Easter 1929 | Airfield (then called Reading Aerodrome) opens. Easter Monday - two serious accidents! |
May 1929 | Flying school in operation with 18 pupils. Alan Cobham's Flying Circus visits Woodley. |
1930 | Reading Air Pageant. Air Fete on Whit Monday attracted 20,000 people and included a parachute jump and flying upside down. |
July 1930 | First fatal accident. |
1931 | Gliding display. |
1931 | Douglas Bader crashed at Woodley. |
1932 | First cine-film of a parachute jump taken from another parachutist. |
1933 | Miles Hawk M.2 completed and flown. |
1934 | Reading Aero Club "at home". Woodley visited by Amy Johnson. |
1935 | Phillips & Powis Aeronautical School set up. Tommy Rose won the King's Cup air race in the Miles Falcon. |
1936 | Charles Lindbergh, the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic, was at Woodley, and flew in the prototype M.11. |
1937 | The first Miles Magister christened by Blossom Miles. |
1938 | The Monarch,first aircraft to be designed by George Miles was a luxurious aircraft for private flying. With war looming, urgent need for a training aircraft for the RAF, the Kestrel was prepared for production. |
1939 | The Magister replacement design was stepped up. Factory urgently expands to meet wartime needs. By the outbreak of war, only 7 Masters complete. |
1940 | 500 Masters delivered to RAF flying schools. |
1941 | Begin to develop the automatic pilot. |
1942 | Secret wind tunnel built behind farm buildings. |
1943 | Building for test pilots & emergency vehicles. |
1944 | Factory & RAF flying school operating at full capacity. |
1945 | Gemini makes it's first flight flown by F.G. Miles. |
1946 | Seven Martinets delivered to RAF. Cancellation of supersonic M.52 project. |
1947 | Aerovans and Marathons in production. |
1948 | Production of all Miles aircraft ceased. |