M.35 Libellula
Miles Aircraft · United Kingdom · WWII (1939–1945)
The Miles M.35 Libellula was an unconventional British experimental aircraft built by Miles Aircraft in 1942 to demonstrate a tandem-wing configuration for a possible naval fighter. The single M.35 prototype first flew on 1 May 1942. The aircraft was an unofficial private-venture project by Miles Aircraft chief designer F.G. Miles; it was built quickly and cheaply (in about 3 weeks for £1,000) to prove the concept of carrier-deck operability with a small wingspan that fitted easily on an aircraft elevator. The M.35 was followed by the more-developed M.39B Libellula research aircraft (1943) but neither led to production.
The M.35 Libellula configuration used two wings of equal span — a forward wing in canard position and a main wing aft — both sized to share lift roughly equally. Power: a single de Havilland Gipsy Major IC inline 4-cylinder engine (135 hp). Maximum speed about 130 mph. The aircraft had a tricycle landing gear and a small monoplane fuselage. The M.35's flight test programme demonstrated that the tandem-wing layout was controllable and offered some takeoff and landing performance advantages over conventional aircraft, but the configuration had no clear advantages over conventional carrier fighters of the era.
The Royal Navy and Air Ministry showed brief interest in the Libellula concept in 1943-1944 but ultimately rejected it as too speculative compared with proven Spitfire / Seafire / Firefly designs. The M.35 was retired and scrapped in 1944. The follow-on M.39B (a larger twin-engine reconnaissance variant) flew in 1943 and was retired in 1945 without further development. Neither airframe survives. The Libellula concept was largely forgotten until the 1990s, when computational fluid dynamics analyses confirmed many of Miles's original 1942 claims about tandem-wing efficiency at certain flight conditions.
For Kids — a shorter, friendlier version
The Miles M-35 Libellula was a British experimental aircraft. It was built in 1942 by a company called Miles Aircraft. The name "Libellula" means dragonfly in Latin. It was a very unusual plane with two wings, one in front and one in back.
A designer named F-G Miles built this plane as a private project. His team built it in just about three weeks! It cost only one thousand pounds to make. That is amazingly cheap for an aircraft, even back then.
The M-35 had a special design called a tandem-wing layout. Both wings were about the same size and shared the work of lifting the plane. This made the wingspan smaller than a normal fighter plane. A smaller wingspan is helpful on a navy ship, where space is tight.
The plane first flew on May 1, 1942. Test pilots found it was easy to control. It also took off and landed well. However, it did not have clear enough advantages over normal planes to go into production. The M-35 was retired in 1944 and only one was ever built.
Fun Facts
- The M-35 Libellula was built in just about three weeks — faster than most school projects!
- It had two wings of equal size, one near the nose and one near the tail.
- The name Libellula means dragonfly, and the twin-wing shape really does look like one.
- The whole plane cost just one thousand pounds to build, which was very cheap for an aircraft.
- Its top speed was about 130 miles per hour — faster than a cheetah running at full speed!
- The short wingspan made it smaller than most fighter planes of its day, fitting easily on a ship elevator.
- Only one M-35 was ever built, making it one of a kind.
- The M-35 helped lead to a follow-up research plane called the M-39B Libellula in 1943.
Kids’ Questions
Why did the M-35 have two wings?
The two-wing design was meant to keep the wingspan short. A short wingspan fits better on a navy aircraft carrier. Both wings shared the job of lifting the plane into the air.
Did the M-35 ever go into service?
No, the M-35 never went into regular service. Only one prototype was ever built. It showed that the design could fly well, but it had no big enough advantage over normal planes to be made in large numbers.
Who built the M-35 and how fast did they do it?
A designer named F-G Miles and his team at Miles Aircraft built it. They finished the whole plane in about three weeks. That is an incredibly short time to build an experimental aircraft!
Variants
- M.35 Libellula
- Single private-venture prototype. First flight 1 May 1942. Retired 1944 and scrapped.
- M.39B Libellula
- Larger twin-engine reconnaissance variant. Single prototype flown 1943. Retired 1945 without production.
Notable Operators
- Miles Aircraft (private venture)
- Sole operator. Test flights only; no military or civilian in-service use.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the Libellula's tandem-wing layout?
Two wings of approximately equal span — one forward in canard position and one main wing aft. Both wings carried roughly equal lift. The configuration's claimed advantages were short takeoff distance, compact wingspan (fitting on a carrier elevator), and aerodynamic efficiency at certain flight conditions. The actual advantages over conventional carrier fighters were too small to justify production development.
How many Libellulas were built?
Two prototypes — the M.35 (1942) and the larger M.39B (1943). Both were single airframes; neither led to production. Both were retired and scrapped by 1945.
Did the Libellula influence any production aircraft?
No production aircraft ever used the M.35's tandem-wing configuration. Modern canard-delta fighters (Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale, J-10, JAS 39 Gripen) use a related but different layout — close-coupled canards near the main wing rather than separate forward and main wings of equal span.
Sources
See Also
- Supermarine Seafire — Royal Navy WWII carrier-fighter contemporary (proven design)
- Fairey Firefly — Royal Navy WWII carrier-fighter contemporary
- Fairey Fulmar — Royal Navy WWII carrier-fighter contemporary
- Eurofighter Typhoon — Modern canard-delta fighter (related but different layout)
- Blackburn Skua — Royal Navy WWII carrier-aircraft contemporary