Maxine Frances Mary Forbes-Robertson was born on 22 September 1901, the daughter of Johnston Forbes-Robertson and May Gertrude Dermot, better known by her stage name of Gertrude Elliott, both actors. A privileged but grounded upbringing ensured that Maxine, or "Blossom" as she was known in her family, was able to develop her intellectual, sporting and artistic abilities to the full despite allegedly losing an eye at an early age. She was no stranger to the theatre and appeared on the London stage with members of her family on occasion. Maxine spent her early years with her sisters Jean, Chloe and Diana at Hartsbourne Manor, the home of her aunt Maxine Elliott, an American actress and businesswoman. A wing of the manor was used exclusively by her parents, the Forbes-Robertsons' main family home being located at 22 Bedford Square in the heart of London's Bloomsbury district.

On 8 October 1924, Blossom married Captain Hon Inigo Freeman-Thomas. Her aunt Maxine Elliott gave Freeman-Thomas a $500,000 dowry on announcement of her marriage, and the couple lived for a time in Miss Elliot's Regents Park home.

In June 1930, Blossom and Freeman-Thomas became members of the Southern Aero Club to learn to fly. There, Blossom gained her RAeC Aviators Certificate, No. 9585, on 19 October 1930, flying an Avro 504K. Eventually Maxine had an affair with her flying instructor, F.G. Miles; to remove himself from the difficult situation, in August 1931 Miles emigrated to South Africa.

Miles returned on 24 September 1931. Freeman-Thomas, by now Viscount Ratendone, named Miles as co-defendant with Maxine in an undefended suit and was granted a decree nisi in April 1932, and on 6 August that year she and Miles were married at Holburn Registry Office.

In 1933 Blossom and F.G. designed the Miles Hawk, to be built by Phillips and Powis at Woodley. The Hawk sold well and Miles joined the company as technical director and chief designer. Miles and Blossom moved to Reading, where they set up a drawing office in part of the Phillips and Powis hanger, trading under the name of the Miles Aircraft Company.

F. G. Miles decided to compete in the 1935 King’s Cup Air Race and the job of producing a suitable aircraft fell to Blossom, who had just eight weeks to produce an aeroplane. With neither the time or the facilities to create something from scratch, she took a Miles Hawk, shortened the fuselage, improved the streamlining, reduced the wingspan by 5 ft, reduced the height of the undercarriage, moved the legs outwards and away from the propeller slipstream and, finally, installed extra tanks to enable the 140 hp Gypsy Major engine to complete the 953-mile course with only a single re-fuelling stop.

When Phillip and Powis Aircraft Ltd was purchased by her husband as Miles Aircraft Ltd in 1941, she became a director of the new company. Within the Miles company, Blossom was a draughtswoman as well as looking after the social and welfare issues faced by the rapidly expanding company.

With the coming of World War II, Blossom anticipated the need for women in the aircraft workforce in positions other than secretaries and typists. Women trained by her in the company’s Experimental Department’s Liverpool Road drawing office became known as “Blossom’s Babies.” In 1943 The Miles Aeronautical Technical School opened under her directorship. The school prepared young men and women for careers in aviation.

Blossom and F.G. had two children, Jeremy born in 1933 and Mary Susannah born in 1939. The couple's home, Lands’ End in Twyford, was a contemporary piece of modern design which reflected Blossom's tastes.

Blossom served as one of five commissioners of the Civil Air Guard which was established in July 1938 to encourage and subsidise pilot training. Formed around civilian flying clubs, subsidised tuition was offered in exchange for an 'honourable undertaking' that in times of emergency, members would serve in the Royal Air Force Reserve.

In 1942, she was a guest speaker at the Women’s Engineering Society's Annual Dinner, held at the Forum Club, speaking on Women in the Drawing Office, based on her personal experiences working on aircraft engineering and training up other women in the field during World War Two.

With aircraft development becoming more specialized during WWII, Blossom left the direct design work to others. She expanded company benefits to include newsletters, amateur dramatics with the Aerodrome Players and other morale-building efforts. Problems with the return to civil production, along with some underhand machinations of the company’s financial advisor, led to the collapse of Miles Aircraft in late 1947.

Maxine Blossom Miles died 6 April 1984 in Worthing, Sussex.

1. Wikipedia
2. ancestry.com
3. Miles Aircraft - The Early Years, Peter Amos (Air Britain (Historians), 2009)
4. Miles Aircraft - The Wartime Years, Peter Amos (Air Britain (Historians), 2012)
5. Miles Aircraft - The Post-War Years, Peter Amos (Air Britain (Historians), 2016)