During the immediate post-war era, several nations were conducting research into high speed aircraft. In the United Kingdom, work commenced during 1943 on the Miles M-52, a high-speed experimental aircraft equipped with a straight wing that was developed in conjunction with Frank Whittle's Power Jets company, the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) in Farnborough, and the National Physical Laboratory. Despite being envisioned to be capable of achieving in level flight, thus enabling the aircraft to potentially be the first to exceed the speed of sound in the world, in February 1946, the programme was abrupted discontinued for unclear reasons. It has since been widely recognised that the cancellation of the M.52 was a major setback in British progress in the field of supersonic design.