Miles Aerovan

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M.57 Aerovan
Type	STOL transport
Manufacturer	Miles Aircraft
Designed by	G.H. Miles
Maiden flight	26 January 1945
Primary users	Royal Air Force Israeli Air Force, RNZAF
Number built	59

The Miles M.57 Aerovan was a British short range low cost transport designed and built by Miles Aircraft.

The wings and tailplane were larger versions of those of the Miles Messenger.^[1]

It was a twin engine high wing low aspect ratio monoplane, of plastic bonded plywood construction with some spruce and metal parts. It had fixed tricycle undercarriage, three vertical tail and rudder units (one central, two as endplates to the monoplane horizontal tail), and a pod and boom fuselage (leading to the nickname "flying tadpole"). Two pilots were seated beneath a large clear perspex canopy which formed the front dorsal part of the pod, four rectangular, or circular windows, providing a view for passengers on either side. The Aerovan was capable of lifting a family car, loaded through clamshell rear doors. Designed in 1944, the prototype was built in Liverpool and first flown in January 26, 1945.

Aerovan production started in 1946 primarily for civil use, (although military examples were used by the RAF, Israel, New Zealand and Turkey). A license was granted to manufacture the type in France. Two RNZAF machines were converted, (unsuccessfully), for aerial topdressing. One Mark VI was used for research with Hurel-Dubois high aspect ratio wing in 1957 and was then then known as the HDM.105. The prototype retroactively named the Mark I was fitted with a 5/6th replica of the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba turboprop during development.

The last known surviving Aerovan was the first of the Mk VIs operating in Italy in 1968.

1 Service
2 Variants
3 Specifications ()
4 References
5 Related content
6 External links

[edit] Service

The RNZAF used the Aerovan IV the main production variant.

The newly formed Israeli Air Force acquired a single Aerovan from the UK which entered service in June 1948. Able to use very short landing strips it was flown into settlements and Jerusalem airport in the face of sniper activity. On 17 July 1948 it made a forced landing south of Tel Aviv and was attacked by Arabs.^[2]

[edit] Variants

Aerovan Mk I – First prototype. The prototype had a shorter pod fuselage.
Aerovan Mk II – Second prototype. The prototype had a longer fuselage.
Aerovan Mk III – The standard production version. Powered by two 150 hp (112-kW) Blackburn Cirus Major III piston engines. Seven built.
Aerovan Mk IV – Mark III with detail improvements. 40 built.
Aerovan MK V – Powered by two 145-hp (108-kW) de Havilland Gypsy major 10 pison engines. One built.
AeroVan Mk VI - Powered by two 195-hp (145-kW) Avco Lycoming O-435-4A piston engines. Two built.