Percival Proctor

The Percival Aircraft Proctor was a military communications and training derivative of the four seat Percival Vega Gull to Air Ministry Specification 26/38, powered by a De Havilland Gipsy Queen II engine.

 

1,142 Proctors were produced for military service, the type being first flown (P5998) at Luton on 8th October 1939. The Percival Proctor I was arranged with three seats

 

Percival Proctor production was also sub-contracted to F. Hills & Sons, of Manchester, who built 812 aircraft. The Percival Proctor was also built in a several variants, as detailed in the table below. There was a significant change in the design with the Percival Proctor IV, which featured an increase of 28 inches in fuselage length, and a small increase in wing area.

 

The first Percival Proctor IV flew on 16th March 1942.

 

 

Percival Proctor IV and V variants can be distinguished externally by a rectangular rear window, compared with the square window of the Percival Proctor I to III variants. Post-war, some 225 Percival Proctor I, II and IIIs were sold for civil operation, together with some 60 Percival Proctor IV aircraft after these were declared surplus to RAF requirements in 1955.

 

Total Percival Proctor production, including 154 P.44 Proctor V built post-war specifically for civil use, was 1,296 aircraft.

 

The success of the Percival Proctor is reflected in the following advertisement for the Percival Proctor V, published in April 1948: ‘The most popular British Light Aircraft in the World today’. Countries of operation - Iceland, Canada, USA, New Zealand, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal, Algeria, Syria, Great Britain, Iraq, Egypt, India, Kenya, Belgian Congo, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, Australia and South Africa.

 

A one-off Percival Proctor VI was equipped with 'Edo floats', specially built for the use of the Hudson’s Bay Company and it bore the experimental registration (X1), prior to being registered in Canada (CF-EHF).

 

 

Reflecting its Percival Gull and Vega Gull heritage, the Percival Proctor was used for a number of long-distance flights including to New Zealand, Australia and Brazil. In late 1948, British female pilot Mrs Richarda Morrow-Tait, together with her navigation Michael Townsend, flew the Percival Proctor IV (G-AJMU ‘Thursday’s Child’) from Croydon Airport to India, Japan and then across the North Pacific to Alaska.

 

Many Percival Proctor aircraft began to disappear from the UK civil aircraft register during the late 1960s , normally following inspections. These were instigated as a result of the CAA issuing Airworthiness Notice 50 concerning 'the long-term airworthiness of wooden aircraft' especially those built using casein-type glues.

 

As a result of this, many aircraft were grounded or scrapped and relatively few remain flying today.