Information sought on Percival Proctor Mk1

Actually I think the Met.Comm. Sqdn was not at RAF Hortholt, rather it was RAF Nendon (RAF Hendon) during WW2, it went to Northolt afer Hendon was closed to flying units after WW2

You got a code in de dose? Our coats? Why, thanks. 😉

*******The Met.Comm. Sqdn operated out of Hortholt (London) during WW11 carrying high ranking officers etc etc between stations.

Dustyone

Actually I think the Met.Comm. Sqdn was not at RAF Hortholt, rather it was RAF Nendon (RAF Hendon) during WW2, it went to Northolt afer Hendon was closed to flying units after WW2

VH-AHY

Hi Ross, I would love to see the pics. of the remains of other Proctors Please *** you have my e-mail address
Les

other

Further to the history of my Proctor

Les has told me the following
“,— it was an early one on F.Hills & sons contract, H 9 denotes the ninth product on their books, Hills made 25 Mk 1 —-100 Mk11s — 437 Mk111s —& 250 Mk 1Vs.

H.1. became R7484 in theRAF > G-AHMU civil —- exported to NZ as ZK-AJY in July 1946.
Proctor maiden flight was carried out on 8th Oct 1939.”

Ken passed on the following
“> Percival P.28 Proctor I
> C/n H.9 G-AIEB
> 1941 Built by F. Hills & Son Ltd., Trafford Park, Manchester as
> R7493 on Contract No. B5153/39, 210hp D.H. Gipsy Queen 2 engine
> Used by No.2 Signals School and Bristol Wireless Flight
> 17.6.44 Hendon local, F/O Read, first Metropolitan Communications
> Squadron (M.C.S.) op
> 1.10.45 St Mawgan-Hendon, last M.C.S. logged op
> 4.9.46 Registered G-AIEB to Field Aircraft Services Ltd.
> 5.9.46 Struck off Charge “Sold”
> 28.11.46 CofA No.8441 issued
> c11.46 Registered to W/Cdr R.L. Bowes
> 9.50 W.S. Shackleton Ltd.
> 10.50 Wiltshire School of Flying Ltd., Thruxton, CofA now No. A.1650
> c12.50 W.S. Shackleton Ltd., Thruxton
> 8.51 Entered in abandoned “Daily Express” race for W/Cdr R.H. McIntosh
> 22.9.51 “Daily Express” South Coast Air Race, Shoreham, 4th at 158mph,
> No.80, McIntosh
> 24.1.52 U.K. marks cancelled
> 10.12.52 Became VH-AHY(2) (not VH-AVW, B.C.R.N. 22.3.52)
> later to Atlas Auto Auctions Pty Ltd.
> William Patterson, Gooloogong, NSW
> 17.11.56 10.27 local, struck bales of hay on take-off at Mount
> Gambier, SA, badly damaged, pilot Nicholls (+ ?) unhurt
> 19.5.64 W.f.u., stored
> later Barker Motors, Cowra, NSW
> 8.71 Cowra Auto Museum, displayed minus wings
> by 5.75 Fuselage abandoned near Cowra
> 1977 Sold to Lindsay Campbell, Coffs Harnour, NSW
> 1984 Sold to Ross Stenhouse, Brisbane, Q, being rebuilt”

So as you can see from this thread I have gone from not knowing very much at all to knowing quite a lot thanks to those that are helping me. I have found this amazing and hope that the information stream continues. I have some photos of the remains of other proctors in Australia. If anyone is interested I can find and scan them and post them on the forum.

regards
Ross

Further to the history of my Proctor

Les has told me the following
“,— it was an early one on F.Hills & sons contract, H 9 denotes the ninth product on their books, Hills made 25 Mk 1 —-100 Mk11s — 437 Mk111s —& 250 Mk 1Vs.

H.1. became R7484 in theRAF > G-AHMU civil —- exported to NZ as ZK-AJY in July 1946.
Proctor maiden flight was carried out on 8th Oct 1939.”

Ken passed on the following
“> Percival P.28 Proctor I
> C/n H.9 G-AIEB
> 1941 Built by F. Hills & Son Ltd., Trafford Park, Manchester as
> R7493 on Contract No. B5153/39, 210hp D.H. Gipsy Queen 2 engine
> Used by No.2 Signals School and Bristol Wireless Flight
> 17.6.44 Hendon local, F/O Read, first Metropolitan Communications
> Squadron (M.C.S.) op
> 1.10.45 St Mawgan-Hendon, last M.C.S. logged op
> 4.9.46 Registered G-AIEB to Field Aircraft Services Ltd.
> 5.9.46 Struck off Charge “Sold”
> 28.11.46 CofA No.8441 issued
> c11.46 Registered to W/Cdr R.L. Bowes
> 9.50 W.S. Shackleton Ltd.
> 10.50 Wiltshire School of Flying Ltd., Thruxton, CofA now No. A.1650
> c12.50 W.S. Shackleton Ltd., Thruxton
> 8.51 Entered in abandoned “Daily Express” race for W/Cdr R.H. McIntosh
> 22.9.51 “Daily Express” South Coast Air Race, Shoreham, 4th at 158mph,
> No.80, McIntosh
> 24.1.52 U.K. marks cancelled
> 10.12.52 Became VH-AHY(2) (not VH-AVW, B.C.R.N. 22.3.52)
> later to Atlas Auto Auctions Pty Ltd.
> William Patterson, Gooloogong, NSW
> 17.11.56 10.27 local, struck bales of hay on take-off at Mount
> Gambier, SA, badly damaged, pilot Nicholls (+ ?) unhurt
> 19.5.64 W.f.u., stored
> later Barker Motors, Cowra, NSW
> 8.71 Cowra Auto Museum, displayed minus wings
> by 5.75 Fuselage abandoned near Cowra
> 1977 Sold to Lindsay Campbell, Coffs Harnour, NSW
> 1984 Sold to Ross Stenhouse, Brisbane, Q, being rebuilt”

So as you can see from this thread I have gone from not knowing very much at all to knowing quite a lot thanks to those that are helping me. I have found this amazing and hope that the information stream continues. I have some photos of the remains of other proctors in Australia. If anyone is interested I can find and scan them and post them on the forum.

regards
Ross

Hi Ross,
Interesting stuff! My immediate ref gives service from 40 – 45 in W.W.II for the Proctor as a type.

The Prototype Mk.I flew 8/10/39 (P5998) according to Delve, sourcebook of the RAF.

Carruthers?

Sharp. Careful you don’t cut yourself. Caruthers can be spelled with one ‘r’ or two. Northolt, that specific place, is spelled that way. 😎

Chee(r)s,

Hello All

Thanks to Ken and Les. It was so exciting to find out the info on my aeroplane. Ken also sent he a couple of photos which was great! Any more info would be greatly appreciated.

here is what they told me

She was made by F Hills & Sons of Manchester under contract No B5153/39/C23A, delivered to 8 Maintainance unit, 29/3/1941 as R 7493,— then on 20/10/41 to No 2 Signals School — onto No13 W flight on 31/12/1942 — declared catagory ‘B’ (repairable) for maintainance & repair to DW/CN ( I will try to trace what that means) on 2/4/1944, — delivered to Metropolitan Communications Sqdn. at Hendon London (Now the site of the museum) on 26/5/1944 — then to No 29 Maintainance Unit High Ercoll, Shropshire.2/3/1946 from where she was sold to Field Consolated servies Ltd Purley Surrey, on 5/9/1946, soon to get the registeration (G-AIEB), — exported to Aus. Feb. 1952, became VH-AHY

G-AIEB
constructed c/n.H.9
Registered G-AIEB 4-9-46, to Field Aircraft Services Ltd..
-11-46, to Wing Commander R.L.Bowes,

Certicate of Airwortiness 28-11-46.
-12-50, to W.S.Shackleton Ltd.,

The c/n..H.9 interests me does that mean it is an ‘early’ proctor?

When did the RAF get its first Mk1’s

regards
Ross

It can indeed. I only pointed it out as searching for ‘Hortholt’ would be somewhat fruitless. 😉

“Tell the passengers five more minutes, Caruthers.” 😀

There’s a lot of work there! Good luck.

Cheers,

Carruthers?

***** An ‘N’of course, — caused through a spot of ‘finger trouble’ — it can happen to us all!!!

It can indeed. I only pointed it out as searching for ‘Hortholt’ would be somewhat fruitless. 😉

Here is an image of the aircraft as it was when I purchased it in 1986.

“Tell the passengers five more minutes, Caruthers.” 😀

There’s a lot of work there! Good luck.

Cheers,

That would be RAF Northolt. 😉

Even if you are allergic to Wikipedia, the reference at the end would be of use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Northolt

***** An ‘N’of course, — caused through a spot of ‘finger trouble’ — it can happen to us all!!!

Dustyone

Thanks to all of you who have helped out with information so far. Of course I would appreciate all the information I can get.

Here is an image of the aircraft as it was when I purchased it in 1986. It was located in a machinary shed on a wheat farm in Cowra, New South Wales, Australia

*******The Met.Comm. Sqdn operated out of Hortholt (London) during WW11 carrying high ranking officers etc etc between stations.

That would be RAF Northolt. 😉

Even if you are allergic to Wikipedia, the reference at the end would be of use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Northolt

Thanks David – I will follow it up. I know it was with a squadron called the Metropolitan Communications Squadron – Can someone tell me what role they performed in WW2.

thanks
Ross

*******The Met.Comm. Sqdn operated out of Hortholt (London) during WW11 carrying high ranking officers etc etc between stations.

Dustyone

I am in Australia and am seeking help from people closer to the source of the information. Can you supply me with contact details for “THE RAF Museum Hendon London”. Being on the other side of the world, whilst I know what you are speaking of, London seems a big place.

Hi Ross,

The RAF Museum’s website’s a good place to start, and is accessible anywhere you’ve got an Internet connection – even strange places like Queensland. :p

The record card page is here:

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/collections/archive/aircraft_records.cfm

Background here:

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/collections/archive/index.cfm

You need to talk to the Department of Records and Information Services there, known as ‘Doris’.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/research/index.cfm

I’ve not used the services by post or e-mail, having usually visited in the past. I know others here have, and the staff have been in my experience both knowledgeable and tremendously helpful – but busy too.

HTH, good luck with the restoration.

The Metropolitan Communications Squadron was a V.I.P. transport Squadron.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/aboutus/history_hendon5.cfm

Proctor VH-AHY – rebuild

Thanks David – I will follow it up. I know it was with a squadron called the Metropolitan Communications Squadron – Can someone tell me what role they performed in WW2.

thanks
Ross

Hi Ross,

The A J Jackson collection at the Brooklands Museum in the UK lists that it has one photo of your aircraft when it was registered G-AIEB. Details of how to obtain a copy are here:
http://www.ajjcollection.co.uk/details.htm

You’ve perhaps seen this already, but here’s an old photo of your aircraft VH-AHY taken in August 1955:

http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austa/VH-AHY.html

I guess you would start here:

The Royal Air Force Museum welcomes constructive feedback from all its visitors; please record your comment, complaint or question below and directly to the Royal Air Force Museum.

For further information, please contact:
Royal Air Force Museum London
Grahame Park Way
London, NW9 5LL
[email]london@rafmuseum.org[/email]
020 8205 2266 (General Information)

PROCTOR Mk.1 VH-AHY rebuild

I am in Australia and am seeking help from people closer to the source of the information. Can you supply me with contact details for “THE RAF Museum Hendon London”. Being on the other side of the world, whilst I know what you are speaking of, London seems a big place.

regards
Ross

Can anyone give me the wartime history for my aeroplane

PERCIVAL PROCTOR MK.I H.9 R7493,G-AIEB,VH-AHY

I am rebuilding it and often wondered about its service history.

regards
Ross Stenhouse

***** Hi Ross — I have had great success in obtaining detailed history from RAF form 78, copies of which can be obtained from THE RAF Museum Hendon London. tell them what you are doing with her, & I’m sure that they will help you. Please let me know how you get on.

Dusty