of balance changes from removing the forward-mounted piston engine, the pilot was repositioned to the nose and seated within a new clear canopy, necessitating a seven foot extension of the aircraft's length. The French Turbomeca Palas, a centrifugal flow turbojet engine, was selected to power the type; in order to accommodate a pair of these engines within its wing root area, the wing required multiple modifications. One of the positive impacts produced by eliminating the propeller was that the aircraft needed much less ground clearance, thus a new undercarriage with much shorter legs was installed to take advantage of this. The new cockpit provided its pilot with an atypically high level of exterior visibility; this attribute was viewed as particularly helpful in competitive racing for better enabling the pilot to monitor the positions of other racing aircraft. To reflect the extensive changes that had been made to it, the aircraft was redesignated as the M.77 Sparrowjet. During December 1950, the Sparrowhawk arrived at Miles' Redhill facility to commence conversion; during 1952, mid-way through the conversion, the aircraft was relocated to Shoreham via road as a result of Miles' relocation. On 14 December 1953, the completed Sparrowjet conducted its maiden flight, being piloted by George Miles, the flight was reportedly his first in a jet-powered aircraft. It was quickly determined that the aircraft's maximum speed was in excess of 200 MPH, although its relatively slow rate of acceleration was also observed, a factor that has been attributed to the power output of the Palas engine being a somewhat modest 330 lb per engine (when flown at sea level). Operational history Following the completion of modification work to become the Sparrowjet, the aircraft was accepted by Dunkerley and quickly entered into various air races, such as the Goodyear Air Challenge Trophy at Shoreham on 28 August 1954. In addition to racing, the Sparrowjet also performed numerous aerial displays, including one at Baginton during the Royal Aero Club race in July, where it had been prevented from participating in the race directly owing to an air starter fault. Prior to the discovery of the fault, the occasion had been intended to be the Sparrowjet's racing debut; this would occur roughly two months later at the Southern Aero Club Invitation Race, which was also held at Shoreham. The Sparrowjet's performance was such that, in several different races, the aircraft managed to surpass all of