Miles M.12 Mohawk
Serial Number: G-AEKW
Period: Pre-WWII
Collection Ref: X002-6559
Location: RAF Museum London, Milestones of Flight
Designed by F.G. Miles as one a brilliant series of Miles Monoplanes including the Falcon , Whitney Straight, Hawk Trainer, and, for the military, the Master and Magister trainers.
The Miles M.12 Mohawk was a tandem two-seat cabin monoplane, of which only one was completed, to the requirements of famous American pioneer aviator Charles Lindbergh. He needed a fast, long-range touring aircraft for business trips around Europe with his wife Anne. The aircraft was of wooden construction using spruce frames and birch plywood with fabric covering on the tail surfaces. Lindbergh's personal requirements included rudder pedals adjustable for leg length (as he was over six feet tall) and removable seat backs permitting conversion of the seats into a bed if overnighting in remote areas. Presented by Lindbergh to the British Government at the outbreak of war in 1939, it saw only limited wartime use as a communications aircraft, and had a short post-war career until written off in a landing accident in Spain in 1949.
