Hunting Aircraft was a British

aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology ind ...

that produced light training aircraft and the initial design that would evolve into the

BAC 1-11 The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC-111/BAC 1-11) was an early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Originally conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-se ...

jet airliner A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have two or four jet engines; three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Airliners are commonly clas ...

. Founded as Percival Aircraft Co. in 1933, the company later moved to

Luton, UK Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

. It was eventually taken over by the

British Aircraft Corporation The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 19 ...

(BAC) in 1960.

History

The company was formed as Percival Aircraft Co. in

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...

in 1933 by

Edgar Percival Edgar Wikner Percival (23 February 1897 – 21 January 1984) was a noted Australian aircraft designer and pilot whose aircraft were distinguished by speed and grace. Percival went on to set up the Percival Aircraft Company, a British aircraft ...

to produce his own designs. Restructured in 1936, it became Percival Aircraft Ltd, and moved to

Luton Airport London Luton Airport is an international airport located in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, situated east of the town centre, and north of Central London. The airport is owned by London Luton Airport Ltd (LLAL), a company wholly owned by L ...

. The company became part of the Hunting Group in 1944. Percival, who had resigned from the board to serve in the

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF ...

during the war sold his remaining interest in the company at that point. From 1947 some internal components of Britain's Blue Danube atomic bomb were designed and manufactured by Percival Aircraft, in collaboration with the High Explosive Research project at Fort Halstead, Kent. It changed its name to Hunting Percival Aircraft in 1954 and then to Hunting Aircraft in 1957. In 1960 the company was taken over by the

(BAC), itself formed earlier that same year through the merger of the

Bristol Aeroplane Company The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable a ...

English Electric N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...

and

Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...

. BAC later became part of

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

, now

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenue ...

Aircraft

;Percival Aircraft The first Percival type to be allocated a "P" number was the P.40 Prentice. Previous designs (including unflown designs) were unofficially allocated such a number by the Percival Sales Manager in 1944 when Percival was acquired by the Hunting Group. However, this was "purely a cosmetic exercise" and such numbers have no actual basis in history. *

Percival Gull The Percival Gull was a British single-engined monoplane, first flown in 1932. It was successful as a fast company transport, racing aircraft and long-range record breaker. It was developed into the Vega Gull and the Proctor. Design and develo ...

* Percival Vega Gull *

Percival Mew Gull The Percival Mew Gull was a British racing aircraft of the 1930s. It was a small, single-engine, single-seat, low-wing monoplane of wooden construction, normally powered by a six-cylinder de Havilland Gipsy Six piston engine. During its racin ...

* Percival Q.6 Petrel * Percival Proctor * Percival P.40 Prentice * Percival P.48 Merganser * Percival P.50 Prince * Percival P.54 Survey Prince * Percival P.56 Provost * Percival P.66 Pembroke * Percival P.66 President * Percival P.74 8-seat experimental gas turbine/tipjet powered helicopter *P.87 fixed wing DC-3 replacement, not built''Flight'' 1954
/ref> ;Hunting Aircraft *

Hunting H.126 The Hunting H.126 was an experimental aircraft designed and built by British aviation company Hunting Aircraft. The aircraft was developed in order to test the performance of blown flaps, which were commonly known in Britain as "jet flaps", At ...

– an experimental

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh condi ...

jet aircraft * Hunting Percival P.84 Jet Provost * Hunting H.107 – an airliner project started by Hunting, and evolved after the BAC take-over as the

)

References

{{BAE Systems evolution Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom Defunct helicopter manufacturers of the United Kingdom Former defence companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Luton Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1933 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1960 1933 establishments in England 1960 disestablishments in England

History

Aircraft

See also

References