Well over 1,000 were built, but very few examples of Percival’s Proctor grace skies today. Darren Harbar talks to the current custodians of a classic British survivor
The de Havilland Mosquito may well have earned its nickname ‘wooden wonder’ – but perhaps in an altogether more humble manner, the sturdy Proctor also warrants a slice of this epithet.
The roots of the Proctor project can be traced back to the late 1930s – Edgar Percival’s Luton-based company was developing an aircraft to meet Air Ministry Specification 20/38 for a radio trainer and communications aircraft. The Percival Aircraft Company had already developed the Vega Gull, which made its debut in 1935 – the Proctor monoplane was a further development of that original design and wooden construction.
