were completed before the aircraft left the airfield at the end of the month.
