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. To meet the requirement the aircraft based on the Vega Gull ahd larger rear-cabin windows and the fuselage was six-inches longer. Modifications were made to the seats to enable the crew to wear parachutes and other changes to enable a military radio and other equipment to be fitted. In early 1939 an order was placed for 247 aircraft to meet operational requirement OR.65.
The prototype aircraft, serial number P5998, first flew on 8 October 1939 from Luton Airport. and the type was put into production for the RAF and Fleet Air Arm. The prototype was tested as an emergency bomber during 1940 but this idea was abandoned as the invasion threat receded. Although the first 222 aircraft were built by Proctor at Luton most of the remaining aircraft were built by F. Hills & Sons of Trafford Park near Manchester, they built 812 Proctors of several marks between 1941 and 1945, assembling most of the aircraft at Barton Aerodrome.
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