# Hunting Aircraft > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hunting_Aircraft > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hunting_Aircraft.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting_Aircraft > Source revision: 1357127303 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Hunting Aircraft** was a British [aircraft manufacturer](/source/Aircraft_manufacturer) that produced light [training aircraft](/source/Training_aircraft) and the initial design that would evolve into the [BAC 1-11](/source/BAC_One-Eleven) [jet airliner](/source/Jet_airliner). Founded as **Percival Aircraft Company** in 1933, the company later moved to [Luton](/source/Luton), England. It was eventually taken over by the [British Aircraft Corporation](/source/British_Aircraft_Corporation) (BAC) in 1960. ## History The company was formed as Percival Aircraft Co. in [Gravesend](/source/Gravesend,_Kent) in 1933 by [Edgar Percival](/source/Edgar_Percival) with Lt. Cdr E.B.W. Leak to produce his own designs. The first aircraft was the [Percival Gull](/source/Percival_Gull) - the prototype was built for Percival by the [British Aircraft Company](/source/British_Aircraft_Company) and production aircraft by [Parnall Aircraft](/source/Parnall). In total there were 48 built between 1932-38 before manufacturing moved onto future models such as the [Percival Vega Gull](/source/Percival_Vega_Gull). The company moved to [Gravesend Airport](/source/Gravesend_Airport) in Kent, where it could build the Gull itself.[1] Restructured in 1936, it became **Percival Aircraft Ltd**, and moved to [Luton Airport](/source/Luton_Airport). The company became part of the [Hunting Group](/source/Hunting_plc) in 1944. Percival, who had resigned from the board to serve in the [Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve](/source/Royal_Air_Force_Volunteer_Reserve) during the war sold his remaining interest in the company at that point. From 1947 some internal components of Britain's [Blue Danube](/source/Blue_Danube_(nuclear_weapon)) atomic bomb were designed and manufactured by Percival Aircraft, in collaboration with the [High Explosive Research project](/source/High_Explosive_Research) at [Fort Halstead](/source/Fort_Halstead), Kent.[2] It changed its name to **Hunting Percival Aircraft** in 1954 and then to **Hunting Aircraft** in 1957.[3] In 1960 the company was taken over by the [British Aircraft Corporation](/source/British_Aircraft_Corporation) (BAC), itself formed earlier that same year through the merger of the [Bristol Aeroplane Company](/source/Bristol_Aeroplane_Company), [English Electric](/source/English_Electric) and [Vickers-Armstrongs](/source/Vickers-Armstrongs).[4] BAC later became part of [British Aerospace](/source/British_Aerospace), now [BAE Systems](/source/BAE_Systems). ## Founder [Edgar Percival](/source/Edgar_Percival) was an Australian aircraft designer and pilot who was born in Albury, New South Wales on 23 February 1987.[5] ## 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.[6][page needed] - [Percival Gull](/source/Percival_Gull) - [Percival Vega Gull](/source/Percival_Vega_Gull) - [Percival Mew Gull](/source/Percival_Mew_Gull) - [Percival Q.6 Petrel](/source/Percival_Petrel) - [Percival Proctor](/source/Percival_Proctor) - [Percival P.40 Prentice](/source/Percival_Prentice) - [Percival P.48 Merganser](/source/Percival_Merganser) - [Percival P.50 Prince](/source/Percival_Prince) - [Percival P.54 Survey Prince](/source/Percival_Prince) - [Percival P.56 Provost](/source/Percival_Provost) - [Percival P.66 Pembroke](/source/Percival_Pembroke) - [Percival P.66 President](/source/Percival_Pembroke) - [Percival P.74](/source/Percival_P.74) 8-seat experimental gas turbine/tipjet powered helicopter - P.87 fixed wing DC-3 replacement, not built[7] **Hunting Aircraft** - [Hunting H.126](/source/Hunting_H.126) – an experimental [STOL](/source/STOL) jet aircraft for investigation of [blown flaps](/source/Blown_flap) - [Hunting Percival P.84 Jet Provost](/source/Hunting_Percival_Jet_Provost) - jet trainer aircraft development of the Provost - Hunting H.107 – a 30-seat airliner project started by Hunting, and evolved after the BAC take-over as the larger [BAC One-Eleven](/source/BAC_One-Eleven)) ## See also - [Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom](/source/Aerospace_industry_in_the_United_Kingdom) - [List of aircraft manufacturers](/source/List_of_aircraft_manufacturers) ## References 1. Grey 1972, pp. 64c–65c. 1. Cocroft, Wane (23 September 2010). ["Fort Halstead, Dunton Green Sevenoaks, Kent: A brief assessment of the role of Fort Halstead in Britain's early rocket programmes and the atomic bomb project"](https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/49-2010/). [English Heritage](/source/English_Heritage). p. 15. Retrieved 7 February 2022. 1. ["Hunting Percival name change"](http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1957/1957%20-%201822.html). *Flight*. 13 December 1957. p. 912. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160420015711/https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1957/1957%20-%201822.html) 2016-04-20 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 18 August 2011. 1. Gunson, W.; *World Encyclopaedia of Aircraft Manufacturers*, 2nd Edition, Sutton (2005). 1. McCarthy, John, ["Edgar Wikner Percival (1897–1984)"](https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/percival-edgar-wikner-8018/text13975), *Australian Dictionary of Biography*, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2026-05-23 1. Silvester, John. *Percival and Hunting Aircraft*. Leicester: Midland Counties Publications 1987. ISBN 0-9513386-0-9 1. ["Hunting Percival"](http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1954/1954%20-%202460.html). *Flight*. 3 September 1954. p. 337. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160305164953/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1954/1954%20-%202460.html) 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine. - Grey, C.G. *Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1938.* London: David & Charles, 1972, ISBN 0-7153-5734-4. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hunting Aircraft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting_Aircraft) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting_Aircraft?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.