The Prentice basic trainer was Percival's first foray into manufacturing all-metal aircraft. It first flew in 1946 in answer to an Air Ministry requirement for a simple, robust basic trainer. Deceptively large for a single engined machine, the Prentice was originally designed for a new engine to be developed by de Havilland.  When this project was cancelled, the 251hp Gipsy Queen was fitted, leaving the Prentice noticeably under-powered.

Initial test flights were disappointing, with the prototype demonstrating poor rudder control.  The solution was to increase the size of the cut-outs in the elevators, allowing the rudder a greater range of movement.  Later aircraft were fitted with up-turned wingtips, and our example carries this modification.  Spin recovery was also found to be poor, a characteristic which was cured by the fitting of large "table-top" strakes ahead of the fin.

When the Prentice was replaced in 1953 by the far superior Provost, most of the sadly unloved aircraft went into storage.  A few remained in service for air signals training, being withdrawn from service in 1956.

Attracted, no doubt, by the giant cockpit, travel entrepreneur Freddie Laker bought 252 of the redundant Prentices in 1956.  They were converted to carry four passengers in the rear cockpit.  With a full payload of six (and in one case seven!), climb rate could be measured with a calendar, especially in hot weather.  The operation's commercial success was as expected and the aircraft slid into disuse.

Never a success, and always something of an ugly duckling, the Prentice seemed doomed to extinction. G-APJB is one of a tiny handful of survivors.