Percival Proctor
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The Aircraft On Display
The Museum is home to a Percival Proctor Mk III which was built in 1940 and served in the RAF. After being retired from active service it was converted for civilian use.Between 1952 and 1960, it flew for the Bush Church Aid Society, an adjunct of the Anglican Church, in South Australia. 1960 saw the plane move to WA, where it was flown by Frank Lawrence at his Benjaberring farm.
In 1962 he found the wooden wing structure required probibitively expensive maintenance, so the plane was retired after 2,222 hours in the air.
In 1963 it was donated to Bunbury Technical School where it was used for a few years to teach students aspects of aeronautics. In 1972 the school donated it to the Museum. It was kept at a Museum worker's home, who completed restoration work before its display here in 2000.
Type History
The Percival Proctor was a British radio trainer and communications aircraft of the Second World War. The Proctor was a single-engine, low-wing monoplane with seating for three or four, depending on the model.Design and development
The Proctor was developed from the Percival Vega Gull in response to Air Ministry Specification 20/38 for a radio trainer and communications aircraft. The prototype first flew on 8 October 1939 and the type was put into production for the RAF and RN. While the prototype was tested as an emergency bomber during 1940, plans for use of the Proctor as a bomber were abandoned as the invasion threat receded.Operational history
The Proctor was initially employed as a three-seat communications aircraft (Proctor I). This was followed by the Proctor II and Proctor III three-seat radio trainers.In 1941, the Air Ministry issued Specification T.9/41 for a four-seat radio trainer. The P.31 - originally Preceptor but finally Proctor IV - was developed for this with an enlarged fuselage. One Proctor IV was fitted with a 250-hp (157-kW) Gipsy Queen engine. This was used as a personal transport by AVM Sir Ralph Sorley but production models retained the 210 hp (157 kW) motor of earlier marks.
At the end of the war, many Proctors of the early marks were sold onto the civil market. The Mk IV soldiered on until the last was withdrawn from RAF service in 1955.
In 1945, a civil model derived from the Proctor IV was put into production as the Proctor 5. The RAF purchased four of these for use by air attachés.
The final model of the line was the solitary Proctor 6 floatplane sold to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1946.
Specifications
General characteristics
Length: | 28 ft 2 in (8.59 m)
| Height: | 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m)
| Wingspan | 39 ft 6 in (12.04 m)
| Powerplant: | de Havilland Gipsy Queen II, 210 hp (157 kW)
| Weight: | empty 2,375 lb (1,075 kg), maximum takeoff 1,588 lb (3,500 kg)
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| Maximum speed: | 139 knots (160 mph, 257 km/h) | Cruising speed: | 122 knots (140 mph, 225 km/h) | Range: | 435 nm (500 mi, 805 km) | Service ceiling: | 14,000 ft (4,265 m) | ||