Percival Prentice

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British military trainer aircraft

title: "Percival Prentice" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["hunting-percival-aircraft", "1940s-british-military-trainer-aircraft", "single-engined-tractor-aircraft", "low-wing-aircraft", "aircraft-first-flown-in-1946", "aircraft-with-fixed-conventional-landing-gear", "single-engined-piston-aircraft"] description: "British military trainer aircraft" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percival_Prentice" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British military trainer aircraft ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox aircraft"]

FieldValue
namePrentice
imagePercival Prentice VS650 Wolves 05.53.jpg
captionA Percival P.40 Prentice T.1 of No. 16 Reserve Flying School based at Derby (Burnaston) Airport in service in May 1953
typeMilitary trainer aircraft
manufacturerPercival
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
first_flight31 March 1946
introductionNovember 1947
retired1953
primary_userRoyal Air Force
more_usersArgentine Air Force
Indian Air Force
private pilot owners after disposal by the RAF
produced1947–1949
number_built526
::

| name = Prentice | image = Percival Prentice VS650 Wolves 05.53.jpg | caption = A Percival P.40 Prentice T.1 of No. 16 Reserve Flying School based at Derby (Burnaston) Airport in service in May 1953 | type = Military trainer aircraft | manufacturer = Percival Hindustan Aeronautics Limited | designer = | first_flight = 31 March 1946 | introduction = November 1947 | retired = 1953 | status = | primary_user = Royal Air Force | more_users = Argentine Air Force Indian Air Force private pilot owners after disposal by the RAF | produced = 1947–1949 | number_built = 526 | unit cost = | variants =

The Percival Prentice was a basic trainer of the Royal Air Force in the early postwar period. It was a low-wing monoplane with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage. Front seating was in a side-by-side configuration with a rear seat provided.

Design and development

Designed to meet Air Ministry Specification T.23/43, the Prentice was the first all-metal aircraft to be produced by the Percival Aircraft Company. The first (of 5) prototypes, Prentice TV163 was first flown by Leonard Carruthers from Percival's factory at Luton Airport, Bedfordshire, on 31 March 1946. Early trials revealed lateral instability with inadequate rudder control and poor spin recovery, which required extensive tests with revised tail configurations. These resulted in modifications to the fin, rudder, elevators and upturned wingtips.

An unusual design feature was the provision for three seats. While the instructor and pupil were equipped with dual controls in a side-by-side arrangement in the front, a second pupil sat in the rear seat without controls to receive "air experience". Both pupils could communicate with the instructor. Night flying training was to be carried out in daylight by means of amber screens incorporated into the canopy and the use of special goggles. The amber screens were folded back when not in use.

The RAF ordered a total of 455 Prentices (95 were subsequently cancelled) and there were also a limited number of export sales. When the Percival factory was concentrating on production of the Percival Proctor and development of the Merganser as the Prince light transport aircraft, production of 125 aircraft was sub-contracted to the Blackburn Aircraft works at Brough.

Operational service

After the above modifications, the Prentice was passed into RAF service, initially with the regular Flying Training Schools (FTS) including the RAF College, Cranwell, where they replaced the remaining de Havilland Tiger Moths. Later deliveries went to the Reserve Flying Schools (RFS). The type was used as a pilot trainer until 1952 at the RAF College where it was replaced by the de Havilland (Canada) Chipmunk and in late 1953 at the other schools, when it was replaced by the Percival Provost. Two Air Signals Schools also operated the type to train air signallers, until the last were withdrawn from No.1 ASS at RAF Swanton Morley, Norfolk, in mid 1956.

Civilian operations

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Percival_prentice_at_kemble_arp.jpg" caption="A preserved Percival Prentice giving a pleasure flight in 2007"] ::

In 1956 252 redundant RAF Prentices were bought by Aviation Traders Ltd, a company owned by Freddie Laker. and were stored at Stansted and Southend. Most were eventually scrapped but 28 were converted for civil use with two seats and two jumpseats behind the two pilots' seats, separated by a structure which housed the original 4-channel radio. This version had quite poor performance with four passengers. One aircraft (G-AOKL) was based at Stansted Aerodrome near London around 1963 and used by the resident parachute club for parachuting with at least three jumpers. One aircraft (G-APJE) was converted to a seven-seat layout for pleasure flights operated by Jock Maitland at Ramsgate Airport. A nine-seater was under development at Southend to have been fitted with Gipsy Queen 70-2 but the project was abandoned before flight. One (G-AOPL) was acquired from Shackleton Aviation at Sywell by Captain Jon Cousens, a Desert Intelligence Officer in the Trucial Oman Scouts and flown to Sharjah in 1967; later being flown on to South Africa where it remained until it ceased flying.

Forty-two aircraft were built under licence by Hindustan Aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

Three fictional civilian Percival Prentice are featured in The Black Island (French: L'Île noire), the 7th volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The planes are used by money forgers, flying over Sussex and Scotland.

Variants

;Prentice T.1 :Standard three-seat trainer for Royal Air Force and export. 251 hp de Havilland Gipsy Queen 32 engine. 463 built. ;Prentice T.2 :Fitted with supercharged 296 hp Gipsy Queen 51. One built. ;Prentice T.3 :Fitted with 345 hp Gipsy Queen 70-2. 62 built.

Operators

;

Surviving aircraft

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/E-390_Percival_P.40_Prentice_T1_(8164151272).jpg" caption="Prentice T.1, Museo Nacional de Aeronáutica, Argentina"] ::

;Argentina

;India

;New Zealand

;United Kingdom

;United States

Specifications (T.1 - Gipsy Queen 51)

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Percival_Prentice_T1_3-view_silhouette.jpg" caption="Percival Prentice T.1"] ::

|ref=Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1947, |prime units?=imp General characteristics

|crew=2-3 |length ft=31 |length in=3 |length note= |span ft=46 |span in=0 |span note= |height ft=12 |height in=10.5 |height note=with tail in rigging position |wing area sqft= |wing area note= |aspect ratio=6.94 |airfoil=RAF 48 |empty weight lb=2891 |empty weight note= |gross weight lb=3860 |gross weight note= |max takeoff weight lb= |max takeoff weight note= |fuel capacity=40 impgal fuel in two wing tanks ; 4.9 impgal oil |more general= Powerplant

|eng1 number=1 |eng1 name=de Havilland Gipsy Queen 51 |eng1 type=6-cylinder air-cooled inverted in-line piston engine |eng1 hp=296 |eng1 note=supercharged ::::or 251 hp de Havilland Gipsy Queen 32 un-supercharged engine

|prop blade number=2 |prop name=de Havilland constant-speed propeller |prop dia ft= |prop dia in= |prop dia note= Performance

|max speed mph=171 |max speed note= at 6800 ft ::::153 mph at sea level |cruise speed mph=160 |cruise speed note= at 5400 ft maximum continuous ::::147 mph at sea level maximum continuous ::::154 mph at 12200 ft maximum economic ::::129 mph at sea level maximum economic |stall speed mph=62.4 |stall speed note=flaps up ::::51 mph flaps down |never exceed speed mph= |never exceed speed note= |range miles=505 |range note= at sea level maximum economic ::::517 mph at 12200 ft maximum economic |ferry range miles= |ferry range note= |endurance=3 hours 55 minutes maximum economic at sea level ; 3 hours 43 minutes 139 mph at 5000 ft |ceiling ft=19000 |ceiling note= |g limits= |roll rate= |climb rate ftmin=1070 |climb rate note=initial ::::960 ft/min at 5000 ft |time to altitude= |lift to drag= |wing loading lb/sqft=12.65 |wing loading note= |fuel consumption lb/mi= |power/mass=0.0769 hp/lb |more performance=

  • Take-off run: 600 ft from grass in still air at sea level ISA ::::525 ft from hard runway in still air at sea level ISA
  • Take-off distance to 50 ft: 1110 ft from grass in still air at sea level ISA ::::1035 ft from hard runway in still air at sea level ISA |avionics=

References

Notes

Bibliography

  • Birtles, Philip J. "The Percival Prentice". Aircraft Illustrated, Vol. 8, No. 12, December 1975. pp. 487–493.
  • Bridgman, Leonard. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1951–52. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd., 1951.
  • Ellison, Norman H. Percivals Aircraft (The Archive Photographs Series). Chalford, Stroud, UK: Chalford Publishing Company, 1997. .
  • Halley, J.J. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. 1985. .
  • Jackson, A.J. British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Volume 3. London: Putnam, 1988. .
  • Silvester, John. Percival Aircraft 1933–1954 (Parts 1–4). Aeroplane Monthly, Vol. 11, No. 1–4, January–April 1983.
  • Silvester, John. Percival and Hunting Aircraft. Leicester: Midland Counties Publications 1987. .
  • Sturtivant, Ray. Royal Air Force Flying Training and Support Units. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, 1997. .
  • Thetford, Owen. Aircraft of the Royal Air Force. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1976. .

References

  1. Silvester 1987, p. 94
  2. Silvester 1987, pp. 91-93
  3. Marsh, Jeff. [http://www.pavaservices.com/cfs/Prentice.htm "Percival "Prentice" T1".] ''Air Atlantique Classic Flight Project,'' 20 September 2005. Retrieved: 14 May 2009.
  4. Silvester 1987, p. 96
  5. Silvester 1987, pp. 95-97
  6. Sturtivant 1997, p. 61.
  7. Jackson 1974, p. 345
  8. Silvester 1987, p. 98
  9. Birtles ''Aircraft Illustrated'' December 1975, p. 487.
  10. Birtles ''Aircraft Illustrated'' December 1975, p. 489.
  11. Birtles ''Aircraft Illustrated'' December 1975, p. 492.
  12. Halley 1985, pp. 76–82.
  13. Cater & Caballero (IPMS Magazine May 2013)
  14. "The Museum Collection".
  15. "Percival Prentice".
  16. "Aircraft List".
  17. "THE AIRCRAFT".
  18. "OKAY, WHAT'S ALL THE HURRY?".
  19. (2013). "PERCIVAL PRENTICE T.1 VS618 /G-AOLK MUSEUM ACCESSION NUMBER X005-0834".
  20. "Aircraft Listing".
  21. "FAA REGISTRY [N1041P]". U.S. Department of Transportation.
  22. (1947). "Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1947". Sampson Low, Marston & Co.
  23. Thetford 1976, p. 430
  24. Bridgman 1951, pp. 70c–71c.
  25. "The Incomplete Guide to Airfoil Usage".

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hunting-percival-aircraft1940s-british-military-trainer-aircraftsingle-engined-tractor-aircraftlow-wing-aircraftaircraft-first-flown-in-1946aircraft-with-fixed-conventional-landing-gearsingle-engined-piston-aircraft