Flying for miles and miles

Flight Journal, Apr 2003 by Jones, Geoffrey P

A rare 1940s British twinengine Gemini still flies from a private airstrip at Feltham. near Bristol, England, thanks to sponsorship by the Total Oil Co. and the TLC of its owner, James Buckingham. This Miles M.65 Gemini was the 65th design of the prolific F.G. Miles. In 1926, F.G. and his brother George built their first aircraft-the Gnat-- in a laundry near Brighton, Sussex.

The Miles brothers had a factory in Northern Ireland in which they made the single-engine M.38 Messenger, and the Gemini evolved as a response to their having to make many supervisory flights across the Irish Sea. They used a modified Messenger fuselage and fitted it with two, 100hp Blackburn Cirrus Major engines; instead of the Messenger's three vertical tail fins, the Gemini has two. The prototype (G-AGUS) first flew on October 26, 1945, but because the planes were built mostly of wood, few survive. James Buckingham's G-AKKB (S/N 6537) was one of the last completed in 1947. Eleven are still registered in the UK, but they are rarely flown, and their structural and maintenance problems ensure that Gemini ownership is a labor of love.

James Buckingham's is the exception. It has had a colorful career. Its first owner was Fred Dunkerley of Barton, Manchester, England, and he flew it in the 1949 King's Cup Air Race; in 1951, he modified its fuselage for racing. In 1953, he established new FAI Class C.1 inter-capital speed records, and he later raced it in the 1953, 1958 and 1959 King's Cup Races.

Sold to Britten Norman (Islander Commuter Manufacturers) on January 31, 1977, it was flown to Filton (Bristol) for a complete rebuild, and it flew again on June 4, 1979; it's still in the Bristol area.

--Geoffrey P. Jones