Manufacturer: Miles Aircraft

Model: M.78

Name: Twinvan

Type: Small transport

Date: 1960

Status: Demonstrator

Country: United Kingdom

Service: Commercial (not marketed)

Designation: none

The Miles M.78 Twinvan was a twin-fuselage version of the Miles M.57 Aerovan. The aircraft was underpowered and had to be fitted with a fourth engine in a pusher position at the rear of the central wing section. However, the wing was not reinforced enough in that place, and broke in the middle while in flight, causing the prototype to fall into a spin and killing the pilot with all three passengers.

I took a photo of an Aerovan (below right) and doubled it up. I then removed the pilot in the foreground aircraft, modified the registration, rejoined the tail and wings, removed the windows on the background aircraft...

However, none of all this was really complicated. No, the really tough bit was to recreate the landscape in such a way that the roads and houses looked natural!

Besides the fact that the purpose of such a version is certainly questionable, the Twinvan is sadly underpowered. It ought to have four engines, not three, hence my story about it being later fitted with a fourth engine...

• Wonderful, once more! (Tophe)
• This dead crew lost its life for a good cause (beauty in the sky)... (Tophe2)
• Just LOVE the Twinvan! You can just imagine Miles making it too, they made every other possible version, the 4 engined one, the demountable fuselage one etc. (PR19_Kit)