Back to Percival P.84 Jet Provost
Author: Terry
Percival P.84 Jet Provost / Hunting Jet Provost
A gas turbine development of the Provost, Jet Provost first flew on June 26 1954, powered by a 1,640 1b. Armstrong Siddeley Viper ASV.5 jet engine. Initially the Jet Provost appeared without a dorsal fin, which was fitted for a while and then removed and replaced by a long ventral fin. Another modification was the sweeping forward of the leading edge wing roots just outboard of the cheek intakes.
Percival P.84 Jet Provost Article
After trials, it went to No. 2 Flying Training School at Hullavington for the first all-through (Jet Provost to Vampire) jet flying training course. Production deliveries began in 1959.
Early versions had the prototypes long, stalky undercarriage, but from the 11th aircraft a shorter one was introduced.
The T.3 was the basic trainer for the Royal Air Force until the mid-1970s, when the up-graded T.4 was introduced.
The Jet Provost T.3, together with the more powerful T.4, with an up rated Viper ASV.11 with 2,500 lb thrust, for night, instrument and formation flying, plus aerobatics, served with the RAF, the T.4 entering service in 1961.
In 1964 the original designers of the Jet Provost responded to the need for a pressurised version and began private work on the design. The Jet Provost T5 differed externally from earlier versions by a re-designed hood and a more bulbous shape to accommodate the pressurised cockpit.
The prototype T5 made its first flight on 28 February 1967. A total of 110 Jet Provost T5s were produced for the Royal Air Force and the first was handed over to the Central Flying School on 3 September 1969. Between 1973 and 1976, ninety-three were modified by an upgrade in avionics equipment and became T5As.
The rough grey coating on the wing of the aircraft was applied in order to break up the smooth airflow and give an early indication of the onset of a stall as the T5’s original clean wing design gave the pilot little prior warning.
Export versions were the T.51 and 52.
The T.5 was further developed into the BAC 167 Strikemaster.
T.3
Engine: 1 x 1,750 lbs.t. (822 kgp) Bristol Siddeley Viper 102
T.4
Engine: Bristol Siddeley Viper 201, ASV8 or ASV11, 2500 lb
TO dist: 1030 ft
Ldg dist: 1415 ft
Time to 30,000ft: 13.3min
Wing span: 36 ft 11 in (11.25 m)
Length: 32 ft 5 in (9.88 m)
Height: 10 ft 2 in (3.11 m)
Wing area, 213.7 sq.ft (19.8 sq.m)
Empty wt: 4,650 lb (2 110 kg)
Max TO wt: 7400 lb (3356 kg)
Max speed, 411 mph (661 kph) at 20,000ft (6096 m)
Cruise, 280 mph (451 kph)
Initial climb, 3,950 fpm. (20 m/sec)
Range: 1075 km / 668 miles
Crew: 2
T.4A
T.5
Engine: RR Viper 201, 2500 lb thrust
Length: 33.99 ft / 10.36 m
Height: 10.171 ft / 3.1 m
Wingspan: 35.335 ft / 10.77 m
Wing area: 213.127 sq.ft / 19.8 sq.m
Max take off weight: 9122.1 lb / 4137.0 kg
Weight empty: 5490.5 lb / 2490.0 kg
Max. speed: 382 kts / 708 km/h
Service ceiling: 36745 ft / 11200 m
Wing loading: 42.85 lb/sq.ft / 209.0 kg/sq.m
Range: 782 nm / 1448 km
Crew: 2
Armament: 2 MG 7,62FN/550rds, 1000kg (8x ext.)
T.5A
Engine: RR Viper 202
Cruise: 310 kts.
Percival P.74 / Huntington P.74
In 1951, a Helicopter Division was formed by Hunting Percival and design work commenced on a medium-sized helicopter designated P.74.
The P.74 was intended as a demonstrator for a new type of helicopter. It worked on the tip-jet principle, but the P.74 had a gas generator under the cabin floor which fed compressed air through triple ducts to the three-bladed rotor, each blade of which had triple ejector ducts. The hot and noisy gas pipes running up the cabin walls between rows of seats. The rotor blades were not adjusted by actuators at the hubs as on most helicopters but by ailerons on the trailing edges. Pitch was controlled with a screw jack.
This machine had a teardrop-shaped fuselage with the two-seat cockpit in the nose and a large cabin running the full length of the fuselage. The P.74’s undercarriage consisted of four wheels, the forward two of which were castoring. There was no entrance door or escape hatch near the cockpit. The only way in or out was the door at the rear of the port side of the fuselage.
The prototype was completed in the spring of 1956, carrying the military serial number XK889. Months of testing in a static rig showed up many problems with the power system, which refused to develop full power and maximum gas flow. Finally these problems were fixed and a first flight attempted. Despite the efforts of two pilots on the very stiff controls, the P.74 resolutely refused to fly. One engineer associated with the project says that a consultant designer used the wrong formula for calculating lift. All the figures added up but the P.74 went nowhere. It was ordered to be towed across the airfield out of sight, and that is about the last anyone heard of it.
Plans to fit a more powerful Rolls-Royce RB.108 turbine engine (which should have got the P.74 into the air) were abandoned when the helicopter industry was rationalized. A proposed 10-passenger model called P.105 using the Oryx system was never built.
Hunting Percival P.74
Engines: 2 x Napier Oryx
Rotor diameter: 16.77 m
Max take-off weight: 3518 kh
Cruising speed: 178 kph
Ceiling: 8530 m
Range: 530 km
Percival P.66 Pembroke Gallery
Percival P.66 Pembroke / President
The Percival Pembroke was a British high-wing twin-engined light transport aircraft built by the Percival Aircraft Company, later Hunting Percival.
The Pembroke was a development of the Percival Prince civil transport. The Pembroke is basically an eight seat Service transport developed from the Prince 3 and Sea Prince, with increased span and rearward facing passenger seats. The prototype flew on 21 November 1952.
Percival P.66 Pembroke Article
Production for the RAF and the Air Forces of Belgium, Southern Rhodesia and Sweden was complete in early 1958. Sixteen Pembroke C.52s were obtained by the Swedish Air Force in 1955 and designated Tp-83s.
The Pembroke C.1 were used as eight seat communications aircraft and a version with a clear-view nose and camera stations in the main cabin fr air survey and photography was in service in the Belgian Air Force in 1956.
A civil version known as the Prince Series 5 was under development. Appearing as the President, the first airline order for Presidents was placed in 1957 by a Spanish local operator.
Percival Pembroke C Mk.1
Engine : 2 x Alvis Leonides 127, 533 hp
Length : 46 ft 0 in / 14.02 m
Height : 16.076 ft / 4.9 m
Wingspan : 64 ft 6 in / 19.66 m
Max take off weight : 13503.4 lb / 6124.0 kg
Max. speed : 162 kt / 300 km/h
Service ceiling : 21982 ft / 6700 m
Range : 999 nm / 1850 km
Crew : 2 + 8
Percival P56 Provost Gallery
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Percival P56 Provost
Designed by Percival Aircraft before it became part of the Hunting Group in 1954, the Provost was selected as the standard RAF trainer in the early 1950s having been designed to fulfil the requirements of specification T.16/48. A cantilever low wing monoplane with fixed tailwheel landing gear and powered by an Alvis Leonides 126 engine, it provided side by side seating for instructor and pupil.
The Percival P.56 Provost was the last piston-engined basic trainer used by the RAF. The prototype WE522 first flew on 23 February 1950 and was powered with a Cheetah 17 radial engine, as was the second prototype.
The third prototype was powered with the tightly cowled Alvis Leonides nine-cylinder radial. Both the earlier aircraft were re-engined and all the production T Mk 1 aircraft used the Alvis engine. This 11.9-litre supercharged engine is a smaller than usual 550-hp radial; the higher power is achieved by running at high revolutions (3,000 rpm) and +8 lb/sq inch of boost. Cruise power of 330 hp is at 2,600 rpm at 11,000 ft (RAF settings). A three-blade constant speed propeller is driven through a reduction gear, and it has side-by-side seating under a sliding canopy.
In 1953, the RAF introduced two new trainers into service, the piston engined Percival Provost T.1, which replaced the Prentice, and the jet powered DH Vampire T.11 which replaced the Harvard and the Meteor T.7 with the Advanced Flying Schools. As the RAF Prentice replacement, the Percival P.56, which became the Provost, powered by a 240 hp Cheetah 18 engine, its top speed was 178 mph at 2,500 ft. Entering service under the designation Provost T Mk 1, the aircraft were first delivered to the Basic Training Squadron of the Central Flying School of the RAF at South Cerney.
In armament training form it is fitted with two 7.9 mm. machine guns with 1,200 rounds of ammunition and a camera gun, and carrying three 60 lb rocket projectiles beneath each wing. Despite this load the Provost was rolled with abandon and climbed inverted under the continuous running of its Alvis Leonides engine. Alternative armament of the Provost is two 250 lb. bombs or eight 25 lb. bombs on light series racks or eight 25 lb. bombs plus four 60 lb. R.P.s.
T.Mks.51, 52 and 53 are export versions serving with six air arms. Mks.52 and 53 carry light armament. As the T.53, the type was also supplied to Burma, Iraq and the Sudan, while the T.51 and T.52 were used by Eire and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.
When production ended in 1959, a total of 461 had been built, including a number armed with machine guns and bombs. They also served in the air arms of Sudan, Malaysia and Muscat.
The last active RAF Provost was retired in 1969, some going to training establishments as instructional airframes, with only a few of these eventually reaching civilian operators.
T Mk 1
Engine: Alvis Leonides 126, 550 hp / 410kW
Span, 35 ft 2 in (10.9 m)
Length, 28 ft 8 in (8.8 m)
Height: 3.70 m / 12 ft 2 in
Wing area, 214 sq.ft (19.8 sq.m).
Empty weight, 3,350 lb (1521 kg)
Max take off weight, 4,400 lb (1996 kg)
Max speed, 174 kt / 200 mph / 322 kph at 2,300 ft (700 m)
Cruise, 177 mph (283 kph) at 11,500 ft (3510 m)
Initial climb, 2,200 fpm (11.18 m/sec)
Service ceiling: 7620 m / 25000 ft
Range, 650 mls (1046 km)
Crew: 2
Percival P.50 / P.54 Prince / Sea Prince Gallery
Percival P.50 / P.54 Prince / Sea Prince
The 1948 Percival Prince was a British light transport of the early post-war period. It was a twin-engine, high-wing, cantilever monoplane of all-metal stressed-skin construction; the undercarriage was of retractable, tricycle type. The design of the Prince followed on from the solitary Merganser.
Further development of the type led to the Survey Prince survey aircraft and the Sea Prince. The official designation of the Naval communications version of the Percival Prince was given as Sea Prince C.2.
An improved version of the Prince 3 with an increased wingspan and engine and undercarriage modifications was developed for the Royal Air Force as the Percival Pembroke. The Percival Prince 5 the transport variant of the Pembroke.
Prince C.Mk.1
Prince Surveyor
Percival Prentice
In 1949 Percival celebrated the 100th Prentice for the Argentine Air Force built and tested at Luton. In addition to being the RAF’s standard trainer, they were used by the Indian Air Force and the Lebanese Air Force.
The Prentice 3, intended for the Indian Air Force, has a 344 hp Gipsy Queen 70-2 engine. The empty weight is 3427 lb, but the all-up weight remains at 4000 lb aerobatic and 4200 lb normal. The maximum speed is 171 mph at 5000 ft.
During 1958, Aviation Traders obtained a CoA for their four seat touring version of the Prentice.
The Prentice T.Mk.I certification is by UK Manufacturer’s Type Record.
Engine : DH Gipsy Queen 51, 292 hp
Length : 31.234 ft / 9.52 m
Height : 12.795 ft / 3.9 m
Wingspan : 45.997 ft / 14.02 m
Max take off weight : 3790.4 lb / 1719.0 kg
Max. speed : 134 kt / 249 km/h
Service ceiling : 17995 ft / 5485 m
Range : 432 nm / 800 km
Crew : 2
