In 1936, the Air Ministry was alarmed to learn jet engine development had begun in Germany. The pressure was on and unfortunately, Frank Whittle succumbed to it and suffered a nervous breakdown. Fortunately, the brilliant engineer Charles Long was able to pick up the work and in no time, had designed a prototype which was built by the Miles Aeroplane Co.
The Miles Long jet had a truly revolutionary engine, but was rather pedestrian in most other aspects, except for a pair of incredibly sexy, aerodynamic spats perfectly suited for the dawning Jet Age.
The new Miles Long prototype broke all speed records, but it was on the cutting edge of technology and suffered the worse for it. Specifically, the engine required metallurgically advanced metals which slowed production considerably. By the time of the 1938 Czech crisis, the Miles Aeroplane Co. had only managed to upgrade the one prototype and build mock-ups for training.
The RAF contracted for more mock-ups to be built and placed at airfields all around England. The new Miles MacGuffin, even though flightless, became commonplace, to the point the Germans couldn't help notice.
Luftwaffe Chief Goering made a panicked phone call to Hitler to advise him Germany was now totally out-classed in the air. The Führer knew he'd better back down or face defeat under waves of the new British jets.
Fortunately, the Germans never noticed how few Miles MacGuffins actually flew. Week after week, the one flying prototype and the legions of mock-ups graced British newsreels until it seemed the RAF was armed with a futuristic, unstoppable mighty host.
Eventually, the Miles Aeroplane Co. gave up on the Miles Long/MacGuffin and moved on to other work. The Miles Long prototype was scrapped ignominiously in 1940.
While utterly forgotten today, for one brief moment, the Miles Long/MacGuffin kept Britain from war.
The model is brush-painted by hand in acrylics and decals were from spares. I'd like to thank Jeff for the spats and raafif for the kit which was a lot of fun and took me about four days to build.
Brian da Basher
