AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 64 / 116

Plate 64 of 116 · Early jet age · Basic trainer

Percival Prentice

Prentice T.1, painted as VR249, a Percival Prentice T.1 three-seat basic trainer of the Royal Air Force, powered by a de Havilland Gipsy Queen 32 inverted six driving a two-blade propeller, later civil-registered as G-APIY and kept by Newark Air Museum, whose first aircraft it was, flown in to the showground in 1967; painted as it is shown there as ‘FA-EL’: high-speed silver overall with a yellow training band round the rear fuselage carrying the codes, a yellow band across each wing just outboard of the undercarriage legs, Type D roundels, a fin flash, the black serial ‘VR249’ aft of the codes, a black spinner and a black propeller with yellow tips; the port-side markings mirror the starboard because no port-side photograph was found, the under-wing roundels follow standard RAF practice as no photograph shows the underside, and the propeller diameter is estimated from photographs.

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as VR249, a Percival Prentice T.1 three-seat basic trainer of the Royal Air Force, powered by a de Havilland Gipsy Queen 32 inverted six driving a two-blade propeller, later civil-registered as G-APIY and kept by Newark Air Museum, whose first aircraft it was, flown in to the showground in 1967; painted as it is shown there as ‘FA-EL’: high-speed silver overall with a yellow training band round the rear fuselage carrying the codes, a yellow band across each wing just outboard of the undercarriage legs, Type D roundels, a fin flash, the black serial ‘VR249’ aft of the codes, a black spinner and a black propeller with yellow tips; the port-side markings mirror the starboard because no port-side photograph was found, the under-wing roundels follow standard RAF practice as no photograph shows the underside, and the propeller diameter is estimated from photographs. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (914 KB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (); engine, crew and dimensions are for the Prentice T.1 modelled here.

History

The Prentice

Towards the end of the war the Air Ministry began looking for a replacement for the Tiger Moth, a basic trainer more like the aircraft that pupils would go on to fly. Specification T.23/43 asked for a low-wing monoplane with an enclosed cabin, radio, flaps and a variable-pitch propeller, and Percival’s answer was the P.40 Prentice. It was a large, roomy aeroplane with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage and a 251 hp Gipsy Queen inverted six in the nose. The instructor and pupil sat side by side with dual controls under a long glazed canopy, and a second pupil sat behind them to learn by watching.

The prototype, TV163, first flew from Percival’s factory at Luton at the end of March 1946. Trials showed poor lateral stability, too little rudder and a reluctance to recover from spins, and the aircraft was altered several times before production: the fin and rudder were enlarged, the elevators changed and the wingtips turned sharply upwards, which gave the production Prentice its distinctive look. The RAF ordered 455 and took about 360 after cuts; Blackburn built 125 of them at Brough under subcontract. Argentina bought 100, Lebanon three, and India took 20 more powerful T.3s and built 42 more under licence at Hindustan Aircraft.

The Prentice entered service at the RAF College, Cranwell, in November 1947 and went on to the flying training schools. It was heavy and slow for its size, with a top speed of about 170 mph, and its pupils remembered it with more affection than respect. The Chipmunk replaced it at Cranwell in 1952 and the Provost at the other schools by the end of 1953, though the air signals schools kept it for training radio operators until 1956. Aviation Traders bought 252 surplus Prentices that year and turned 28 of them into civil four-seaters. Examples survive at Newark Air Museum and Midland Air Museum.

This airframe

Prentice T.1 VR249 “FA-EL”

VR249The airframe modelled

VR249, construction number PAC/075, was built by Percival at Luton for the RAF. After the Prentice was retired it passed to the civil register as G-APIY, one of the many ex-RAF Prentices sold off in the late 1950s. In 1967 it was flown in to the showground at the former RAF Winthorpe to become the first aircraft of what grew into Newark Air Museum, where it is displayed in RAF trainer markings as “FA-EL”. The model shows it as photographed there: high-speed silver overall, a yellow training band round the rear fuselage carrying the codes, a yellow band across each wing just outboard of the undercarriage legs, Type D roundels, a fin flash, the black serial “VR249” behind the codes, a black spinner and a black propeller with yellow tips. No photograph of the port side or underside was found, so the port markings mirror the starboard and the under-wing roundels follow standard RAF practice; the propeller diameter is estimated from photographs.

See it at Newark Air Museum

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the Prentice in 2 UK collections. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 116 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.