Tandem Wing Aircraft Were Almost A Thing In WWII | Miles M.35/39 Libellula [Aircraft Overview #83]

Today we're taking a look at the 'Libellula' aircraft made by Miles Aircraft, specifically the M.35 and the M.39B. These tandem-wing designs were an attempt to reinvent the template for military aircraft, though they ultimately didn't succeed.

The Hangar Team :
Rex - Aviation enthusiast for 25+ years, obsessive collector of books, compiler of research, and narrator.
Alexandros - Co-Writer/Research assistant and preserver of Rex's sanity.
Franch - Editing guru, makes Adobe seem "fun".

Sources:
Brown.D.L (1970) Miles Aircraft Since 1925. Putnam & Company London.
Dangerfield, R. E. (1946). The Aeroplane: Incorporating Aeronautical Engineering. Bowling Green London.
Brinkworth, B. J. (2016) On the aerodynamics of the Miles Libellula tande2m-wing aircraft concept, 1941 – 1947. Waterlooville, Hants, UK.

[RexsHangar]

Please forgive my average animation skills, I am still learning :)
F.A.Q Section

Q: Do you take aircraft requests?
A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:)

Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others?
A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both.

Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos?
A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :)

Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators?
A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.

[MediumRareOpinions]

Neat, I've never even heard of these prototypes and that's exactly the sort of thing I appreciate about yours and similar channels. Bringing attention to something obscure and interesting.

[Smothtiger]

Burt Rutans design of the Quickie is among the more modern tandem winged planes that I know of. Fun to learn of even earlier design prototypes.

[chipbasschao]

Hi dude - great to see my planes being used in your video - you did them proud. Looking forward to future projects....Mark

[sablatnic]

Around 1980 I happened to have a chat with a gentleman, who was building an RC-model of the M.39, and had phoned George Miles about details, including C.G. The C.G. had Miles said, and after a lengthy pause, the C.G, no, I have no idea where the C.G. was, or where it should have been. But he was very helpful with other details.

[dominichoughton]

I've always liked these designs, a great example of unconventional but perfectly logical thinking. I'll definitely be looking forward to the longer video, I bet I'll learn a lot from it.

[michaelbesencon]

As I am a WW2 aircrafts enthusiast, I love how often you could bring up some planes out of the forgotten dust.

Really cheers mate, your work is absolutely awesome.

Hope you can continue as is.

Best wishes and happy Christmas.

Mike.

[Bearthedancingman]

I'm so glad you did this because the only channels that had info on these kinds of aircraft before now were those A.I. generated 'dark' aviation channels with their many strange bits of misinformation.

[KJDragon]

Thank you Rex for talking about one of my favourite weird aircraft of the war! I never knew there were further versions of the Libellula from the M39 onwards so I'm very much looking forward to that video. :)

[mistformsquirrel]

... oh I love these. Weird aircraft like this are just so much fun to explore!

[davewise]

Litho-braking superb word, made my day and will be used at every available opportunity on flight failures, thank you!

[LukeBunyip]

These appear as if they could have been the inspiration for some of the aircraft designs that Gerry Anderson et al came up with for "Thunderbirds"

[jimmartin]

Thanks. I’ve been waiting over twenty years for a decent video of these two aircraft.👍

[jjmcrosbie]

Thank you for this video. And how about making one for the Miles Messenger?
Produced to meet an Army requirement for an air observation post. Then the MAP threw all their toys out of the pram because Miles hadn't gone through them. So the Army weren't allowed to have it! However the type was used later by the RAF who bought 21. A total of 93 were produced 1942-48, including exports to 9 countries. It had huge rear-wing flaps which gave it the very low stall speed of 25mph! (cf Fieseler Storch stalling speed 31mph.) The engine was a Gypsy Major. Lord Tedder and Monty each had one.

[duaneharnes]

I imagine Burt Rutan took inspiration from these designs, and took it to a whole new level. Happy holidays to all!

[RussellBond-bz]

As the Aussies say it was a 4 wing banger that hopped like a Joey

[shero]

I noted your oblique reference to the Miles Messenger, and how Miles went around 'channels', to the point the project was almost cancelled. Thanks for the video, and that amazing footage. Excellent research.

[mbryson]

Thank you for sharing your excellent research and presentation. Subjects such as this one help me understand all the ideas that were being explored.

[johnjephcote]

I was brought up on many immediately-post-war photographic books and the Libellula was described in one of them. I have always admired the Miles team and became deeply interested in their innovations culminating in the harsh dealings by officialdom of their M 52 supersonic jet (to be piloted by Capt. Brown). I remember the 1947 adverts for the Miles pen company (the biro) into which The company had rapidly morphed. (Officialdom also 'took down' Frank Whittle's Power Jets company, desiring their own National Gas Turbine stablishment).

[JD-tnlz]

Can't help but watch this and think of three things:

1. Rutan
2. COIN
3. Drone tech

Just goes to show how rare truly original ideas are