Percival Provost

WW450 Percival P56 Provost (cn PAC/F/234) was built by Percival Aircraft at Luton and delivered to the RAF in September 1954. It operated with No 3 Flying Training School (FTS) at Feltwell until the school closed in May 1958. After a period of storage WW450 became an instructional airframe (as 7688M) with No 4 School of Technical Training (SOTT) at St Athan.

On closure of the school it moved to No 1 SOTT at Halton. By the early 1970s WW450 was surplus to requirements and was acquired by a museum at Lytham St Annes. It did not remain there very long and over the following years moved around the country.

In 2001 it was placed on the civil register as G-BZRE with the intention of becoming airworthy again. This did not happen and in October 2005 WW450 was acquired by the Bournemouth Aviation Museum. During its restoration it was found that the airframe consisted of the wings of WW421 and the fuselage of WW450. The Provost is displayed in the colours of No 3 FTS.

The Provost was designed by Percival Aircraft to meet the RAF’s requirement for a sturdy basic trainer. This necessitated all metal construction, a robust engine and sturdy undercarriage, with instructor and student seated side-by-side in the cockpit.The prototype flew from Luton in February 1950 and, as the result of satisfactory trials, the RAF placed an initial order for 200 the following year. At the time the RAF was expanding its pilot training in view of the threat of the Korean and Cold Wars.

A new style of training was introduced whereby pilots commenced training on the Provost and then moved on the Vampire Trainer jet. Provosts entered service with the Central Flying School at South Cerney in May 1953, followed by No 6 FTS at Ternhill. Provosts were used by five RAF Flying Training Schools, the RAF College at Cranwell and various University Air Squadrons. The Provost proved straightforward to fly but soon showed up any student faults. It was well suited to aerobatics and possessed an exceptional rate of roll.

The Provost did not remain in RAF service very long as Percival had quickly improved their initial design by developing the Jet Provost, with initial trials carried out in August 1955. Large scale orders were placed and the type entered service in June 1959. The last FTS to use the Provost was No 6 FTS which retired them in August 1962. However Provosts continued in second line duties until October 1969. When the Jet Provost entered RAF service the earlier version was frequently referred to as the Piston Provost.

Provosts were also used by a number of overseas air forces, including Southern Rhodesia, Burma, Malaya and Ireland. Percival developed an armed version with strengthened wings to carry underwing rockets and light bombs. This version was supplied to Oman, Sudan and Iraq. 397 Provosts were built for the RAF and 64 for export. However many of the later export orders were completed with surplus RAF aircraft.

Provosts rarely visited Bournemouth during their time in RAF service, However they were sometimes seen at Christchurch where an officer had ‘borrowed’ the aircraft for a weekend visit to the South Coast.