The Shuttleworth Collections Hunting Percival Piston P.56 Provost T.1 and de Havilland (Canada) DHC-1 Chipmunk 22, displaying at Old Warden Airfield during the Shuttleworth Season Premiere Airshow 2021.
The Piston Provost T.1, XF603, G-KAPW, was acquired in 2001 from Kennet Aviation at Cranfield and has what appears at the outset to be a rather inappropriate camouflage paint scheme with RAF roundels. None of the RAF trainers sported this paint scheme but a number of Provosts were sold to Oman where they were used operationally, hence the camouflage. RAF roundels were required on the delivery flights from the UK to Oman thus justifying the apparent conundrum.
The Percival P.56 Provost was designed to Air Ministry Specification T.16/48, issued in 1948 calling for a single engine basic trainer as a replacement for the Percival Prentice. It was one of 30 proposals submitted and was one of the two aircraft finally chosen The other being the Handley-Page H.P.R.2).
It is an all-metal, 2 seat monoplane with a conventional fixed landing gear and it replicated the handling characteristics and roll-rate of the modern jet fighters entering service at the time.
The prototype (WE522) was designed by Polish born aeronautical engineer Henry Millicer and flew for the first time on 23rd February 1950. The first two prototypes (WE522 and WE530) had been ordered in January 1950 and they were powered by the Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah engine, this engine being replaced in production aircraft by the Alvis Leonides on a third prototype. After evaluation at Boscombe Down, the Leonides-powered P.56 was selected and an order for 200 aircraft (designated Provost T.1) was placed on 29th May 1951.
The Provost entered service with the RAF in 1953, the first batch of aircraft being delivered to the Central Flying School (CFS) at RAF South Cerney. The first training course to use the Provost started in October 1953 and allowed students to move straight into training in the De Havilland Vampire.
From 1956 the Provost was issued to some University Air Squadrons, the first being the Queen's University Air Squadron, Belfast in January 1956. The last RAF production aircraft was delivered in April 1956.
The Provost served with the RAF in the training role until the early 1960s, when it was replaced by the Jet Provost. A small number remained with the Central Air Traffic Control School at RAF Shawbury until the last example was retired in 1969.
In addition to 391 aircraft for the RAF, the Provost was exported to Rhodesia, Ireland, Malaya, Burma, Iraq, Muscat and Oman, and Sudan, total production being 461 aircraft.
Export variants had provision for the carriage of bombs or rockets below the wings. Production was completed in 1960.
Although the Provost served for a relatively short time with the RAF, it led to the development of the Jet Provost, which introduced ab initio jet training to the RAF.
The Shuttleworth Collection’s Chipmunk, RCAF -671, G-BNZC, is a DHC Chipmunk 22 built in 1952 and is displayed in the training livery of the Royal Canadian Air Force. It was acquired from its Yorkshire-based owner, David Horsley, in March 2000 with funds donated by the Shuttleworth Veteran Aeroplane Society.
The Collection still uses the Chipmunk for its original purpose: all new pilots at The Collection must complete a season flying the Chipmunk (or Tiger Moth or Magister) before moving on to other aircraft.
The DHC-1 Chipmunk is a 2-seat, single engine primary trainer aircraft, designed to replace the Tiger Moth biplane around the world. It was the first true indigenous design of the newly formed De Havilland Aircraft Company of Canada and attracted immediate air force interest.
It was predominantly an all metal construction with fabric covered wings aft of the spar. It featured a sliding perspex canopy providing excellent 360 degree vision.
The prototype (CF-DIO-X) was flown for the first time by Pat Fillingham (a Parent Company Test Pilot) on 22nd May 1946 from Downsview near Toronto and attracted attention from the military. It competed with the Fairey Primer for the contract to provide a basic training aircraft for the Royal Air Force as well interest from the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Some 1,000 were built in the UK (Hatfield and Chester), with a further 218 in Canada and 66 by OGMA in Portugal.
The RAF Chipmunk T.Mk 10 was powered by the Gipsy Major 8. The type was widely exported, serving with at least 14 air forces in addition to the RAF and RCAF.
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