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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0817.PDF
FLIGHT, 26 March 1954 & 365 PERCIVAL PEMBROKE High-wing Versatility: Design and Construction of a "Prince-plus" THE ability to perform a good job of work regularly and reliably is the basic standard by which all Service aircraft must be judged. This implies simplicity, both in design and operation—with no frills. Where one type of machine has to accept a number of different functions, simplicity is no longer desirable: it is essential. It is just this simplicity, plus an outstanding (yet built-in) versatility, that marks the Percival Pembroke, at present being delivered for a variety of duties to the Air Forces of this country, Belgium and Southern Rhodesia. As is well known, the Pembroke is a direct development of the Prince and, indeed, the capacious fuselage which gives the aircraft its useful versatility is almost identical with that of the earlier machine. Nevertheless, it is the intention in this article, after referring briefly to the various earlier Prince variants, to treat the Pembroke as a separate aircraft in its own right, and to give a complete description of its design, construction and performance, and of the several different versions, both under construction and projected. The design history of the Pembroke is the story of the Prince. Although the facts of the development of the earlier machine are now generally well known, it is of interest to recall the basic design-thinking which formed its initial conception. This was recently summarised for Flight by Mr. L. G. Frise, B.Sc, F.R.Ae.S., A.F.I.A.S., the Percival company's technical director. The private-venture P.50 Prince feederliner, he told us, was designed around the most suitable and most easily available engines of the required power—the Alvis Leonides nine-cylinder radial, then rated at 520 b.h.p. Rather than aim at a low-drag, "slippery," high-performance machine of small fuselage dimensions, the company decided to go for utility, in the form of a roomy fuselage, large in comparison with the overall size of the aircraft. For this large fuselage a relative penalty was paid in structure-weight—a penalty since removed by the increased span and payload of the Pembroke. The selection of a high-wing configuration was due to the straightforward belief that this gave a more efficient weight- lifting machine and an improved ability to get off the ground quickly. There were, of course, other advantages: an unobstructed floor, unobstructed view, unobstructed access to the large door (near the ground), and the general ease with which the interior arrangement of the fuselage could be changed. A completely conventional construction was chosen for the Prince, not only for economy in manufacture, but also for ease of repair and a general robustness that would recom mend it to the smaller civil operators and the military Services in most parts of the world. This, then, was the Prince. A conventional, high-wing aircraft with a capacious fuselage, designed for versatility; its power-plants, two reliable, simple engines, with a good power/weight ratio. Popularity with operators has been reflected in the company's order-books: Princes have come into service in many parts of the world, and in a variety of roles. Briefly, the main variants are: — P.50 Prince (Series 1, 2 and 3) Communications and V.I.P. transport. P. 54 Survey Prince (prototype Series 2, production Series 3). P.66 Sea Prince C. Mk 1 (Leonides 12501/12502) Communica tions and "Admiral's Barge." P.57 Sea Prince T. Mk 1 Flying classroom for anti-submarine radar operators. P.57 Sea Prince C. Mk 2 Communications version of T. Mk 1. P.66 Pembroke C. Mk 1. The Series 1 and 2 machines, together with the Sea Prince C.1, formed the first batch of ten aircraft, and were fitted with the earlier Leonides of 520 h.p. The Series 3 Princes, and later Sea Princes, were fitted with the newer versions of the Leonides, of 550 h.p. In September 1951 an order for "a substantial number" of Pembroke C. Mk 1 machines for the R.A.F. was announced. These aircraft, improved versions of the earlier Princes, possessed a greater span and a useful increase in load: all-up weight was to be 13,000 lb instead of 11,000. The main points of interest of the new machines were: (1) The span
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