Woodley (Reading) Aerodrome

Major G.W.G.Allen operated from his own landing ground close to Culham station during the 1930s. He learnt to fly with The Phillips & Powis School of Flying at Woodley in 1929, being one of their first pupils. Here we present a very potted history of Woodley Aerodrome and of the firm Phillips & Powis who started the whole thing off and a brief look at how they evolved into a major, and innovative, player in the quickly evolving field of aviation.

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Phillips & Powis Aircraft (Reading) Ltd.

In July 1928, with interest in private aviation in Britain growing, a group of enthusiasts held a meeting at the Cork Street Garage in Reading. The outcome was the establishment of the Royal Counties Flying Club which soon changed its name to the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Flying Club but it lacked both aircraft and a place from which to fly. Then, in November 1928, the owners of the Reading Motor Exchange, Jack Phillips and Charles Powis, purchased over 100 acres of farmland at Woodley for use as an airfield. They established the firm of Phillips & Powis Aircraft (Reading) Ltd., and the Phillips & Powis School of FlyingClick or tap to watch a short silent British Pathé film of trainee pilots at Phillips & Powis in 1930 which started to provide flying lessons in early 1929, quickly going on to build a hangar and other facilities, then an impressive residential club house, as seen in this advertisement by the builders. The venture was an immediate success as 'FLIGHT' magazine of 2nd May 1930 reported that ...'EASTER MONDAY was the first anniversary of Phillips & Powis School of Flying. 300 pupils have taken instruction and 16 " A " licences obtained.'

Perhaps benefitting from their experience in the motor trade, right from the begiining, Phillips and Powis started dealing in used planes. They also established themselves as sole distributors for deHavilland aircraft in the Midlands advertising 'Moth Sales and Service' as seen in the advert from early 1930. The ability to service their own aeroplanes would have been very necessary as they built up a fleet of training machines so, combined with the need to service aircraft for sale, capacity and experience quickly expanded.

Miles Aircraft - the beginning

Very briefly, the story of Miles Aircraft starts on the south coast in 1925, where Frederick George Miles, whose father owned the Star Model Laundry in Portslade, designed and built his own aeroplane. This tiny biplane, which he called the 'Gnat' and never actually flew, was built in the workshop of the laundry with the help of a few friends. He was taught to fly at nearby Shoreham by Cecil Pashley whose help he then enlisted to operate a joy riding business along the south coast. They were based at Shoreham and obtained an Avro Baby and some Avro 504Ks. By 1929, Fred Miles had set up the Southern Aircraft Company and was joined by his younger brother, George Herbert Miles, to help manage the fast-developing aircraft works, flying school and joyride business. Miles modified the Baby with the intention of creating a sporty aerobatic machine and called it the Southern Martlet. This prototype was registered as G-AAII and made its first public appearance on 30th August 1929 at London Air Park, Hanworth, proving to be a very manoeuvrable sports machine. Six versions of the aircraft were made in total, differing mainly in engine. One Martlet still survives and is owned and maintained in flying condition by The Shuttleworth Trust at Old Warden in Bedfordshire.

Maxine 'Blossom' Freeman-Thomas was taught to fly at the Southern Aero Club of Shoreham by Fred Miles, where he was by then a director and instructor. Blossom fell for Fred which caused a bit of a problem for him as her then husband was the main backer for his company. Fred sold out his share of the business and briefly went to South Africa with thoughts of starting afresh, but he soon returned and they were married on 6th August 1932. Blossom had already become Fred's business partner and she helped him to design the Miles Aircraft Company M.1 Satyr, a very small and highly aerobatic biplane. The prototype, and only example, was built for them by George Parnall & Co. of Yate in Gloucestershire.

Phillips & Powis Aircraft Ltd.

It would seem that Fred and Blossom Miles visited Woodley in late 1932 in order to deliver an aeroplane. Miles met Charles Powis and during the course of conversation they agreed that there was a need for a cheap but modern, light aeroplane suitable for both the private owner and flying clubs. The outcome was the Miles M.2 Hawk, a low wing cantilever monoplane of wooden construction to be made by Phillips & Powis at Woodley. The prototype Hawk was first flown by Fred Miles, from Woodley, on 29th March 1933. The aircraft was put into production and proved a great success.

The King's Cup Air Races

The annual King’s Cup Air Race, run by the Royal Aero Club Records Racing and Rally Association, was first established by King George V in 1922 as an incentive to the development of light aircraft design. It was limited to British and Commonwealth pilots but was one of the most prestigious prizes of the air racing season at the time. The races were suspended from 1939 with the contest resuming again in 1949. Aircraft manufacturers gained much publicity from the success of their aircraft in these races, the pilots themselves becoming famous personalities of their day. Miles designed aircraft, manufactured by Phillips and Powis were regular entrants.

Lt. Owen Cathcart-Jones and G-ADLB
'Carreras' cigarette card, author's collection The 14th event held in the September of 1935 presented a unique opportunity for the company when Miles designed aircraft, manufactured by Phillips and Powis, took the first three places. The race was won by Tommy Rose in the prototype Miles M.3 Falcon, with the second and third places being decided by yards. That year, Major Allen bought a new Miles M.2H Hawk Major, G-ADLB. It seems that Allen never actually flew this aircraft himself and it was kept at Woodley. It was regularly piloted by Owen Cathcart-Jones, a professional competitive airman. Major Allen entered his Hawk Major, piloted by Cathcart-Jones, in the air race and was only just beaten into third place.


From 'Flight', 26th May 1938
Courtesy of Aviation Ancestry, ref 14077

In 1935 the original Phillips & Powis company had become Phillips & Powis Aircraft Ltd. a public company, with Rolls-Royce's financial backing with Fred and Blossom as directors and shareholders. Under that name the company manufactured and sold Miles designed aircraft. Fred and Blossom had initially left George in Shoreham, but he joined them at Woodley and the three of them went on to form a powerful design team. Such was the company’s reputation that in 1937 the RAF placed an order for 500 of the company’s pilot training aircraft, the Magister. Many technical innovations were developed by the company such as brakes, landing lights and flaps, all of which were offered as 'optional extras' on various Miles aircraft. They were also the first to devise double-slotted flaps and the first pneumatically operated undercarriage.

In 1940 a shadow factory was built by the Ministry of Aircraft Production at South Marston near Swindon. Limited production space at Woodley, and large orders for aircraft saw Phillips & Powis making use of the site for the production of the Miles Master advanced trainer. The first Master flew from Woodley in March 1939, with the first of more than 900 from South Marston in early 1940. With the order having been fulfilled the Swindon factory was handed over to Vickers-Supermarine in 1943. In the meantime, Rolls-Royce had divested itself of interest in the company in April 1941 allowing Fred Miles to gain financial control of the company.

R.A.F. Reserve Flying Training School

One part of the story of Woodley (or Reading) aerodrome is that it also hosted the training quarters of an R.A.F. Reserve Flying Training School. It first opened in 1936 and taught about 40 would be pilots at any one time. The building which consisted mainly of wood on a girder framework was destroyed in a catastrophic fire on the evening of 26th October 1938. Whilst the building and contents were lost, nobody was inside at the time. These photographs, held by the Reading Museum were taken for the Berkshire Chronicle, and show the blaze at its height and later after it had been brought under control.

Miles Aircraft Ltd.

The firm became Miles Aircraft Ltd. in 1943 with George Miles as chief engineer and chief designer. Fred and George Miles shared a passion and flair for aircraft design and Blossom had become a very talented designer, structural analyst and draughtswoman. She also looked after the social and welfare side of the rapidly expanding company and in 1943 The Miles Aeronautical Technical SchoolClick or tap to watch a short British Pathé News film about the school from 1947 opened under her directorship. There were a number of successful, and some not so successful aircraft to emerge from the Miles design office. One such was the M.52, an experimental goverment funded jet aircraft which promised to lead the world in supersonic flight, but the project was abruptly cancelled in 1946.

The Biro

In 1943, Fred Miles was shown a prototype ballpoint pen made by László Biró. The concept was not new but Biró, together with his brother who developed the special ink, improved the design by incorperating a capilliary ink reservoir. This idea was patented by him and the design proved to be a practical proposition. This revolutionary writing instrument would be of use to airmen for example as, unlike the fountain pen, it was not affected by changes in air pressure. Recognising the possibilities of the pen, Miles offered to develop and manufacture it for the R.A.F. at Woodley. At the end of the war, the Woodley biro factory became the Miles Martin Pen Company Ltd. which would go on to employ 700 people, and the 'Biro' went on saleClick or tap to see an advert for the 'Biro minor' from 1952 to the general public. Frenchman Marcel Bich bought the patent from Biró in 1945 and co-founded 'Bic'. There were many other competing companies, but 'Biro' became the generic name for all such pens.

Earliest examples of Biro had a copper ink reservoir tube which was folded into four. This was superceded, as in our example, by an acetate tube of slightly larger bore bent double to form a U, reducing both its weight and bulk. The company became Biro Swan Limited in the early 1950s and moved away from Woodley.

Miles electric Actuators

Starting in 1937 the Miles company developed a range of electric actuators initially being used for aircraft air intake control, fuel cocks, trim surfaces and then flap operation. The range and power increased as they were further developed, and the Miles Actuator Division also manufactured the necessary switches and control gear for them. Electric actuators formed an essential element of the 'Miles Co-Pilot' which was an early form of auto-pilot and marketed as an inexpensive and light weight upgrade for any size of aircraft.

British Industries Fair advert from 1947
Courtesy of Grace's Guide to British Industrial History

The Miles CopyCat

Not much is known about Miles photocopiers. They were originally conceived in the early to mid 1940s by Miles technicians to copy the huge amount of paperwork then being generated by the company, and used the same electrostatic principles patented in 1946 by the American company Haloid (they became Haloid Xerox in 1958 and finally Xerox in 1961). The priciple was developed by Miles and a commercial version was marketed under the Miles CopyCat name.

Miles Aircraft - the end

By now, Fred and Blossom were living in a large contemporary house in Twyford and things seemed to be going well, the company had a portfolio of successful subsiduaries and interests together with a strong order book. However, in September 1947, things suddenly went seriously wrong when the firm was forced into receivership, all the directors had to resign and Fred Miles lost control of the Company. He quickly bounced back however and formed a new company at Redhill Aerodrome in December 1948. This he called F.G.Miles Ltd.Click or tap to watch a short British Pathé News film from 1949 about starting up again at Redhill from which he spun off a group of subsidiary companies, among them were Meridian Airmaps Ltd., Miles Marine & Structural Plastics Ltd., Jet Tanks Ltd. and Miles Electronics Ltd. which designed and manufactured flight simulators and was eventually merged with the British arm of the Link Trainer company. He moved to larger premises at Shoreham in 1953, back to where he had begun. George Miles had meanwhile moved to Airspeed becoming its chief designer, and in 1949 rejoined his brother at Shoreham. All that is whole other story and beyond even our very elastic scope.

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To finish the Woodley story as far as aircraft production was concerned, Handley Page took over those assets and continued there until they closed the factory in 1962. Other Miles interests were also taken over, amongst which was their innovative copier technology CopyCat bought by the Nashua Gummed and Coated Paper Company of the United States, they lost their interests in the 'Biro', Miles Electric Actuators continued to be made at Woodley, albeit under new ownership, and the Miles Aeronautical Training School was taken over by Reading Technical College. Most reminders of Woodley aerodrome disappeared under later development, so it is hard to imagine that it was for many years the location of a thriving aviation industry. Not quite all traces have been lost though, as many local roads bear names recalling the area's aviation links and the small Museum of Berkshire Aviation, located on the edge of what was once the airfield, houses a treasure trove of exhibits and is well worth a visit.

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