British Aircraft Corp Jet Provost T5A

XW310/G-BWGS British Aircraft Corp Jet Provost T5A (cn EEP/JP/974) was a standard production Jet Provost T5 built by BAC at Warton in spring of 1970 (The wings were built here at Bournemouth). Delivered to the RAF on 19 May and issued to No 1 Flying Training School at Linton-on-Ouse where it was coded ‘70’. Early in 1973 XW310 was repainted in a special colour scheme for use by No 1 FTS’s display team – ‘The Blades’.

In March 1975 it returned to Warton for modification to a T5A after which it was stored at 5 MU Kemble for four years. In June 1979 it was delivered to Cranwell for use by the RAF College, code ‘37’. It continued in use at Cranwell until September 1988 when it flew to 27 MU Shawbury for storage. Struck off RAF charge in 1993 with the pending introduction of Tucanos, put up for sale by auction in July but unsold at the time. Eventually sold in February 1995 and moved by road to Ipswich where it had been acquired by Everett Aero.

Placed on the civil register as G-BWGS in August 1995 but remained in store. Moved to North Weald in February 1996, restored to airworthy condition by McCarthy Aviation and later repainted in its ‘Blades’ colour scheme. It then flew with various owners, ending up with ‘Where Eagles Share’. Out of service by 2008, G-BWGS remained stored at North Weald, eventually acquired by the Bournemouth Aviation Museum where it arrived in September 2017.

Developed by Hunting Percival Aircraft at Luton from its piston Provost primary trainer of the late 1940s, the Jet Provost was built in response to a 1953 RAF requirement for a jet powered primary trainer so as to provide pupils with all through jet training. A fairly simple re-design led to the Alvis Leonides engine in the nose being replaced by an Armstrong Siddeley Viper jet of 1,750 lb thrust, and the fitting of a nose wheel undercarriage. The first of ten Jet Provost T1s flew in the summer of 1954 and the type was used for trials by No. 2 Flying Training School from the summer of 1955 alongside the existing piston Provost. The trials proved that trainee pilots showed no great problems in receiving their initial training on a jet as opposed to a piston aircraft. A greater benefit was that pilots on the Jet Provost took less time to reach their solo flying stage than on the existing Provost. During 1957 and 1958 four aircraft from the Central Flying School operated as the RAF's Aerobatic Team.

The success of the trials led to the RAF ordering large numbers of the developed T3 version in 1957. This had a more powerful Viper engine, improved cockpit canopy, tip tanks for extra fuel, shortened undercarriage and Martin-Baker ejector seats. The first of 301 RAF Jet Provost T3s were delivered to No 2 Flying Training School at Syerston in the summer of 1959, with the first all jet "ab initio" course being completed the following June. The T3 was developed into the T4 which had an even more powerful Viper, giving it a greater rate of climb. This was of advantage to student pilots who were progressing to more advanced training as they could receive more advanced instruction at higher altitudes. 185 T4s were delivered to the RAF between November 1961 and the middle of 1964. Large numbers were also built for overseas air forces, including Ceylon, Iraq and Venezuela. During the 1960s and 1970s most of the RAF's Flying Training Schools operated their own aerobatic teams for display at Air Shows, including "The Macaws" from the College of Air Warfare, "The Poachers" from RAF Cranwell and "The Red Pelicans" from the Central Flying School. Jet Provosts visited Bournemouth from time to time as part of their training sorties.

Successful service of the Jet Provost T4 led to a further development - the T5. The need for high altitude training was restricted by the fact that the T4 was not pressurised, and so BAC (who had absorbed Hunting Percival) developed the new version as a private venture. The prototype flew in February 1967 and this version entered service with the RAF's Central flying School at Little Rissington in September 1969. 110 were built at Warton for the RAF, again a number of them flying with aerobatic teams during the 1970s and 1980s. The majority were modified to T5As in the mid-1970s with improved avionics. The Jet Provost remained in RAF service until 1993 when they were replaced by Short Tucano turboprop trainers.