Edgar Percival E.P.9#Survivors

In 1954, Edgar Percival formed Edgar Percival Aircraft Limited at Stapleford Aerodrome, England, his original company had become part of the Hunting Group. His first new design, the Edgar Percival P.9 was a utility aircraft designed for agricultural use. The aircraft was a high-wing monoplane with an unusual pod and boom fuselage. The pod and boom design allowed the aircraft to be fitted with a hopper for crop spraying. The pilot and one passenger sat together with room for four more passengers. The clamshell side and rear doors also allowed the aircraft to carry standard size wool and straw bales or 45 imperial gallon (55 U.S. gallon) oil drums or even livestock. Even when the hopper was fitted, a ground crew of three could be carried when moving between sites.

File:Lancashire Prospector G-ARDG FAR 10.09.60 edited-2.jpg]]

The prototype (registered G-AOFU) first flew on 21 December 1955. After a demonstration tour of Australia four aircraft were ordered as crop-sprayers and an initial batch of 20 was built. Two aircraft were bought by the British Army in 1958. In the same year, Samlesbury Engineering Limited acquired the whole project which became a subsidiary named the Lancashire Aircraft Company. Lancashire Aircraft Company renamed the aircraft the Lancashire Prospector but only six more were built, the last of which was fitted with a Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah radial engine as the sole new build Mark Two.

In early 1958 World Wide Helicopters Ltd were operating three EP-9s out of Tripoli, Libya, on flights into and around the Libyan Sahara in support of oil exploration companies (mainly Esso-Libya). These aircraft were registered G-APCR, 'PCS and 'PCT, their construction numbers being 21, 24 and 25 respectively. In 1959 'PCR suffered a non-fatal accident in the far southwest of the country and may not have been subsequently recovered. The other two aircraft were sold in late 1959/early 1960.

In 1959 Kingsford Smith Aviation of Bankstown, Australia re-engined two aircraft with an Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah 10 radial engine as the EP-9C.

File:Edgar Percival EP9(i).jpg

The E.P.9s in their various guises had a long and successful lifespan as private aircraft, utilized in multi-role STOL operations as an agricultural sprayer, light cargo aircraft, jump aircraft, air ambulance and glider tug. One EP-9 N747JC had a more chequered career and was one of two evaluated by the British Army Air Corps with serial XM819. It was once owned in the late 1960s by a gang of international smugglers who found it the ideal way to smuggle stolen furs and counterfeit Swiss francs between England and Belgium. Although the criminals were apprehended in 1969, the EP-9 was finally offered for sale in Belgium in 1972. After three years of pleasure flying in England, the aircraft was shipped to the United States where it was stored in a Wisconsin barn until 1999. After extensive restoration, N747JC appeared at Oshkosh in 2001-03 and 2011,{{cite web |title=Edgar Percival EP9 N747JC 01 |url=https://www.rodbearden.com/Oshkosh%202011/Cha-F/Edgar%20Percival%20EP9%20N747JC%2001.html |website=Rod's Aviation Photos |access-date=3 October 2023}} and {{As of |2023|10|lc=y}}, is registered to the Warbirds of The World Air Museum in New Mexico.{{cite web |title=Airplane Dossier: Percival EP9 Prospector |url=https://aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=163130 |website=Aerial Visuals |access-date=3 October 2023}}

;Edgar Percival E.P.9

:Production aircraft powered by a 270 hp Lycoming GO-480-B1.B engine, 21 built.

;Edgar Percival E.P.9C

:Two aircraft re-engined in Australia by Kingsford Smith Aviation at Brisbane with a 375 hp Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah 10 radial engine.

;Lancashire Aircraft Prospector

:Continued production powered by a 295 hp Lycoming GO-480-G1.A6 engine, six built.

;Lancashire Aircraft Prospector II

:Prototype (c/n 47 G-ARDG) officially re-engined with a 375 hp Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah 10 radial engine.

: Total produced - 27 airframes (a further fuselage was not completed)

File:EP.9 Prospector VH-DAI Wangaratta Vic 17.03.88.jpg Victoria in 1988]]

• c/n 28 VH-EPN, formerly VH-DAI, restored and registered 1998 Victoria, Australia
• c/n 30 CF-NWI stored Reynolds-Alberta Museum, Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada{{cite web |title=Aviation |url=https://reynoldsmuseum.ca/aviation |website=Reynolds Museum |publisher=Government of Alberta |access-date=1 December 2019}}
• c/n 36 ZS-CHZ, displayed as 'XM797', airworthy, based SAAF Historic Flight, Zwartkop, South Africa
• c/n 39 N747JC, airworthy, based Los Lunas, New Mexico, United States
• c/n 41 N8395 airworthy (currently being restored),{{When|date=October 2023}} based Mississippi, United States
• c/n 42 ZK-PWZ airworthy, based Kairanga Aviation Ltd, New Zealand
• c/n 43 XM819 Museum of Army Flying, Middle Wallop, England

{{Aircraft specs

|ref=Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1959–60,{{cite book |title=Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1959–60 |editor1-last=Bridgman |editor1-first=Leonard |year=1959 |publisher=Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd |location=London|page=60 }} British Civil Aircraft since 1919 - Volume 2{{cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=A. J.| title=British civil aircraft since 1919 Volume 2| date=1973| publisher=Putnam| location=London| isbn=9780370100104| edition=2nd.| pages=195–198}}

|prime units?=kts

|crew=1

|capacity=5 pax / 2 stretchers + 2 attendants / 1pax + {{cvt|185|cuft}} of cargo / hopper for {{cvt|1550|lb}} chemicals{{cite journal| title=THE EDGAR PERCIVAL P.9| journal=Flight| date=30 December 1955| pages=969–972, 982| url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1955/1955%20-%201846.html| access-date=27 December 2017}}

|length m=8.99

|span m=13.26

|height m=2.67

|wing area sqft=227.6

|aspect ratio=8.31

|airfoil=

|empty weight lb=2072

|gross weight lb=3700

|gross weight note=maximum non-agricultural

|max takeoff weight lb=4320

|max takeoff weight note=agricultural missions

|fuel capacity={{cvt|56|impgal|USgal l}} in two wing tanks

::::{{cvt|56|impgal|USgal l}} optional cabin ferry tank

::::{{cvt|17|impgal|USgal l}} fuselage mounted slipper tank

::::{{cvt|2.5|impgal|USgal l}} oil

|more general=

|eng1 number=1

|eng1 name=Lycoming GO-480-G1A6

|eng1 type=6-cylinder air-cooled horizontally-opposed piston engine

|eng1 hp=295

|prop blade number=3

|prop name=Hartzell constant-speed propeller

|prop dia m=

|prop dia ft=

|prop dia in=

|prop dia note=

|max speed kts=127

|max speed note=at {{cvt|3700|lb}}

• Max continuous speed: {{cvt|123.4|kn|mph km/h}}

|cruise speed kts=104.3

|cruise speed note=at {{cvt|3700|lb}}

|stall speed kts=30.4

|stall speed note=at {{cvt|3700|lb}}

|never exceed speed kmh=

|never exceed speed mph=

|never exceed speed kts=

|range nmi=504

|range note=normal fuel

• Range with slipper tank: {{cvt|660.4|nmi|mi km}}

|ferry range nmi=1025.4

|ferry range note=with cabin ferry tank

|endurance=

|ceiling m=

|ceiling ft=17500

|ceiling note=

|g limits=

|roll rate=

|climb rate ftmin=960

|climb rate note=at {{cvt|3700|lb}}

|time to altitude=

|wing loading kg/m2=

|wing loading lb/sqft=

|wing loading note=

|fuel consumption kg/km=

|fuel consumption lb/mi=

|power/mass=

|thrust/weight=

|more performance=

}}

{{aircontent|

|related=

|similar aircraft=

• Aero Ae 50
• Boeing YL-15

|sequence=

|lists=

|see also=

}}

{{reflist}}

• "Edgar Percival E.P.9." Classic Wings Downunder, Issue 52, Vol. 12, No. 4.
• {{cite book|last1=Ellison|first1=Norman H.|title=Percivals aircraft| date=1997| publisher=Chalford |location=Stroud |isbn=0-7524-0774-0}}
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985). London: Orbis Publishing, 1985.

{{commons category|Edgar Percival E.P.9}}

• [http://diarmani.com/Articles/Gaffin/The%20Percival%20Prospector.htm Ground-looping an EP.9 - online article]
• [http://www.airliners.net/photo/UK---Army/Lancashire-EP9-Prospector/0670146/L/&tbl=photo_info&photo_nr=1&prev_id=&next_id=NEXTID G-APXW painted as 'XM819' MoAF, Middle Wallop]
• [http://www.aero-news.net/SpecialContent.cfm?ContentBlockID=ff7245ce-68b3-4f57-b3f9-3ba6aab4485e&cat=27#d Interview with Jan Christie, owner of the real XM819 (N747JC)]

Category:1950s British agricultural aircraft

Category:1950s British civil utility aircraft

Category:1950s British military utility aircraft

Category:High-wing aircraft

Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft

EP09

Category:Aircraft first flown in 1955

Category:Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear