Hunting P-56 Provost
The Percival (later Hunting) P.56 Provost was the RAF's last piston-engined basic trainer, entering service in 1953 to replace the unpopular Prentice. Powered by a 550hp Alvis Leonides radial, it kept the side-by-side instructor/student seating that the RAF judged more effective for training than tandem cockpits. It taught generations of RAF pilots their first solo flights before the service switched to the jet-powered Jet Provost derivative, which shared its name and layout but not its piston engine. The last Provosts left frontline RAF use in 1969, sixteen years after their introduction.
_(6733004513).jpg){kind=link}
Did you know?
The RAF's last piston-engined basic trainer, with side-by-side seating and a radial engine; its jet successor, the Jet Provost, kept the layout.
Specifications
| Length | 8.7 m (29 ft) |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 10.7 m (35 ft) |
| Height | 3.7 m (12 ft) |
| Persons on board | 2 |
| Maximum take-off weight | 2 t |
| Range | 560 NM (1,037 km) |
| Service ceiling | 25,000 ft (7,620 m) |
| Rate of climb | 2,200 ft/min (11.2 m/s) |
| Units built | 461 |
Curated by CatchFlights from manufacturer documents, ICAO Doc 8643 and reference works; values are left out where no source could confirm them. Sources are listed on our credits page.
In CatchFlights
In CatchFlights the Hunting P-56 Provost starts as a Rare catch. The tier is an editorial judgement of how special a sighting of this type is. The more often you catch it, the closer it moves to Common for you.
A catch counts for the manufacturer Hunting, the P-56 Provost family and the model in your collection, and the daily Type Rating quiz asks about the types of each family.
Catch it yourself.CatchFlights shows the aircraft flying near you on a radar, so a type like this one is only a catch away when it passes overhead. Explore CatchFlights.
Browse all aircraft types, or learn to tell Airbus from Boeing.